and so he would not have a
son-in-law to whom to leave his kingdom.

The boy when he heard of this thought that it might be well worth his
while to try to win the king's beautiful daughter. So he went to the
king one day, and told him what he meant to do. When the king heard him,
he got angry, and said--

"Do you think that you, who are only a servant, can do what great
warriors have failed in?"

The boy, however, was not to be dissuaded, and begged him so to let him
go that at last the king grew calmer and gave him his permission. "But,"
said he, "you will lose your life, and I shall be sorry to miss you."

With that they parted.

The boy went down to the shore of the lake, and, having found his
trough, he looked it over very closely. Then he got into it and rowed
across the lake, and coming to the giant's dwelling he hid himself, and
stayed the night there.

Very early in the morning, before it was light, the giant went to his
barn, and began to thrash, making such a noise that the mountains all
around echoed again. When the boy heard this he collected some stones
and put them in his pouch. Then he climbed up on to the roof of the barn
and made a little hole so that he could look in. Now the giant had by
his side his golden sword, which had the strange property that it
clanked whenever the giant was angry. While the giant was busy thrashing
at full speed, the boy threw a little stone which hit the sword, and
caused it to clank.

"Why do you clank?" said the giant. "I am not angry."

He went on thrashing, but the next moment the sword clanked again. Once
more the giant pursued his work, and the sword clanked a third time.
Then the giant got so angry that he undid the belt, and threw the sword
out of the barn door.

"Lie there," said he, "till I have done my thrashing."

The lad waited no longer, but slipping down from the roof seized on the
sword, ran to his boat, and rowed across the water. On reaching the
other side he hid his treasure, and was full of glee at the success of
his adventure.

The next day he filled his pouch with corn, put a bundle of bast-twine
in his boat, and once more set off to the giant's dwelling. He lay
hiding for a time, and then he saw the giant's three golden hens walking
about on the shore, and spreading their feathers, which sparkled
beautifully in the bright sunshine. He was soon near them, and began to
softly lead them on, scattering corn for them out of his pouch. While
t