"At that moment up drove the coach. Throwing open the castle door, Puss in Boots said with a hospitable bow:
"'Welcome to the castle of my Lord of Carabas.' And, to make a long story short," laughed Ned, "his master married the King's daughter and lived happily ever after."
"Whew!" gasped the giant. "He certainly was a wonderful cat," and he looked anxiously at the Magic Axe.
Presently Ned began to feel hungry, and opening his knapsack, took out his bread and cheese.
"What is that white stuff?" asked the giant, who had never seen cheese before.
"That is a stone," answered Ned, commencing to eat it with a hungry appetite.
"Do you eat stones?" asked the giant.
"Oh yes," answered Ned. "That's my regular food, which explains why I'm not so big as you who eat oxen; but it's also the reason why, little as I am, I am ten times as strong as you are. Now take me to your house."
The giant looked at the Magic Axe which had so nearly destroyed his forest, and then at Ned eating a stone with apparent relish.
"I will," he said, and humbly led the way to his monstrous cabin.