In front of the entrance was a sort of tent supported on poles, and under it the giant was sitting, basking in the sun. As soon as he noticed the colt bearing Peronnik and the lady, he lifted his head, and cried in a voice of thunder:
'Why, it is surely the idiot, riding my colt thirteen months old!'
'Greatest of magicians, you are right,' answered Peronnik.
'And how did you manage to catch him?' asked the giant.
'By repeating what I learnt from your brother Bryak on the edge of the forest,' replied the idiot. 'I just said—
Colt, free to run and free to eat,
Colt, gallop fast until we meet,
and it came directly.'
'You know my brother, then?' inquired the giant. 'Tell me why he sent you here.'
'To bring you two gifts which he has just received from the country of the Moors,' answered Peronnik: 'the apple of delight and the woman of submission. If you eat the apple you will not desire anything else, and if you take the woman as your servant you will never wish for another.'
'Well, give me the apple, and bid the woman get down,' answered Rogéar.