them. But the boat kept
on sailing round and round, and at last a great wind rose from the sea
and shook the branches, and the bright, sweet berries fell into the boat
until it was filled with them, and they fell upon the prince's hands,
and he took up some to look at them, and as he looked the desire to eat
them grew stronger, and he said to himself it would be no harm to taste
one; but when he tasted it the flavor was so delicious he swallowed it,
and, of course, at once he forgot all about Eileen, and the boat drifted
away from him and left him standing in the water.

He climbed on to the island, and having eaten enough of the berries, he
set out to see what might be before him, and it was not long until he
heard a great noise, and a huge iron ball knocked down one of the trees
in front of him, and before he knew where he was a hundred giants came
running after it. When they saw the prince they turned towards him, and
one of them caught him up in his hand and held him up that all might see
him. The prince was nearly squeezed to death, and seeing this the giant
put him on the ground again.

"Who are you, my little man?" asked the giant.

"I am a prince," replied the prince.

"Oh, you are a prince, are you?" said the giant. "And what are you good
for?" said he.

The prince did not know, for nobody had asked him that question before.

"I know what he's good for," said an old giantess, with one eye in her
forehead and one in her chin. "I know what he's good for. He's good to
eat."

When the giants heard this they laughed so loud that the prince was
frightened almost to death.

"Why," said one, "he wouldn't make a mouthful."

"Oh, leave him to me," said the giantess, "and I'll fatten him up; and
when he is cooked and dressed he will be a nice dainty dish for the
king."

The giants, on this, gave the prince into the hands of the old giantess.
She took him home with her to the kitchen, and fed him on sugar and
spice and all things nice, so that he should be a sweet morsel for the
king of the giants when he returned to the island. The poor prince would
not eat anything at first, but the giantess held him over the fire until
his feet were scorched, and then he said to himself it was better to eat
than to be burnt alive.

Well, day after day passed, and the prince grew sadder and sadder,
thinking that he would soon be cooked and dressed for the king; but sad
as the prince was, he was not half as sad as the Princ