A giant came out, and when he saw the lad up on the tree throwing down the apples to the pigs, the head rose on him (i.e., he got furious). He came to the tree. "Get down out of that," says he. "I think you big for one bite and small for two bites; come down till I draw you under my long cold teeth."
"Arrah, take yourself easy," says the boy; "perhaps it's too quick I'd come down to you."
"I won't be talking to you any longer," says the giant. He got a leverage on the tree and drew it up out of the roots.
"Go down, black thong, and squeeze that fellow," says the lad, for he remembered the advice of the bracket bull. On the instant the black thong leaped out of his hand, and squeezed the giant so hard that the two eyes were going out on his head, for stronger was the power of the bull than the power of the giant. The giant was not able to put a stir out of himself, and he promised anything at all--only to save his life for him. "Anything at all you want," says he to the lad, "you must get it from me."
"I'm not asking anything at all except the loan of the sword that's under your bed," says he.
"I give it to you, and welcome," says the giant. He went in, and brought out the sword with him.
"Try it on the three biggest trees that are in the wood, and you won't feel it in your hand going through them," says the giant.
"I don't see any tree in the wood bigger or uglier than yourself," says he, drawing the sword and whipping the head off him, so that he sent it seven furrows and seven ridges with that stroke.
"If I were to get on the body again," said the head, and it talking, "and the men of the world wouldn't get me off the trunk again."
"I'll take good care myself of that," says the lad.
When he drove the cows home in the evening, they had that much milk that they had not half enough of vessels, and two coopers were obliged to make new vessels to hold the quantity of milk they had.
"You're the best lad that ever I met," says the gentleman, and he was thankful to him.
The giants used to put--each man of them--a shout of him every evening. The people only heard two shouts that evening. "There's some change in the caher[2] to-night," said the gentleman, when he heard the two shouts.
