صفحة 167 من 626

The little tailor went forth, and the hundred horsemen followed

him. When he came to the outskirts of the forest, he said to his

followers: 'Just stay waiting here, I alone will soon finish off

the giants.' Then he bounded into the forest and looked about

right and left. After a while he perceived both giants. They lay

sleeping under a tree, and snored so that the branches waved up

and down. The little tailor, not idle, gathered two pocketsful of

stones, and with these climbed up the tree. When he was halfway

up, he slipped down by a branch, until he sat just above the

sleepers, and then let one stone after another fall on the breast

of one of the giants. For a long time the giant felt nothing, but

at last he awoke, pushed his comrade, and said: 'Why are you

knocking me?' 'You must be dreaming,' said the other, 'I am not

knocking you.' They laid themselves down to sleep again, and then

the tailor threw a stone down on the second.