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 not been seen, and to escape detection, when daylight was approaching, he suggested that they should cease work for breakfast. “Yes,” said the giant, “it has been very hard work.” [Illustration: 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 rest in peace, believing they had rid themselves for ever of this terrible boy. 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.”