The giant, however, carried him home, suckled him, and Thumbling grewand became tall and strong after the manner of giants. When two yearshad passed, the old giant took him into the forest, wanted to try him,and said, "Pull up a stick for thyself." Then the boy was already sostrong that he tore up a young tree out of the earth by the roots. Butthe giant thought, "We must do better than that," took him back again,and suckled him two years longer. When he tried him, his strength hadincreased so much that he could tear an old tree out of the ground.That was still not enough for the giant; he again suckled him fortwo years, and when he then went with him into the forest and said,"Now just tear up a proper stick for me," the boy tore up the strongestoak-tree from the earth, so that it split, and that was a mere trifle tohim. "Now that will do," said the giant, "thou art perfect," and tookhim back to the field from whence he had brought him. His father wasthere following the plough. The young giant went up to him, and said,"Does my father see what a fine man his son has grown into?"
The farmer was alarmed, and said, "No, thou art not my son; I don'twant thee leave me!" "Truly I am your son; allow me to do your work,I can plough as well as you, nay better." "No, no, thou art not my son;and thou canst not plough go away!" However, as he was afraid of thisgreat man, he left go of the plough, stepped back and stood at one sideof the piece of land. Then the youth took the plough, and just pressedit with one hand, but his grasp was so strong that the plough went deepinto the earth. The farmer could not bear to see that, and called to him,"If thou art determined to plough, thou must not press so hard on it,that makes bad work." The youth, however, unharnessed the horses,and drew the plough himself, saying, "Just go home, father, and bidmy mother make ready a large dish of food, and in the meantime I willgo over the field." Then the farmer went home, and ordered his wife toprepare the food; but the youth ploughed the field which was two acreslarge, quite alone, and then he harnessed himself to the harrow, andharrowed the whole of the land, using two harrows at once. When he haddone it, he went into the forest, and pulled up two oak-trees, laid themacross his shoulders, and hung on them one harrow behind and one before,and also one horse behind and one before, and carried all as if it hadbeen a bundle of straw, to his parents' house. When he entered the yard,his mother did not recognize him, and asked, "Who is that horrible tallman?" The farmer said, "That is our son." She said, "No that cannot beour son, we never had such a tall one, ours was a little thing." Shecalled to him, "Go away, we do not want thee!" The youth was silent,but led his horses to the stable, gave them some oats and hay, and allthat they wanted. When he had done this, he went into the parlour, satdown on the bench and said, "Mother, now I should like something to eat,will it soon be ready?" Then she said, "Yes," and brought in two immensedishes full of food, which would have been enough to satisfy herself andher husband for a week. The youth, however, ate the whole of it himself,and asked if she had nothing more to set before him. "No," she replied,"that is all we have." "But that was only a taste, I must have more." Shedid not dare to oppose him, and went and put a huge caldron full of foodon the fire, and when it was ready, carried it in. "At length come a fewcrumbs," said he, and ate all there was, but it was still not sufficientto appease his hunger. Then said he, "Father, I see well that with you Ishall never have food enough; if you will get me an iron staff which isstrong, and which I cannot break against my knees, I will go out intothe world." The farmer was glad, put his two horses in his cart, andfetched from the smith a staff so large and thick, that the two horsescould only just bring it away. The youth laid it across his knees, andsnap! he broke it in two in the middle like a bean-stalk, and threw itaway. The father then harnessed four horses, and brought a bar which wasso long and thick, that the four horses could only just drag it. The sonsnapped this also in twain against his knees, threw it away, and said,"Father, this can be of no use to me, you must harness more horses,and bring a stronger staff." So the father harnessed eight horses, andbrought one which was so long and thick, that the eight horses could onlyjust carry it. When the son took it in his hand, he broke off a bit fromthe top of it also, and said, "Father, I see that you will not be ableto procure me any such staff as I want, I will remain no longer with you."
So he went away, and gave out that he was a smith's apprentice. Hearrived at a village, wherein lived a smith who was a greedy fellow, whonever did a kindness to any one, but wanted everything for himself. Theyouth went into the smithy and asked if he needed a journeyman. "Yes,"said the smith, and looked at him, and thought, "That is a strong fellowwho will strike out well, and earn his bread." So he asked, "How muchwages dost thou want?" "I don't want any at all," he replied, "only everyfortnight, when the other journeymen are paid, I will give thee two blows,and thou must bear them." The miser was heartily satisfied, and thoughthe would thus save much money. Next morning, the strange journeyman wasto begin to work, but when the master brought the glowing bar, and theyouth struck his first blow, the iron flew asunder, and the anvil sankso deep into the earth, that there was no bringing it out again. Thenthe miser grew angry, and said, "Oh, but I can't make any use of you,you strike far too powerfully; what will you have for the one blow?"
Then said he, "I will only give you quite a small blow, that's all." Andhe raised his foot, and gave him such a kick that he flew away over fourloads of hay. Then he sought out the thickest iron bar in the smithyfor himself, took it as a stick in his hand and went onwards.
When he had walked for some time, he came to a small farm, and asked thebailiff if he did not require a head-servant. "Yes," said the bailiff,"I can make use of one; you look a strong fellow who can do something,how much a year do you want as wages?" He again replied that he wantedno wages at all, but that every year he would give him three blows,which he must bear. Then the bailiff was satisfied, for he, too, wasa covetous fellow. Next morning all the servants were to go into thewood, and the others were already up, but the head-servant was stillin bed. Then one of them called to him, "Get up, it is time; we aregoing into the wood, and thou must go with us." "Ah," said he quiteroughly and surlily, "you may just go, then; I shall be back againbefore any of you." Then the others went to the bailiff, and told himthat the head-man was still lying in bed, and would not go into thewood with them. The bailiff said they were to awaken him again, andtell him to harness the horses. The head-man, however, said as before,"Just go there, I shall be back again before any of you." And then hestayed in bed two hours longer. At length he arose from the feathers,but first he got himself two bushels of peas from the loft, made himselfsome broth with them, ate it at his leisure, and when that was done,went and harnessed the horses, and drove into the wood. Not far from thewood was a ravine through which he had to pass, so he first drove thehorses on, and then stopped them, and went behind the cart, took treesand brushwood, and made a great barricade, so that no horse could getthrough. When he was entering the wood, the others were just driving outof it with their loaded carts to go home; then said he to them, "Drive on,I will still get home before you do." He did not drive far into the wood,but at once tore two of the very largest trees of all out of the earth,threw them on his cart, and turned round. When he came to the barricade,the others were still standing there, not able to get through. "Don'tyou see," said he, "that if you had stayed with me, you would have gothome just as quickly, and would have had another hour's sleep?" He nowwanted to drive on, but his horses could not work their way through,so he unharnessed them, laid them on the top of the cart, took theshafts in his own hands, and pulled it all through, and he did this justas easily as if it had been laden with feathers. When he was over, hesaid to the others, "There, you see, I have got over quicker than you,"and drove on, and the others had to stay where they were. In the yard,however, he took a tree in his hand, showed it to the bailiff, and said,"Isn't that a fine bundle of wood?" Then said the bailiff to his wife,"The servant is a good one, if he does sleep long, he is still home beforethe others." So he served the bailiff for a year, and when that was over,and the other servants were getting their wages, he said it was timefor him to take his too. The bailiff, however, was afraid of the blowswhich he was to receive, and earnestly entreated him to excuse him fromhaving them; for rather than that, he himself would be head-servant, andthe youth should be bailiff. "No," said he, "I will not be a bailiff, Iam head-servant, and will remain so, but I will administer that which weagreed on." The bailiff was willing to give him whatsoever he demanded,but it was of no use, the head-servant said no to everything. Then thebailiff did not know what to do, and begged for a fortnight's delay,for he wanted to find some way of escape. The head-servant consentedto this delay. The bailiff summoned all his clerks together, and theywere to think the matter over, and give him advice. The clerks ponderedfor a long time, but at last they said that no one was sure of his lifewith the head-servant, for he could kill a man as easily as a midge,and that the bailiff ought to make him get into the well and clean it,and when he was down below, they would roll up one of the mill-stoneswhich was lying there, and throw it on his head; and then he would neverreturn to daylight. The advice pleased the bailiff, and the head-servantwas quite willing to go down the well. When he was standing down belowat the bottom, they rolled down the largest mill-stone and thought theyhad broken his skull, but he cried, "Chase away those hens from the well,they are scratching in the sand up there, and throwing the grains into myeyes, so that I can't see." So the bailiff cried, "Sh-sh," and pretendedto frighten the hens away. When the head-servant had finished his work,he climbed up and said, "Just look what a beautiful neck-tie I have on,"and behold it was the mill-stone which he was wearing round his neck. Thehead-servant now wanted to take his reward, but the bailiff again beggedfor a fortnight's delay. The clerks met together and advised him to sendthe head-servant to the haunted mill to grind corn by night, for fromthence as yet no man had ever returned in the morning alive. The proposalpleased the bailiff, he called the head-servant that very evening, andordered him to take eight bushels of corn to the mill, and grind it thatnight, for it was wanted. So the head-servant went to the loft, and puttwo bushels in his right pocket, and two in his left, and took four ina wallet, half on his back, and half on his breast, and thus laden wentto the haunted mill. The miller told him that he could grind there verywell by day, but not by night, for the mill was haunted, and that upto the present time whosoever had gone into it at night had been foundin the morning lying dead inside. He said, "I will manage it, just yougo away to bed." Then he went into the mill, and poured out the corn.About eleven o'clock he went into the miller's room, and sat down onthe bench. When he had sat there a while, a door suddenly opened, anda large table came in, and on the table, wine and roasted meats placedthemselves, and much good food besides, but everything came of itself,for no one was there to carry it. After this the chairs pushed themselvesup, but no people came, until all at once he beheld fingers, which handledknives and forks, and laid food on the plates, but with this exception hesaw nothing. As he was hungry, and saw the food, he, too, place himselfat the table, ate with those who were eating and enjoyed it. When hehad had enough, and the others also had quite emptied their dishes, hedistinctly heard all the candles being suddenly snuffed out, and as itwas now pitch dark, he felt something like a box on the ear. Then he said,"If anything of that kind comes again, I shall strike out in return." Andwhen he had received a second box on the ear, he, too struck out. And soit continued the whole night. He took nothing without returning it, butrepaid everything with interest, and did not lay about him in vain. Atdaybreak, however, everything ceased. When the miller had got up, hewanted to look after him, and wondered if he were still alive. Thenthe youth said, "I have eaten my fill, have received some boxes on theears, but I have given some in return." The miller rejoiced, and saidthat the mill was now released from the spell, and wanted to give himmuch money as a reward. But he said, "Money, I will not have, I haveenough of it." So he took his meal on his back, went home, and toldthe bailiff that he had done what he had been told to do, and would nowhave the reward agreed on. When the bailiff heard that, he was seriouslyalarmed and quite beside himself; he walked backwards and forwards inthe room, and drops of perspiration ran down from his forehead. Then heopened the window to get some fresh air, but before he was aware, thehead-servant had given him such a kick that he flew through the windowout into the air, and so far away that no one ever saw him again. Thensaid the head-servant to the bailiff's wife, "If he does not come back,you must take the other blow." She cried, "No, no I cannot bear it,"and opened the other window, because drops of perspiration were runningdown her forehead. Then he gave her such a kick that she, too, flew out,and as she was lighter she went much higher than her husband. Her husbandcried, "Do come to me," but she replied, "Come thou to me, I cannot cometo thee." And they hovered about there in the air, and could not get toeach other, and whether they are still hovering about, or not, I do notknow, but the young giant took up his iron bar, and went on his way.
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