Page:Czech Folk Tales.pdf/182

162 pass that way, and he saw written in golden letters: "Nine at a blow."

So he waked the tailor and asked him: "Have you really killed nine at a blow?"

The tailor answered that he had, and the giant said: "Let's have a trial which of us is the stronger. I'll cast a stone, and it will be an hour before it comes down."

The tailor said: "I'll cast a stone that won't come down at all."

So the giant cast a stone, and it was a full hour before it came down again. Instead of casting a stone, the tailor let the finch go, and, of course, it didn't come back again.

So the giant said: "Let's have another try. I'll crush a stone to powder."

The tailor said: "I'll squeeze water from a stone."

So the giant took a pebble and crushed it to powder. The tailor took the cheese and squeezed it till the water oozed out of it.

The giant gave in, and acknowledged that the tailor was the stronger of the two. So they went on together till they came to a cherry-tree growing near a meadow, and the cherries were ripe. They wanted to pick some of the cherries for themselves. So the