So he went back in a tower of a temper and this time they gave him the
gardener's boy. He went off with him on his back till they got to the
stone again when the giant sat down to rest. And he said:
“Hidge, Hodge, on my back, what time of day do you make that?”
The gardener's boy said: “Sure it's the time that my mother takes up the
vegetables for the queen's dinner.” Then the giant was right wild and
dashed his brains out on the stone.
Then the giant went back to the king's house in a terrible temper and
said he would destroy them all if they did not give him Nix Nought
Nothing this time. They had to do it; and when he came to the big stone,
the giant said: “What time of day is that?” Nix Nought Nothing said: “It
is the time that my father the king will be sitting down to supper.” The
giant said: “I've got the right one now;” and took Nix Nought Nothing to
his own house and brought him up till he was a man.
The giant had a bonny daughter, and she and the lad grew very fond of
each other. The giant said one day to Nix Nought Nothing: “I've work for
you to-morrow. There is a stable seven miles long and seven miles broad,
and it has not been cleaned for seven years, and you must clean it
to-morrow, or I will have you for my supper.”
The giant's daughter went out next morning with the lad's breakfast, and
found him in a terrible state, for always as he cleaned out a bit, it
just fell in again. The giant's daughter said she would help him, and
she cried all the beasts in the field, and all the fowls of the air, and
in a minute they all came, and carried away everything that was in the
stable and made it all clean before the giant came home. He said: “Shame
on the wit that helped you; but I have a worse job for you to-morrow.”
Then he said to Nix Nought Nothing: “There's a lake seven miles long,
and seven miles deep, and seven miles broad, and you must drain it
to-morrow by nightfall, or else I'll have you for my supper.” Nix Nought
Nothing began early next morning and tried to lave the water with his
pail, but the lake was never getting any less, and he didn't know what
to do; but the giant's daughter called on all the fish in the sea to
come and drink the water, and very soon they drank it dry. When the
giant saw the work done he was in a rage, and said: “I've a worse job
for you to-morrow; there is a tree, seven miles high, and no branch on
it, till you get to the top, and there is a nest with seven eggs in it,
and you must bring down all the eggs without breaking one, or else I'll
have you for my supper.” At first the giant's daughter did not know how
to help Nix Nought Nothing; but she cut off first her fingers and then
her toes, and made steps of them, and he clomb the tree and got all the
eggs safe till he came just to the bottom, and then one was broken. So
they determined to run away together and after the giant's daughter had
tidied up her hair a bit and got her magic flask they set out together
as fast as they could run.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account