hters. The boy grew to be a
big boy, and one day the giant told him that he would have to amuse
himself alone for many hours, as he had a journey to make. So the boy
wandered by the river, and down to the sea, and at last he wandered to
the top of the castle, where he had never been before. There he paused,
for the sound of music broke upon his ears, and opening a door near him,
he beheld a girl sitting by the window, holding a harp.

'Haste and begone, I see the giant close at hand,' she whispered
hurriedly, 'but when he is asleep, return hither, for I would speak with
thee.' And the prince did as he was bid, and when midnight struck he
crept back to the top of the castle.

'To-morrow,' said the girl, who was the giant's daughter, 'to-morrow
thou wilt get the choice of my two sisters to marry, but thou must
answer that thou wilt not take either, but only me. This will anger him
greatly, for he wishes to betroth me to the son of the king of the Green
City, whom I like not at all.'

Then they parted, and on the morrow, as the girl had said, the giant
called his three daughters to him, and likewise the young prince, to
whom he spoke.

'Now, O son of the king of Tethertown, the time has come for us to part.
Choose one of my two elder daughters to wife, and thou shalt take her to
your father's house the day after the wedding.'

'Give me the youngest instead,' replied the youth, and the giant's face
darkened as he heard him.

'Three things must thou do first,' said he.

'Say on, I will do them,' replied the prince, and the giant left the
house, and bade him follow to the byre, where the cows were kept.

'For a hundred years no man has swept this byre,' said the giant, 'but
if by nightfall, when I reach home, thou hast not cleaned it so that a
golden apple can roll through it from end to end, thy blood shall pay
for it.'

* * * * *

All day long the youth toiled, but he might as well have tried to empty
the ocean. At length, when he was so tired he could hardly move, the
giant's youngest daughter stood in the doorway.

'Lay down thy weariness,' said she, and the king's son, thinking he
could only die once, sank on the floor at her bidding, and fell sound
asleep. When he woke the girl had disappeared, and the byre was so clean
that a golden apple could roll from end to end of it. He jumped up in
surprise, and at that moment in came the giant.

'Hast thou cleaned the byre, king's so