livering his beer at Wisbeach, he came home and told
his master what had befallen him. And on the morrow he and his master
and more of the towns-folk of Lynn set out for the giant's cave. Tom
showed them the head, and what silver and gold there was in the cave,
and not a man but leapt for joy, for the giant was a great enemy to all
the country.

The news was spread all up and down the country-side how Tom Hickathrift
had killed the giant. And well was he that could run to see the cave;
all the folk made bonfires for joy, and if Tom was respected before, he
was much more so now. With common consent he took possession of the cave
and every one said, had it been twice as much, he would have deserved
it. So Tom pulled down the cave, and built himself a brave house. The
ground that the giant kept by force for himself, Tom gave part to the
poor for their common land, and part he turned into good wheat-land to
keep himself and his old mother, Jane Hickathrift. And now he was become
the chiefest man in the country-side; 't was no longer plain Tom, but
Mr. Hickathrift, and he was held in due respect I promise you. He kept
men and maids and lived most bravely; made him a park to keep deer, and
time passed with him happily in his great house till the end of his
days.

The Hedley Kow

There was once an old woman, who earned a poor living by going errands
and such like, for the farmers' wives round about the village where she
lived. It wasn't much she earned by it; but with a plate of meat at one
house, and a cup of tea at another, she made shift to get on somehow,
and always looked as cheerful as if she hadn't a want in the world.

Well, one summer evening as she was trotting away homewards, she came
upon a big black pot lying at the side of the road.

"Now _that_," said she, stopping to look at it, "would be just the very
thing for me if I had anything to put into it! But who can have left it
here?" and she looked round about, as if the person it belonged to must
be not far off. But she could see no one.

"Maybe it'll have a hole in it," she said thoughtfully:--

"Ay, that'll be how they've left it lying, hinny. But then it 'd do fine
to put a flower in for the window; I'm thinking I'll just take it home,
anyways." And she bent her stiff old back, and lifted the lid to look
inside.

"Mercy me!" she cried, and jumped back to the other side of the road;
"_if it is fit brim full o' gold_ PIECES!!"

For a while she