  I wonder how children would do without fairy-tales. Every country and every age has these, and devours them eagerly, old as they are. Perhaps it would be interesting to inquire how they arose. It is said that a Queen saw her children looking very sad, although they had everything that she could think of for their happiness. The truth was they did not know what they wanted. She said, “If only I were a child again, I would know what is the secret of a child’s happiness.” While she was thinking a bird flew into her lap, but only for a moment. As soon as it had gone, she saw a golden egg. “Perhaps,” she thought, “this egg will contain what will give my children contentment, and remove their sadness.” She broke the egg, and out came the wonderful bird, Imagination, the Popular Tale. Now the children were happy and bright. For the tale took them far away, but brought them home again as soon as they desired. So it came about that not only children, but those who are older in years, found a peculiar joy and The Crafty Boy and the Stupid Giant Once upon a time there was a boy who watched goats in the forest. He was alone, and one day had to pass a large dwelling. He had been enjoying himself, shouting and singing, as boys will do when in the woods, when suddenly he saw coming from the house a giant, of great size and fierce to look upon. The giant was very angry because he had been disturbed in his sleep, and the boy became so frightened that he at once took to his heels, and never stopped running till he got home. In the evening his mother had been making cheese, and he took a piece that was newly made, and put it in his wallet. Next morning he had again to pass the giant’s house. The giant, when he saw him, took up a piece of stone, crushed it into atoms, let it fall upon the ground, and said: “If you again disturb me with your noise, I will crush you as I have crushed this stone.” The boy, who was by this time quite bold, took up the cheese he had brought in his wallet, and squeezing the whey out of it, said to the giant: “I will squeeze thee as I squeeze However, they soon met again, and then the boy suggested a trial of strength. The test was who could throw an axe so high in the air that it would never fall down again. The giant tried many times, but the axe always fell down again. The boy began to mock him, saying: “I thought you were a very strong man, but you are not. See how I can throw the axe.” With that he took the axe and swinging it as if with great force, very cleverly let it slide into the wallet on his back. The giant did not see the trick, and, looking in vain for the axe falling down again, thought the boy must be wonderfully strong. The giant was so much impressed with the boy’s strength, that he asked him to enter his service. The boy’s first duty was to assist with the felling of a tree. “I will hold while you fell,” said the boy. But as the boy was not tall enough to reach to the top of the trunk, the giant bent it down to the level of the boy. As soon as the boy seized it, the tree at once rebounded and carried the boy out of sight. In a short time he came back lame, but saying nothing. “Why did you not hold?” said the giant. “Would you be brave enough to make a jump like that?” Soon the giant had cut down the tree. How was it to be carried home? It was arranged that the giant should carry the thin end, and the boy the thick one. The giant went in front, and raised his end on his shoulder. The boy behind called him to move it farther forward. Soon the giant had it so balanced on his shoulder, that he had the whole weight of it. After walking for some time, he shouted: “Are you not tired yet?” The boy, who had seated himself on his end of the tree, answered: “Certainly not.” When they arrived at the house, the giant was quite worn out. “Are you not tired even yet?” said the giant. The boy answered: “You must not think so little tires me. I could quite easily have carried it myself.” The giant was amazed, and wondered what he would try next. He suggested they should thresh grain. “Let us do it very early in the morning, before we get our breakfast,” said the boy. The giant agreed. When they began the boy received a flail he could not lift, so he took up a stick and beat the ground while the giant threshed. As they had been working in the dark, the boy’s device had A GIRL WITH “KICKER.” Carl Larsson. Some time after the giant sent the boy to plough, and told him that when the dog came, he was to loose the oxen, bring them home, and put them in their stable. He brought them home, but as there was no entrance, he did not know how to get them in. As he could not lift the house like the giant, he made up his mind to kill the oxen, cut up their carcases, and put them in in this way. On his return the giant asked if he had put the oxen in the stall. “Yes,” said the boy, “I got them in, although I divided them.” The giant now began to think the boy was too dangerous to have in the house, and, on the advice of his wife, resolved to put him to death while he slept. The boy was suspicious that something was going to happen, and when night came, put the churn in the bed, while he himself hid behind the door. In came the giant; down came the club, so that the cream from the churn bespattered all his face. “Ha, ha, ha! I have struck him so that his brains have bespattered the wall,” said the giant afterwards to his wife. The two now lay down to What a surprise they got next morning, when the boy appeared as if nothing had happened. “What,” said the giant, “art thou not dead? I thought I had killed thee with my club.” The boy answered: “Now that explains it. I had imagined that I felt a flea biting me in the night-time.” At the close of the day a large basin of porridge was placed between them. “What do you say to our trying to see who will eat most?” said the boy. The giant was quite willing. The boy was too cunning. He had tied a large bag before his chest, and let large quantities of the porridge fall into it. When the giant came to a standstill, he saw the boy still continuing with as good an appetite as when he began. “How can a little fellow like you eat so much?” said the giant. “Father, I will soon show you. When I have eaten as much as I can, I do so, and begin again.” He then ripped up the bag, and the porridge ran out. The giant took up a knife in imitation of the boy, but was soon dead. Then the boy gathered all the money he could get, and left by night. So ends the story of the crafty boy and the stupid giant. |
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