sh, he did not really do so. While
pretending to eat, he told them such tales of his adventures in the far
country that none of them noticed he was not eating, but disposing of
the flesh cunningly, sometimes by throwing it behind him, and again by
offering a tit-bit to one or another in token of friendship.

When the feast was over, the giants rose and stretched themselves.

'Now,' said the biggest one, 'we'll go a-hunting. There's always
to-morrow's feast to be thought of. We go, O Nine Man Mord, to the
Tsar's city. There is still good flesh to be got there, though we have
been feeding on it for many, many years. And, I may tell you, as the
prey is not so plentiful as it used to be, it affords all the better
sport in the taking.'

'I'm with you,' replied the Prince, 'and, maybe, I can show you a trick
or two.'

So they set out and journeyed together--the nine giants and the
Prince--till they came to the outskirts of a large and beautiful city.
Here, in the surrounding forest, the giants plucked up two great trees
by the roots, and took them to the city walls, where they placed one
tree as a ladder.

Then the chief giant said to the Prince: 'O Nine Man Mord, climb by this
to the top of the wall, and then we will pass the other tree up to you
so that you can fix it as a ladder on the other side for all of us to
descend by.'

The Prince climbed the tree-ladder; and, when he had reached the top of
the wall they pushed the other tree up to him.

'Now,' he called down, 'I don't quite know how you want it placed. Will
one of you come up and show me?'

In answer to this the chief himself climbed up and swung the tree over
roots first, while he held and steadied it by its topmost branches. At
this moment the Prince, unseen by the others, drew his sword, and, with
one stroke, hewed off the giant's head. It fell within the city walls,
and, in another second, the headless body went tumbling after it.

'Now,' he cried down to the others, 'it's all fixed, and your chief has
gone down. Come up one by one, and I will hold the tree for you, and
steady it, so that you can reach the ground quickly.'

And they came up one by one; and, one by one, off went their heads; and
they, and their bodies after them, reached the ground very quickly. Then
he climbed down the tree, and over the piled carcases of the nine
giants, and made his way into the city.

It was true what the giants had said; for, although the sun had not yet
risen