The king laughed when he heard this.

“Indeed,” said he, “you have not inherited much, but fortune works many a change.”

He took the lad to be one of his servants, and he became a favourite for his courage and honesty.

Now the king who owned this palace had an only daughter, who was so beautiful and so clever that she was talked of all through the kingdom, and many came from the east and from the west to ask her hand in marriage.  The princess, however, rejected them all, saying that none should have her for his wife unless he brought her for a wedding-present four valuable things belonging to a giant who lived on the other side of the lake.  These four treasures were a gold sword, three gold hens, a gold lantern, and a gold harp.

Many king’s sons and many good warriors tried to win these treasures, but none of them came back, for the giant caught them all and eat them.  The king was very sorrowful, for he feared that at this rate his daughter would never get a husband, and so he would not have a son-in-law to whom to leave his kingdom.

The boy when he heard of this thought that it might be well worth his while to try to win the king’s beautiful daughter.  So he went to the king one day, and told him what he meant to do.  When the king heard him, he got angry, and said—­

“Do you think that you, who are only a servant, can do what great warriors have failed in?”

The boy, however, was not to be dissuaded, and begged him so to let him go that at last the king grew calmer and gave him his permission.  “But,” said he, “you will lose your life, and I shall be sorry to miss you.”

With that they parted.

The boy went down to the shore of the lake, and, having found his trough, he looked it over very closely.  Then he got into it and rowed across the lake, and coming to the giant’s dwelling he hid himself, and stayed the night there.

Very early in the morning, before it was light, the giant went to his barn, and began to thrash, making such a noise that the mountains all around echoed again.  When the boy heard this he collected some stones and put them in his pouch.  Then he climbed up on to the roof of the barn and made a little hole so that he could look in.  Now the giant had by his side his golden sword, which had the strange property that it clanked whenever the giant was angry.  While the giant was busy thrashing at full speed, the boy threw a little stone which hit the sword, and caused it to clank.

“Why do you clank?” said the giant.  “I am not angry.”

He went on thrashing, but the next moment the sword clanked again.  Once more the giant pursued his work, and the sword clanked a third time.  Then the giant got so angry that he undid the belt, and threw the sword out of the barn door.

“Lie there,” said he, “till I have done my thrashing.”

The lad waited no longer, but slipping down from the roof seized on the sword, ran to his boat, and rowed across the water.  On reaching the other side he hid his treasure, and was full of glee at the success of his adventure.