So at it they went, Tom laying such huge blows at the giant, down whose face sweat and blood ran together, so that, being fat and foggy and tired with the long fighting, he asked Tom would he let him drink a little?  “Nay, nay,” said Tom, “my mother did not teach me such wit; who’d be a fool then?” And seeing the giant beginning to weary and fail in his blows, Tom thought best to make hay whilst the sun shone, and, laying on as fast as though he had been mad, he brought the giant to the ground.  In vain were the giant’s roars and prayers and promises to yield himself and be Tom’s servant.  Tom laid at him till he was dead, and then, cutting off his head, he went into the cave, and found a great store of silver and gold, which made his heart to leap.  So he loaded his cart, and after delivering his beer at Wisbeach, he came home and told his master what had befallen him.  And on the morrow he and his master and more of the towns-folk of Lynn set out for the giant’s cave.  Tom showed them the head, and what silver and gold there was in the cave, and not a man but leapt for joy, for the giant was a great enemy to all the country.

The news was spread all up and down the country-side how Tom Hickathrift had killed the giant.  And well was he that could run to see the cave; all the folk made bonfires for joy, and if Tom was respected before, he was much more so now.  With common consent he took possession of the cave and every one said, had it been twice as much, he would have deserved it.  So Tom pulled down the cave, and built himself a brave house.  The ground that the giant kept by force for himself, Tom gave part to the poor for their common land, and part he turned into good wheat-land to keep himself and his old mother, Jane Hickathrift.  And now he was become the chiefest man in the country-side; ’t was no longer plain Tom, but Mr. Hickathrift, and he was held in due respect I promise you.  He kept men and maids and lived most bravely; made him a park to keep deer, and time passed with him happily in his great house till the end of his days.

The Hedley Kow

There was once an old woman, who earned a poor living by going errands and such like, for the farmers’ wives round about the village where she lived.  It wasn’t much she earned by it; but with a plate of meat at one house, and a cup of tea at another, she made shift to get on somehow, and always looked as cheerful as if she hadn’t a want in the world.

Well, one summer evening as she was trotting away homewards, she came upon a big black pot lying at the side of the road.

“Now that,” said she, stopping to look at it, “would be just the very thing for me if I had anything to put into it!  But who can have left it here?” and she looked round about, as if the person it belonged to must be not far off.  But she could see no one.

“Maybe it’ll have a hole in it,” she said thoughtfully:—­