“Your love brought me hither, fair creature,” answered the lad, who had already fallen in love with the charming maiden.
“But the giant will come and tear you into pieces,” said the maiden, who also had fallen in love with the lad.
“I have killed him, and there lies his carcass,” answered the lad.
The door of the palace was opened, and the lad was received by the maiden, who told him that she was the daughter of a Prince, and that the giant had stolen her and kept her in that palace, where she had forty beautiful handmaids serving her.
“And as you have killed the giant,” she added, “I, who am a virgin, shall be your wife, and all these maidens will serve us.” And they accepted one another as husband and wife.
Opening the treasures of the giant, they found innumerable jewels, gold, silver, and all kinds of wealth. The lad thought such a beautiful palace, with so many treasures worthy of a prince, and the most beautiful wife in the world, things that he could hardly have dreamed of, and he decided to live there, going to hunt every day as usual.
One day, however, he came home sighing, “Ah! alas! alas!”
“How now, what is the matter?” said the beautiful bride. “Am I and my forty handmaids not enough to please you? Why did you sigh?”
“You are sweet, my love,” said the lad, “but my mother also is sweet. You have your place in my heart, but my mother also has her place. I remembered her, therefore I sighed.”
“Well,” said the young bride, “take a horseload of gold to your mother, let her live in abundance and be happy.”