Page:The Floating Prince - Frank R Stockton.djvu/172

Rh the arrow-headed end of the fluke, he had a first-rate harpoon—that is, for a person of his size. So he stood again and watched for a whale, and when one rose, he sent his harpoon whizzing through the air, and aimed it so truly that it went deep into the whale's fat side and hooked him tight. But the giant had a very hard time hauling him in. The whale was a good big one, and he struggled, and jerked, and pulled back, nearly hard enough to move a church; but Derido was a match for him. He went to work like a good fellow, and hauled in his rope, hand over hand, and there was nothing for the whale to do but to come too. When he got his fish into shallow water, Derido waded in, and, picking him up, slung him over his shoulder and carried him high and dry on shore, where he let him flop and roll until he got used to being out of the water. When the whale got thus far, he died.

It was afternoon by this time, and so the giant took his whale on his back, and having gathered up his fishing-cord and harpoon, he started for home. Derido lived in his mother's castle, and he thought that she would be very glad to see him bring home so much nice fish. But after he had walked about an hour or two, he began to think that he would not take his whale home.

"If I do," he said to himself, "I know just what will happen. There will be roast whale to-morrow, and cold whale the next day, and after that, whale-hash for a day or two more. No, I won't take it home; I'll give it to somebody who needs it more than we do."

He had not gone far before he saw a man standing on a high rock, with a stone in his hand, looking about him in every direction. The giant stopped and asked him what he was trying to do.

"Why," said the man, "perhaps a bird may fly by after a while, and if it does, I shall throw this stone at it, and if I hit it we shall have it for supper."