'Keep it,' said he; 'it's a pledge of good faith.'
So they journeyed on together. But they had travelled scarce a league when they met a man who was carrying ten great trees in his arms. And when the boy, who had grown into a young man, saw this, he was immediately full grown.
'Hi! my friend! What are you doing there?'
'My mother wants some wood,' replied the man, picking a few branches off the trees and flinging them idly on the roadside, 'so I am just taking her some.'
'Will you travel with me?'
'Pardon?'
'Will you travel with me, my pippy?'
'Oh! Whither away? To Rome or Pompeii?'
'But no; to the far Mississippi:
There's a Queen of great beauty that way,
And there's no one but Cupid to pay.'
'I am yours! And the bounty?'
'Name your price: it shall be as you say.'
Then the young man took his muffin, and, breaking off a little bit of it, handed it to the man who carried the trees.
'Keep it,' said he; 'it's a pledge of good faith.'
So they journeyed on together. They were still a long way from the Mississippi when they came across a man with a mouth large enough to swallow a river. When the boy, who had become a young man and was now full grown, set his eyes on him, his beard and moustache began to sprout.