Just as the boy got near the place, he thrust out his leg suddenly that way, to kick him off the cliff; but the boy was too nimble for him, and jumped aside.
“Oh, dear me,” cried the Monster; “I had a stitch in my leg; I had to stretch it out.”
“Ah,” said the boy, “you tried to kick me off, did you?”
“Oh, no,” said the old villain; “I had a terrible stitch in my knee,”—and he began to knead his knee in the most vehement manner. “Just pass right along; I trust it won’t happen again.”
The boy again attempted to pass, and the same thing happened as before.
“Oh, my knee! my knee!” exclaimed the Monster.
“Yes, your knee, your knee!” said the boy, as he whipped out his war-club and whacked the Giant on the head before he had time to recover himself. “Thus unto me you would have done, thus unto you!” said the boy.
No sooner had the Giant fallen than the little Top-knots gathered round him and began to eat; and they ate and ate and ate,—there were many of them, and they were voracious—until they came to the top-knot on the old fellow’s head, and then one of them cried; “Oh, dear, alas and alas! this is our own father!”
And while they were still crying, the boy cut out the Giant’s heart and slung it over his shoulder; then he climbed down the cliff to where the young Top-knots were, and slew them all except two,—a pair of them. Then he took these two, who were still young, like little children, and grasping one by the throat, wrung its neck and threw it into the air, when it suddenly became a winged creature, and spread out its wings and soared away, crying: “Peep, peep, peep,” just as the falcons of today do. Then he took the other one by the neck, and swung it round and round, and flung it into the air, and it flew away with a heavy motion, and cried: “Boohoo, boohoo, boohoo!” and became an owl.
“Ah,” said the boy, “born for evil, changed for good! Ye shall be the means whereby our children in the future shall sacrifice to the gods themselves.”