The owl looked down and watched the frolic of the dwarfs for nearly an hour. Then one of the three dwarfs, who formed the Council, blew a shrill blast upon a whistle. At this signal the whole colony gathered into a group in front of the Council. Now all were quiet, and the owl knew this was his time to speak, for the tasks of the night were to be given out, and as each one received his commission, he would go away. The owl flapped his wings, and they all looked up. Some of them had seen him before, and knew him to be one of the king’s messengers. So they invited him to a seat on a rock near them, and listened with respectful attention while he told them of the bad behavior of the giants, and of the advice of the wise woman. He took good care not to tell them that the king at first thought this advice ridiculous, but made it appear that his majesty relied upon the good dwarfs to conquer the giants, and to make them behave peaceably. The method of accomplishing this he left entirely to their wisdom. It was a very flattering speech, and the owl looked so grave while delivering his message that the dwarfs believed every word of it. Never in all the history of kobolds had anything like this happened. The giants were the beings that the dwarfs feared more than any other creatures, and they took very good care always to keep out of their way. And now their king thought them capable of vanquishing these gigantic enemies! The whole colony became at once puffed up with pride and vanity, and clamored to the Council to lead them forth immediately to fight the giants. Two of the members of the Council had their wits completely carried away by the enthusiasm of the colony, and waved their hats, and shouted, “On to the giants!” But the third member sat quiet until all the company had shouted themselves hoarse, and were still once more. Then he said: “My friends, we can never conquer the giants in an open fight. One of these huge creatures could crush a dozen of us at a time with one foot, and a giant’s club would knock our whole colony higher than a kite. Moreover we know nothing about fighting. The kobolds have been peaceable people from the beginning of time, and all warfare is distasteful to us. The giants are big and strong, but everybody knows they have not much wit, while our small heads are full of brains. The giants do nothing but mischief, and any fool can do that. But we spend our time in work that requires intelligence and skill. The king has honored us by selecting us to punish the giants for their bad behavior, and I feel sure we can conquer them; but we must do it by using our brains, and not with weapons of war.” The name of the dwarf who thus spoke, was Bron, and he was looked upon by the whole colony as the brightest wit among them. So they listened attentively to all he had to say. But they were not in the humor for following this good advice. The king evidently expected them to fight the giants, and fight them they would.