'Well,' said he, 'if I were as foolish as you two, I would also fly into a rage, but I begin to see what time of day it is, and I'm going off this minute to see who it is that's playing these tricks with us.'
So well had the giant made his observations, that though Niels climbed down the tree as fast as he could, so as to hide among the bushes, he had just got to the ground when the enemy was upon him.
'Stay where you are,' said the giant, 'or I'll put my foot on you, and there won't be much of you left after that.'
Niels gave in, and the giant carried him back to his comrades.
'You don't deserve any mercy at our hands,' said his captor 'but as you are such a good shot you may be of great use to us, so we shall spare your life, if you will do us a service.Not far from here there stands a castle, in which the king's daughter lives; we are at war with the king, and want to get the upper hand of him by carrying off the princess, but the castle is so well guarded that there is no getting into it.By our skill in magic we have cast sleep on every living thing in the castle, except a little black dog, and, as long as he is awake, we are no better off than before; for, as soon as we begin to climb over the wall, the little dog will hear us, and its barking will waken all the others again.Having got you, we can place you where you will be able to shoot the dog before it begins to bark, and then no one can hinder us from getting the princess into our hands.If you do that, we shall not only let you off, but reward you handsomely.'
Niels had to consent, and the giants set out for the castle at once.
It was surrounded by a very high rampart, so high that even the giants could not touch the top of it.'How am I to get over that?'
said Niels.
'Quite easily,' said the third giant; ' I'll throw you up on it.'
'No, thanks,' said Niels.'I might fall down on the other side, or break my leg or neck, and then the little dog wouldn't get shot after all.'
'No fear of that,' said the giant; 'the rampart is quite wide on the top, and covered with long grass, so that you will come down as softly as though you fell on a feather-bed.'
Niels had to believe him, and allowed the giant to throw him up.
He came down on his feet quite unhurt, but the little black dog heard the dump, and rushed out of its kennel at once.It was just opening its mouth to bark, when Niels fired, and it fell dead on the spot.
'Go down on the inside now,' said the giant, 'and see if you can open the gate to us.'
Niels made his way down into the courtyard, but on his way to the outer gate he found himself at the entrance to the large hall of the castle.The door was open, and the hall was brilliantly lighted, though there was no one to be seen.Niels went in here and looked round him: on the wall there hung a huge sword without a sheath, and beneath it was a large drinking-horn, mounted with silver.
Niels went closer to look at these, and saw that the horn had letters engraved on the silver rim: when he took it down and turned it round, he found that the inscription was:--Whoever drinks the wine I hold Can wield the sword that hangs above;Then let him use it for the right, And win a royal maiden's love.
Niels took out the silver stopper of the horn, and drank some of the wine, but when he tried to take down the sword he found himself unable to move it.So he hung up the horn again, and went further in to the castle.'The giants can wait a little,' he said.
Before long he came to an apartment in which a beautiful princess lay asleep in a bed, and on a table by her side there lay a gold-hemmed handkerchief.Niels tore this in two, and put one half in his pocket, leaving the other half on the table.On the floor he saw a pair of gold-embroidered slippers, and one of these he also put in his pocket.After that he went back to the hall, and took down the horn again.'Perhaps I have to drink all that is in it before I can move the sword,' he thought; so he put it to his lips again and drank till it was quite empty.When he had done this, he could wield the sword with the greatest of ease, and felt himself strong enough to do anything, even to fight the giants he had left outside, who were no doubt wondering why he had not opened the gate to them before this time.To kill the giants, he thought, would be using the sword for the right; but as to winning the love of the princess, that was a thing which the son of a poor sheep-farmer need not hope for.
When Niels came to the gate of the castle, he found that there was a large door and a small one, so he opened the latter.
'Can't you open the big door?' said the giants; 'we shall hardly be able to get in at this one.'
'The bars are too heavy for me to draw,' said Niels; 'if you stoop a little you can quite well come in here.' The first giant accordingly bent down and entered in a stooping posture, but before he had time to straighten his back again Niels made a sweep with the sword, and oft went the giant's head.To push the body aside as it fell was quite easy for Niels, so strong had the wine made him, and the second giant as he entered met the same reception.The third was slower in coming, so Niels called out to him: 'Be quick,' he said, 'you are surely the oldest of the three, since you are so slow in your movements, but I can't wait here long; I must get back to my own people as soon as possible.' So the third also came in, and was served in the same way.It appears from the story that giants were not given fair play!
By this time day was beginning to break, and Niels thought that his folks might already be searching for him, so, instead of waiting to see what took place at the castle, he ran off to the forest as fast as he could, taking the sword with him.He found the others still asleep, so he woke them up, and they again set out on their journey.
Of the night's adventures he said not a word, and when they asked where he got the sword, he only pointed in the direction of the castle, and said, 'Over that way.' They thought he had found it, and asked no more questions.
