y
large request I beg that you will listen to just a tiny, tiny, little
one. When you cut my son into five pieces do it with his father's
sword which he has brought with him from the little hut in the forest
where we used to live. Then bind his body upon the back of his
father's horse which he brought with him out of the forest and turn
the horse loose, so it may travel, perchance, back to the forest from
which I brought my lad to meet this terrible death."

The giant did as she requested, and the horse bore the slain boy's
body along the road to the forest. Outside the city they met the
little old woman who was really _Nossa Senhora_. She took the parts of
the lad's body and anointed them with the porcupine's oil. Then she
held them tight together. They stayed securely joined. "Are you
lacking anything," she asked the boy.

The boy felt of his legs, his arms, his ears, his nose, his hair. "I
am all here except my eyesight," he said. The little old woman
anointed his eyes with the _cobra's_ oil. His sight was immediately
restored. Then he knew that the little old woman was indeed the Holy
Mother. She vanished as he knelt to receive her blessing.

The boy in his new strength quickly hastened back to the city. It was
night and the giant was asleep. He seized his father's sword and
plunged it into the giant's body. The giant turned over without
awakening. "The mosquitoes are biting me," he muttered in his sleep.

The boy saw the giant's own enormous sword lying on the floor. It was
so heavy he could barely lift it, but mustering all his strength he
drove it into the giant's body. The giant died immediately.

"The magic circle of a mother's love, with the Holy Mother's help,
will guard a lad against all perils," said the boy's mother when she
heard her son's story and saw the giant lying dead.

VII

HOW THE GIANTESS GUIMARA BECAME SMALL

Once upon a time a prince called D. Joao went hunting with a number of
companions. In the deep forest he became separated from his comrades
and soon found out that he was lost. He wandered about for a long
time, and at last he spied what looked like a mountain range in the
distance. He journeyed toward it as fast as he could travel, and when
he got near to it he was surprised to find out that it was really a
high wall. It was the great wall which bounds the land of the giants.
The ruler of the country was an enormous giant whose head reached
almost to the clouds. The giant