Page:Grimm-Rackham.djvu/338

 But at last he ventured to go forward.

When the Giant saw him, he said: ‘It’s a good thing you have appeared. I have had nothing to eat for an age. I will just swallow you for my supper.’

‘You had better let me alone,’ said the Man. ‘I shan’t let myself be swallowed in a hurry. If you only want something to eat, I have plenty here to satisfy you.’

‘If you are speaking the truth,’ said the Giant, ‘you may be quite easy. I was only going to eat you because I had nothing else.’

Then they went in and sat down at the table, and the Man produced the bread, the meat, and the wine, which were inexhaustible.

‘This just suits me,’ said the Giant. And he ate as much as ever he could.

The Man said to him: ‘Can’t you tell me where to find the Golden Castle?’

The Giant said: ‘I will look at my map. Every town, village, and house is marked upon it.’

He fetched the map, but the castle was not to be found.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ he said. ‘I have a bigger map upstairs in my chest; we will look for it there.’

At last the Golden Castle was discovered, but it was many thousands of miles away.

‘How am I ever to get there?’ asked the Man.

The Giant said: ‘I have a couple of hours to spare. I will carry you near it. But then I must come back to look after my wife and child.’

Then the Giant transported him to within a hundred miles of the Castle, and said: ‘You will be able to find your way from here alone.’ Then he went back; and the Man went on, till at last he came to the Golden Castle.

It stood on a mountain of glass, and the bewitched Maiden drove round and round it every day in her coach.

He was delighted to see her again, and wanted to go to her