And the terrified youth soon found out what the "Something" was, for very soon the horrible Monster came into the kitchen, crying out in a voice like thunder:
"Seek but, and seek ben,
I smell the smell of an earthly man!
Be he living, or be he dead,
His heart this night I shall eat with my bread."
And it was not very long before he discovered the poor young man's hiding-place and pulled him roughly out of it.
Of course, the lad begged that his life might be spared, but the Monster only laughed at him.
"It will be spared if thou canst answer three questions," he said; "if not, it is forfeited."
The first of these three questions was, "Whether Ireland or Scotland was first inhabited?"
The second, "How old was the world when Adam was made?"
And the third, "Whether men or beasts were created first?"
The lad was not skilled in such matters, having had but little book-learning, and he could not answer the questions. So the Monster struck him on the head with a queer little hammer which he carried, and turned him into a piece of stone.
Now every morning since he had left home his younger brother had done as he had promised, and had carefully examined his hunting-knife.