"I did feel something," said Ashpot; "but I thought that it was only a sausage-peg that had fallen on the bed, so I went to sleep again." The giant was more astonished than ever, and went off to consult his sister, who lived in a neighbouring mountain, and was about ten times his size. At length it was settled that the giantess should set her cooking-pot on the fire, and that Ashpot should be sent to see her, when she was to tip him into the caldron and boil him. In the course of the day the giant sent the boy off with a message to his sister, and when he reached the giantess's dwelling he found her busy cooking. But he soon saw through her design, and he took out of his pocket a nut with a hole in it. "Look here," he said, showing the nut to the ogress, "you think you can do everything. I will tell you one thing that you can't do: you can't make yourself so small as to be able to creep into the hole in this nut." "Rubbish!" replied the giantess. "Of course I can!" And in a moment she became as small as a fly, and crept into the nut, whereupon Ashpot hurled it into the fire, and that was the end of the giantess. The boy was so delighted that he returned to his old tyrant the giant and told him what had happened to his sister. This set the big man thinking again as to how he was to rid himself of this sharp-witted little nuisance. He did not understand boys, and he was afraid of Ashpot's tricks, so he offered him as much gold and silver as he could carry if he would go away and never return. Ashpot, however, replied that the amount he could carry would not be worth having, and that he could not think of going unless he got as much as the giant could carry. The giant, glad to get rid of him at any cost, agreed, and, loading himself with gold and silver and precious stones, he set out with the boy towards his home. When they reached the outskirts of the farms they saw a herd of cattle, and the giant began to tremble. "What sort of beasts are these?" he asked. "They are my father's cows," replied Ashpot, "and you had better put down your burden and run back to your mountain, or they may bite you." The giant was only too happy to get away, so, depositing his load, which was as big as a small hill, he made off, and left the boy to carry his treasure home by himself. So enormous was the amount of the valuables that it was six years before Ashpot succeeded in removing everything from the field where the giant had set it down; but he and all his relations were rich people for the rest of their lives. CHAPTER VIII THE HARDANGER FJORD All that is grand, all that is beautiful, will be found in the Hardanger--the "Smiling Hardanger," as the Norwegians themselves call it; and even if an English visitor went nowhere else, he would have seen typical Norwegian scenery of every possible kind.