Elsie Spicer Eells

“ The moment the prince turned his eyes from the pathway straight ahead of him a giant seized him and made him his slave. “You shall be my slave for ever and a day,” said the giant, “unless you have gold enough to pay your ransom.”
At home in the palace garden his little brother was watching the lemon tree. The very moment its leaves began to wither he noticed it and ran at once to the king. “O my father,” he cried as soon as he was in the king’s presence. “My brother is in trouble. I must go to his aid.”
“You, my son, are only a lad,” said the king. ”

“ The dragon which guards the fountain is an enchanted princess. No prince has ever before been brave enough and wise enough to reach this spot. In a year and a day from this moment her enchantment will be broken. ”

“ Manoel grew up a wise lad indeed. His father and mother were very proud of him and so was his kind teacher, the giant.
One day the king’s messenger rode up and down the kingdom with a message from the king’s daughter. The king’s daughter, the beautiful princess of the land, had promised to wed the man who could tell her a riddle she could not guess. All the princes who had sung of love beneath the palace window had been very stupid. The princess wished to marry a man who knew more than she did. ”

“ The very first person whom the prince saw in the land of the giants was a lovely captive princess. The opening which the beetle had made in the wall led directly to the dungeon in which she was confined.
The prince had learned many things on his journey, and among the lessons he had learned was this one: “Always rescue a fair maiden in distress.” He immediately asked what he could do to rescue the beautiful captive princess.
“You can never succeed in rescuing me, I fear,” replied the princess. “At the door of this palace there is a giant on guard who never sleeps.” ”

“ He was sitting upon the royal throne with his royal crown upon his head, but his blind eyes were bandaged and his royal face was sad because he could no longer see the bright sunlight shining upon the deep blue sea from the window of the palace, nor the lords and ladies of the court before him in their gorgeous garments of purple and cloth of silver and cloth of gold, nor of the face of the queen.
“O royal majesty,” said the little old woman as she bowed low before him, “there is only one thing in the whole world which will restore your lost eyesight. ”

“ The beast was so enormous that just the tip of its tail made a great ring large enough to encircle the prince’s body. One day, just in fun, he twined the tip of the beast’s tail around his waist. He immediately grew and grew until he became a giant himself, almost as tall as the king of the land of giants, and several leagues taller than the princess. It is not strange that a man who became a giant among giants should be famous even until now. ”

“ The most wonderful sparkling cloud of jewels fell about them. As the cloud cleared away there stood the most beautiful princess any one had ever seen or dreamed of between the old ama and the prince in the fisherman clothes. ”

“ Never once had they brought even a tiny little smile to her lovely face. “If my daughter can keep from laughing when she sees this funny sight I’ll give up in despair and eat my hat,” said the king of the land of giants, as he saw the jolly little figure playing upon the violin and the assembly of cat, sheep, monkeys and everything else dancing to the gay music. If the giant king had known how to dance he would have danced himself, but it was fortunate for the people of the earth that he did not know how. ”

“ The Princess and her ama travelled quickly with the prince to the kingdom which claimed to possess the most beautiful princess in the world. It was already the night of the appointed festa when they arrived. The king’s army was drawn up to slay the prince. No one dreamed that the poor fisherman would be able to bring any princess at all with him, much less a beautiful one. The prince hid the princess in the box which the old ama carried on top of her head. ”

“ The palace of the giant was a very wonderful palace. There was one room decked with silver, and one room decked with gold, and one room decked with diamonds. A beautiful river flowed by the garden gate.
As Domingo and his bride sailed down the river to the garden gate in the royal barge, they saw the cat sitting in the window singing. After that they never saw him again. He disappeared in the jungle and went to make some other poor man rich. Perhaps he will come your way some day. Who knows? “Quem sabe?” they say in Brazil. ”

“ They saw no one and heard no living sound. It was like a city of the dead. They grew hungry at length; and the lad went outside the city to seek for food in the forest, according to the custom which he had known all his life.
The mother returned to her old home to await the coming of her son. As soon as she went upstairs she saw that the barred door was wide open. There in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had ever seen. The great halls of the house were high, but the giant could not stand up in them without stooping. ”

“ The next day all the cavalheiros who had taken part in the tournament set out to slay the wild beast which often came out of the jungle to attack the city. It was the lad from the river who killed the beast, as all the cavalheiros knew. When they returned to the palace with the news that the beast had been slain, the king said, “Tomorrow night we will hold the greatest festa which this palace has ever witnessed. Tomorrow let all the cavalheiros who are here assembled go forth to hunt for birds to grace our table.” ”

“ When the boy comes in tell him that you have a terrible pain in your eyes. As you have lived long in the forest you will know that the best remedy for a pain in your eyes is the oil of the deadly cobra of the jungle. Send the lad out into the jungle to obtain this oil for you, and I promise you he will never return alive. ”

“ When the prince was inside the cave she hastily barred the door and said, “When the giant returned he was terribly angry at the princess because she had let you escape. He seized her roughly and put her into the box in your place. The princess had thrown away the key to the box when she let you out; and, search as he would, the giant was unable to find it again anywhere. That made him even angrier than before. All day he sits on the top of the chest when the princess is in the form of the hare. At night when he goes away he causes a great river to flow around the entrance to the cave. ”

“ The giant’s wife was nearly as enormous as he was, and their only child was as tall as her mother. Her name was Guimara.
When the giant saw D. Joaõ he called out, “O, little man, what are you doing down there?” D. Joaõ narrated his adventures to the giant, and the giant said, “Your story of your wanderings interests me. It is not often that little men like you pass this way. If you like you may live in my palace and be my servant.” D. Joaõ accepted the giant’s offer and stayed at the palace.
The giant’s daughter Guimara was very much pleased with D. Joaõ. ”

“ The expedition will need as its leader a prince with a brave heart, for there will be many perils on the way to test his mettle. The fountain of Giantland is at the summit of a long steep rocky mountain, and it can be reached only by a prince who ascends the mountain looking neither to the right nor to the left. All along the way stand huge giants ready to enslave one the moment he stops looking straight ahead. If one should succeed in climbing the mountain the fountain is there at the summit, but it is guarded by a dragon. One can approach it only when the dragon is asleep. ”

“ He was very fond of his cat, and he said, “O, Cat, let come what will, I’ll never part with you. I would rather starve.”
The cat replied, “O good master Domingo, rest in peace. You will never starve as long as you have me. I am going out into the world to make a fortune for us both.”
The cat went out into the jungle and dug and dug. Every time he dug he turned up silver pieces. The cat took a number of these home to his master so that he could purchase food. ”

“ You got into this trouble following me into the cave and I am so sorry for you that I am going to let you out.”
“You are so beautiful that I could stay here for ever and gaze into your lovely eyes,” said the prince.
“You would see only a hare in the daytime,” replied the princess. “It is not always night. Besides, the giant may return at any moment. He just went out on a hunting trip because he thought that you would not make a sufficiently big supper for him. Don’t be foolish. I’ll show you the way out of the cave and then you must hurry home as fast as possible.” ”

“ The rest of the pieces of silver the cat carried to the king.
The next day the cat dug up pieces of gold and carried them to the king. The next day he carried pieces of diamonds.
“Where do you get these rich gifts? Who is sending me such wonderful presents?” asked the king.
The cat replied, “It is my master, Domingo.”
Now the king had a beautiful daughter. He thought that this man Domingo must be the richest man in the whole kingdom. He decided that his daughter should marry him at once. He made arrangements for the wedding through the cat. ”

“ In the stone there is a pigeon. In the pigeon there is an egg. In the egg there is a candle. At the moment when that candle is extinguished I die.”
All this time the prince had remained there, hiding under his magic cap. He heard every word the beast said. As soon as the beast had gone to sleep the prince stood on the seashore and said: “Help me, O King of the Fishes,” as he took out the scale which his brother-in-law had given him. Immediately there appeared a great multitude of fishes asking what he wished them to do. He asked them to get the chest from the depths of the sea. ”

“ The boy from that time on reigned over half of the kingdom of giants as prince of the land. He never had the least bit of difficulty in preserving his authority, for the biggest giants would at once obey his slightest request if he played on his violin to them. The beasts stayed in the land of the giants so long that they grew into giant beasts, but the boy and his violin always remained just as they were when they entered the land. ”

“ Guimara spied her father coming and turned herself into a little river. She turned D. Joaõ into an old negro, the horse into a tree, the saddle into a bed of onions, and the musket they carried into a butterfly.
When the giant came to the river he called out to the old negro who was taking a bath, “O, my old negro, have you seen anything of a little man accompanied by a handsome young woman?” ”

“ The giant did as she requested, and the horse bore the slain boy’s body along the road to the forest. Outside the city they met the little old woman who was really Nossa Senhora. She took the parts of the lad’s body and anointed them with the porcupine’s oil. Then she held them tight together. They stayed securely joined. “Are you lacking anything,” she asked the boy.
The boy felt of his legs, his arms, his ears, his nose, his hair. “I am all here except my eyesight,” he said. The little old woman anointed his eyes with the cobra’s oil. ”

“ The princess saw in Manoel’s eyes all the secrets of the forests and jungles which the kind giant had taught him. “Here is a youth who will tell me a riddle which will be worth listening to,” said the princess to herself. All the princes and cavalheiros from all the neighbouring kingdoms had told her such stupid riddles that she had been bored nearly to death. She could always guess the answers, even before she had heard the end of the riddle.
This is the riddle which Manoel told the princess:
“I went away from home with a pocket full ”

“ She and the prince lived together happily in the prince’s palace, and the giant never troubled them again, though they were always careful to keep away from the forest.
V
THE LITTLE SISTER OF THE GIANTS Return to Contents
Once upon a time there was a little girl who was very beautiful. Her eyes were like the eyes of the gazelle; her hair hid in its soft waves the deep shadows of the night; her smile was like the sunrise. Each year as she grew older she grew also more and more beautiful. Her name was Angelita. ”

“ At the very first opportunity she slipped into the room. She opened the casket and was surprised to see the beautiful quiet maid. “You are very lovely,” she said to the still form, “all except your slippers. I think they are very ugly.” With these words she pulled off the leather slippers.
Angelita gave a deep sigh, opened her beautiful eyes, and asked for a drink of water.
The little sister called the prince at once. When he saw Angelita was really alive he could hardly believe the good fortune. He asked that the wedding night be celebrated immediately. ”

“ The poor father had to yield just as before, though it nearly broke his heart to part with his only remaining child. The price which the young man paid was so very great that the family was now as rich as it had once been poor. ”

“ The key could unlock any door in the whole world. The young man at once wanted to own these things himself, and he offered so much money for them that at last the three brothers decided to end their quarrel by selling the boot, the cap, and the key and dividing the money. ”