young man took his muffin, and, breaking off a little bit,
handed it to the man who was eating up the earth.

'Keep it,' said he; 'it's a pledge of good faith.'

They were still a long way from their destination when they came to a
beautiful castle of burnished gold, surrounded by a very deep moat over
which was a drawbridge; and on the bridge was a golden portcullis. As
soon as they arrived, their leader rang the bell. When the door was
opened, the travellers entered, and the hero asked to see the King.

'What do you want with the King?' replied an attendant, richly attired.

'I have come to ask for the hand of his daughter, the Queen of the
Mississippi,' said the hero.

'That is all very well; but consider well before you start on such an
undertaking; for many have come as you have come and have lost their
lives.'

'That is nothing,' they all replied. 'We are not afraid!'

Then they were led before the Queen, and all were completely dazzled by
her beauty. It was a long time before they realised that she was
speaking to them. At last they understood her to say:

'Here is my servant. See if you can eat more than he does.'

And the servant sat down in front of a table covered with dishes crowded
with large joints of meat. And behold, he ate the whole lot up.

'Oh! that is nothing at all,' said the young hero. And, turning to the
man who ate up the earth, he said:

'Sit down there, my friend.' Then turning again to the servant, he
ordered him to bring in the biggest bull they could find.

They obeyed, and set it down in front of the man who ate the earth. And,
in presence of the Queen, he swallowed the bull whole, head and tail and
everything; and it was alive!

But the Queen said, 'You have not won me yet!'

And then she called in a second servant and said:

'Here is my servant. See if you can drink more than he can!'

And immediately the servant took hold of a whole cask of wine, and in
one mouthful drank the whole lot up.

The young hero said, 'That is nothing at all!' Then, turning to the man
with a mouth as big as a river, he added:

'Come here, my friend. Place yourself on your stomach on the moat, and
drink well!'

And the man with the mouth as large as a river placed himself on his
stomach, with his mouth to the water of the great moat outside, and in
one second he had drunk up the whole moat, fishes and all, absolutely
dry.

But the Queen still said they had not won her!

And she beckon