A more detailed version is found in a Sicilian story in Gonzenbach, "The
Brave Shoemaker" (No. 41), the first part of which is like the Milanese
version. On his way to the giant's, the cobbler makes some balls of
plaster of Paris and cream-cheese, and puts them in his pocket. When he
heard the giant coming through the woods, he climbed a tree; but the
giant scented him, and told him to come down. The cobbler answered that
if he did not leave him alone he would twist his neck; and to show him
how strong he was, he crushed the balls of plaster of Paris in his
hands, telling the giant they were marble. The giant was frightened, and
invited the cobbler to remain with him, and took him home. After a
while, the giant asked him to bring some water in a pitcher from the
well. The cobbler said that if the giant would give him a strong rope he
would bring the well itself. The giant in terror took the pitcher, and
drew the water himself. Then the giant asked the cobbler to cut some
wood, but the latter asked for a strong rope to drag a whole tree to the
house with. Then the giant proposed a trial of strength, to see which
could carry a heavy stick the longer. The cobbler said that the giant
had better wind something about the thick end, for when he, the
cobbler, turned a somersault with it, he might hit the giant. When they
went to bed, the giant made the cobbler sleep with him; but the latter
crept under the bed, leaving a pumpkin in his place. The giant, who was
anxious to get rid of the cobbler, took an iron bar and struck at the
pumpkin all night, believing it the cobbler's head. After he had beaten
the pumpkin to pieces, the cobbler, under the bed, gave a sigh. "What is
the matter with you?" asked the terrified giant. "A flea has just bitten
my ear," answered the cobbler. The next day the cobbler proposed to the
giant to cook a great kettle of macaroni, and after they had eaten it,
he would cut open his stomach to show the giant that he had eaten it
without chewing it; the giant was to do the same afterward. The cobbler,
of course, secretly tied a sack about his neck, and put his macaroni in
it; then he took a knife and ripped open the bag, and the macaroni fell
out. The giant, in attempting to follow the cobbler's example, killed
himself. Then the cobbler cut his head off, carried it to the king, and
claimed his daughter's hand.[34]

The stories given in this chapter constitute, as we have already said in
the Introduction,