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 the water out of this stone.” When the giant found out that the boy was so strong, he went away in great fear and trembling to his abode. 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?” said the boy. “No,” replied the giant. “Well, then, if you are so afraid you can hold and cut for yourself.”