Now the youngest of the lasses lost her ball, and this is how. She was
by a park paling, and she was tossing her ball, and it went up, and up,
and up, till it went fair over the paling; and when she climbed to look
for it, the ball ran along the green grass, and it ran right forward to
the door of a house that stood there, and the ball went into the house
and she saw it no more.
So she was taken away to be hanged by the neck till she was dead,
because she had lost her ball.
But the lass had a sweetheart, and he said he would go and get the ball.
So he went to the park gate, but 'twas shut; then he climbed the
railing, and when he got to the top of it an old woman rose up out of
the ditch before him and said that if he wanted to get the ball he must
sleep three nights in the house: so he said he would.
Well! when it was evening, he went into the house, and looked everywhere
for the ball, but he could not find it, nor any one in the house at all;
but when night came on he thought he heard bogles moving about in the
courtyard; so he looked out o' window, and, sure enough, the yard was
full of them!
Presently he heard steps coming upstairs, so he hid behind the door, and
was as still as a mouse. Then in came a big giant five times as tall as
the lad, and looked around; but seeing nothing he went to the window and
bowed himself to look out; and as he bowed on his elbows to see the
bogles in the yard, the lad stepped behind him, and with one blow of his
sword he cut him in twain, so that the top part of him fell in the yard,
and the bottom part remained standing looking out of the window.
Well! there was a great cry from the bogles when they saw half the giant
come tumbling down to them, and they called out, "There comes half our
master; give us the other half."
Then the lad said, "It's no use of thee, thou pair of legs, standing
alone at the window, as thou hast no eye to see with, so go join thy
brother"; and he cast the lower part of the giant after the top part.
Now when the bogles had gotten all the giant they were quiet.
Next night the lad went to sleep in the house again, and this time a
second giant came in at the door, and as he came in the lad cut him in
twain; but the legs walked on to the fire and went straight up the
chimney.
"Go, get thee after thy legs," said the lad to the head, and he cast the
other half of the giant up the chimney.
Now the third night nothing happened, so the lad got into bed; but
before he went to sleep he heard the bogles striving under the bed, and
he wondered what they were at. So he peeped, and saw that they had the
ball there, and were playing with it, casting it to and fro.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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