Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/82

58 Ogre came, and saw all the suds, he ran home, and fetching a sack of bran, he strewed it about, and worked away, treading it down with his feet, until at last he got over this obstacle, though with great difficulty.

But Mase put his ear once more to the ground, and exclaimed, "Look sharp, comrade! here he comes!" Thereupon Cola flung the piece of iron on the ground, and instantly a field of razors sprung up. When the ogre saw the path stopped, he ran home again, and clad himself in iron from head to foot, and then returned, and got over this peril.

Then Mase, again putting his ear to the ground, cried, "Up, up, to arms! to arms! for see here is the ogre coming at such a rate that he is actually flying." But Micco was ready with his little stick, and in an instant he caused a terrible wood to rise up, so thick that it was quite impenetrable. When the ogre came to this difficult pass, he laid hold of a Carrara knife that he wore at his side, and began to fell the poplars and oaks right and left, to tumble down the pine-trees and cornel-trees; insomuch that with four or five strokes he laid the whole forest on the ground, and got clear out of the maze.

Presently Mase, who kept his ears on the alert like a hare, again raised his voice and cried, "Now we must be off, for the ogre has put on wings, and see here he