Page:Czech Folk Tales.pdf/135

Rh near the forest, where the black man had been tending his sheep meanwhile. He greeted him kindly:

"You have done everything well. Always act like that."

So he drove the sheep home and played the zither again. Everybody ran up to the door to listen to the magic playing of the shepherd. But he said nothing to anybody.

The next day he drove the sheep to the forest still earlier. The black man was there waiting for him, and said: "Follow my advice and you will be happy."

He said that he would do so. The black man was to mind the sheep again. He gave Hynek the wand and the ring, and Hynek came to another castle.

The giant was looking out as he came up; he was standing in the doorway. He asked the lad grimly what he was looking for.

"Oh! it's nothing. I only want to try for that big head of yours."

The giant was holding a hammer and he hurled it at him. No eye could see where it fell. Hynek leapt towards him, and, crack! he struck him with the wand, and the giant fell over and Hynek cut his head off too. He