valley. At last the chief
managed to spring up, and, grasping Rosald by the waist, flung away
his sword, and the two fought desperately, their bodies swaying always
nearer the edge. It seemed as if Rosald, being the smaller of the two,
MUST fall over, when, with his left hand, he drew the robber's sword out
of its sheath and plunged it into his heart. Then he took from the
dead man a beautiful ring set with a large stone, and put it on his own
finger.

The fame of this wonderful deed soon spread through the country, and
people would often stop Geirald's horse, and ask leave to see the
robber's ring, which was said to have been stolen from the father of the
reigning king. And Geirald showed them the ring with pride, and listened
to their words of praise, and no one would ever have guessed anyone else
had destroyed the robbers.

In a few days they left the kingdom and rode on to another, where they
thought they would stop through the remainder of the winter, for Geirald
liked to be comfortable, and did not care about travelling through ice
and snow. But the king would only grant them leave to stop on condition
that, before the winter was ended, they should give him some fresh proof
of the courage of which he had heard so much. Rosald's heart was glad at
the king's message, and as for Geirald, he felt that as long as Rosald
was there all would go well. So they both bowed low and replied that it
was the king's place to command and theirs to obey.

'Well, then,' said his Majesty, 'this is what I want you to do: In the
north-east part of my kingdom there dwells a giant, who has an iron
staff twenty yards long, and he is so quick in using it, that even fifty
knights have no chance against him. The bravest and strongest young
men of my court have fallen under the blows of that staff; but, as you
overcame the twelve robbers so easily, I feel that I have reason to hope
that you may be able to conquer the giant. In three days from this you
will set out.'

'We will be ready, your Majesty,' answered Rosald; but Geirald remained
silent.

'How can we possibly fight against a giant that has killed fifty
knights?' cried Geirald, when they were outside the castle. 'The king
only wants to get rid of us! He won't think about us for the next three
days--that is one comfort--so we shall have plenty of time to cross the
borders of the kingdom and be out of reach.'

'We mayn't be able to kill the giant, but we certainly can't run away