“Oh, leave him to me,” said the giantess, “and I’ll fatten him up; and when he is cooked and dressed he will be a nice dainty dish for the king.”
The giants, on this, gave the prince into the hands of the old giantess. She took him home with her to the kitchen, and fed him on sugar and spice and all things nice, so that he should be a sweet morsel for the king of the giants when he returned to the island. The poor prince would not eat anything at first, but the giantess held him over the fire until his feet were scorched, and then he said to himself it was better to eat than to be burnt alive.
Well, day after day passed, and the prince grew sadder and sadder, thinking that he would soon be cooked and dressed for the king; but sad as the 57 prince was, he was not half as sad as the Princess Eileen in the giant’s castle, watching and waiting for the prince to return and save her.
And the dwarfs had wound two balls, and were winding a third.
At last the prince heard from the old giantess that the king of the giants was to return on the following day, and she said to him:
“As this is the last night you have to live, tell me if you wish for anything, for if you do your wish will be granted.”
“I don’t wish for anything,” said the prince, whose heart was dead within him.
“Well, I’ll come back again,” said the giantess, and she went away.
The prince sat down in a corner, thinking and thinking, until he heard close to his ear a sound like “purr, purr!” He looked around, and there before him was the little white cat.
“I ought not to come to you,” said the cat; “but, indeed, it is not for your sake I come. I come for the sake of the Princess Eileen. Of course, you forgot all about her, and, of course, she is always thinking of you. It’s always the way––