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Authors: Andrew Lang
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had Enough."
* * * * *
The contest was over; Dick was resting on a rock. The lists were strewn with interesting but imperfect fragments of the Giant, when a set of double teeth of enormous size flew up out of the ground and caught Ricardo by the throat! In vain he strove to separate the teeth, when the crow, stooping from the heavens, became the Princess Jaqueline, and changed Dick into a wren--a tiny bird, so small that he easily flew out of the jaws of the Giant and winged his way to a tree, whence he watched the scene.
But the poor Princess Jaqueline!
To perform the feat of changing Dick into a bird she had, of course, according to all the laws of magic, to resume her own natural form!
There she stood, a beautiful, trembling maiden, her hands crossed on her bosom, entirely at the mercy of the Giant!
No sooner had Dick escaped than the monster began to
collect himself
; and before Jaqueline could muster strength to run away or summon to her aid the lessons of the Fairy Paribanou, the Giant who never Knew when he had Enough was himself again. A boy might have climbed up a tree (for giants are no tree-climbers, any more than the grizzly bear), but Jaqueline could not climb. She merely stood, pale and trembling. She had saved Dick, but at an enormous sacrifice, for the sword and the Seven- league Boots were lying on the trampled grass. He had not brought the Cap of Darkness, and, in the shape of a wren, of course he could not carry away the other articles. Dick was rescued, that was all, and the Princess Jaqueline had sacrificed herself to her love for him.
The Giant picked himself up and pulled himself together, as we said, and then approached Jaqueline in a very civil way, for a person of his breeding, head in hand.
"Let me introduce myself," he said, and mentioned his name and titles. "May I ask what
you
are doing here, and how you came?"
{"Let me introduce myself," he said: p154.jpg}
Poor Jaqueline threw herself at his feet, and murmured a short and not very intelligible account of herself.
"I don't understand," said the Giant, replacing his head on his shoulders. "What to do with you, I'm sure I don't know. '
Please don't eat me
,' did you say? Why, what do you take me for? I'm not in that line at all; low,
I
call it!"
Jaqueline was somewhat comforted at these words, dropped out of the Giant's lips from a considerable height.
"But they call you 'The Giant who does not Know when he has had Enough,'" said Jaqueline.
"And proud of the title: not enough of fighting. Of
punishment
I am a glutton, or so my friends are pleased to say. A brace of oxen, a drove of sheep or two, are enough for me," the Giant went on complacently, but forgetting to mention that the sheep and the oxen were the property of other people. "Where am I to put you till your friends come and pay your ransom?" the Giant asked again, and stared at Jaqueline in a perplexed way. "I can't take you home with me, that is out of the question. I have a little woman of my own, and she's not very fond of other ladies; especially, she would like to poison them that have good looks."
Now Jaqueline saw that the Giant, big as he was, courageous too, was afraid of his wife!
"I'll tell you what I'll do; I'll hand you over to a neighbour of mine, who is a bachelor."
"A bachelor giant; would that be quite proper?" said Jaqueline, trying to humour him.
"He's not a giant, bless you; he's a queer fellow, it is not easy to say what he is. He's the Earthquaker, him as shakes the earth now and then, and brings the houses about people's ears."
Jaqueline fairly screamed at hearing this awful news.
"Hush! be quiet, do!" said the Giant. "You'll bring out my little woman, and she is not easy to satisfy with explanations when she finds me conversing with a lady unbeknown to her. The Earthquaker won't do you any harm; it's only for safe keeping I'll put you with him. Why, he don't waken, not once in fifty years. He's quite the dormouse. Turns on his bed now and then,
* * * * *
The contest was over; Dick was resting on a rock. The lists were strewn with interesting but imperfect fragments of the Giant, when a set of double teeth of enormous size flew up out of the ground and caught Ricardo by the throat! In vain he strove to separate the teeth, when the crow, stooping from the heavens, became the Princess Jaqueline, and changed Dick into a wren--a tiny bird, so small that he easily flew out of the jaws of the Giant and winged his way to a tree, whence he watched the scene.
But the poor Princess Jaqueline!
To perform the feat of changing Dick into a bird she had, of course, according to all the laws of magic, to resume her own natural form!
There she stood, a beautiful, trembling maiden, her hands crossed on her bosom, entirely at the mercy of the Giant!
No sooner had Dick escaped than the monster began to
collect himself
; and before Jaqueline could muster strength to run away or summon to her aid the lessons of the Fairy Paribanou, the Giant who never Knew when he had Enough was himself again. A boy might have climbed up a tree (for giants are no tree-climbers, any more than the grizzly bear), but Jaqueline could not climb. She merely stood, pale and trembling. She had saved Dick, but at an enormous sacrifice, for the sword and the Seven- league Boots were lying on the trampled grass. He had not brought the Cap of Darkness, and, in the shape of a wren, of course he could not carry away the other articles. Dick was rescued, that was all, and the Princess Jaqueline had sacrificed herself to her love for him.
The Giant picked himself up and pulled himself together, as we said, and then approached Jaqueline in a very civil way, for a person of his breeding, head in hand.
"Let me introduce myself," he said, and mentioned his name and titles. "May I ask what
you
are doing here, and how you came?"
{"Let me introduce myself," he said: p154.jpg}
Poor Jaqueline threw herself at his feet, and murmured a short and not very intelligible account of herself.
"I don't understand," said the Giant, replacing his head on his shoulders. "What to do with you, I'm sure I don't know. '
Please don't eat me
,' did you say? Why, what do you take me for? I'm not in that line at all; low,
I
call it!"
Jaqueline was somewhat comforted at these words, dropped out of the Giant's lips from a considerable height.
"But they call you 'The Giant who does not Know when he has had Enough,'" said Jaqueline.
"And proud of the title: not enough of fighting. Of
punishment
I am a glutton, or so my friends are pleased to say. A brace of oxen, a drove of sheep or two, are enough for me," the Giant went on complacently, but forgetting to mention that the sheep and the oxen were the property of other people. "Where am I to put you till your friends come and pay your ransom?" the Giant asked again, and stared at Jaqueline in a perplexed way. "I can't take you home with me, that is out of the question. I have a little woman of my own, and she's not very fond of other ladies; especially, she would like to poison them that have good looks."
Now Jaqueline saw that the Giant, big as he was, courageous too, was afraid of his wife!
"I'll tell you what I'll do; I'll hand you over to a neighbour of mine, who is a bachelor."
"A bachelor giant; would that be quite proper?" said Jaqueline, trying to humour him.
"He's not a giant, bless you; he's a queer fellow, it is not easy to say what he is. He's the Earthquaker, him as shakes the earth now and then, and brings the houses about people's ears."
Jaqueline fairly screamed at hearing this awful news.
"Hush! be quiet, do!" said the Giant. "You'll bring out my little woman, and she is not easy to satisfy with explanations when she finds me conversing with a lady unbeknown to her. The Earthquaker won't do you any harm; it's only for safe keeping I'll put you with him. Why, he don't waken, not once in fifty years. He's quite the dormouse. Turns on his bed now and then,
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