“Yes, yes, wait till to-morrow,” said the giant, “and then I myself will
take you to her.”
“Ah! master, I thank you--but you are only mocking me,” said the King’s
son.
Next day the giant took him to the Master-maid. “Now you shall kill him,
and boil him in the great big cauldron you know of, and when you have
got the broth ready give me a call,” said the giant; then he lay down
on the bench to sleep, and almost immediately began to snore so that it
sounded like thunder among the hills.
So the Master-maid took a knife, and cut the Prince’s little finger, and
dropped three drops of blood upon a wooden stool; then she took all the
old rags, and shoe-soles, and all the rubbish she could lay hands on,
and put them in the cauldron; and then she filled a chest with gold
dust, and a lump of salt, and a water-flask which was hanging by the
door, and she also took with her a golden apple, and two gold chickens;
and then she and the Prince went away with all the speed they could,
and when they had gone a little way they came to the sea, and then
they sailed, but where they got the ship from I have never been able to
learn.
Now, when the giant had slept a good long time, he began to stretch
himself on the bench on which he was lying. “Will it soon boil?” said
he.
“It is just beginning,” said the first drop of blood on the stool.
So the giant lay down to sleep again, and slept for a long, long time.
Then he began to move about a little again. “Will it soon be ready now?”
said he, but he did not look up this time any more than he had done the
first time, for he was still half asleep.
“Half done!” said the second drop of blood, and the giant believed it
was the Master-maid again, and turned himself on the bench, and lay down
to sleep once more. When he had slept again for many hours, he began to
move and stretch himself. “Is it not done yet?” said he.
“It is quite ready,” said the third drop of blood. Then the giant began
to sit up and rub his eyes, but he could not see who it was who had
spoken to him, so he asked for the Master-maid, and called her. But
there was no one to give him an answer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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