“Don’t go so fast,” said the good woman.  “Stand still and listen!  Go through the meadow, and count a hundred daffodils; then turn to your right, and walk until you find a mullein stalk that is bent.  Notice the way it bends, and walk in that direction till you see a willow tree.  Behind this willow runs a little stream.  Cross the water by the way of the shining pebbles, and when you hear a strange bird singing you can see the fairy palace and the workroom where the Fairy Skill teaches her school.  Go to her with my love and she will receive you.”

The young giant thanked the good woman, stepped over the meadow fence, and counted the daffodils, “One, two, three,” until he had counted a hundred.  Then he turned to the right, and walked through the long grass to the bent mullein stalk, which pointed to the right; and after he had found the brook and crossed by way of the shining pebbles, he heard a strange bird singing, and saw among the trees the fairy palace.

He never could tell how it looked; but he thought it was made of sunshine, with the glimmer of green leaves reflected on it, and that it had the blue sky for a roof.

That was the palace; and at one side of it was the workshop, built of strong pines and oaks; and the giant heard the hum of wheels, and the noise of the fairy looms, where the fairies wove carpets of rainbow threads.

When the giant came to the door, the doorway stretched itself for him to pass through.  He found Fairy Skill standing in the midst of the workers; and when he had given her the good woman’s love, she received him kindly.  Then she set him to work, bidding him sort a heap of tangled threads that lay in a corner like a great bunch of bright-colored flowers.

This was hard work for the giant’s clumsy fingers, but he was very patient about it.  The threads would break, and he got some of them into knots; but when Fairy Skill saw his work, she said:—­

“Very good for to-day;” and touching the threads with her wand, she changed them into a tangled heap again.  The next day the giant tried again, and after that again, until every thread lay unbroken and untangled.

Then Fairy Skill said “Well done,” and led him to a loom and showed him how to weave.

This was harder work than the other had been; but Giant Energy was patient, although many times before his strip of carpet was woven the fairy touched it with her wand, and he had to begin over.

[Illustration:  Then she set him to work, bidding him sort a heap of tangled threads.]

At last it was finished, and the giant thought it was the most beautiful carpet in the world.

Fairy Skill took him next to the potter’s wheel, where cups and saucers were made out of clay; and the giant learned to be steady, to shape the cup as the wheel whirled round, and to take heed of his thumb, lest it slip.

The cups and saucers that were broken before he could make beautiful ones would have been enough to set the queen’s tea table!