"Of what use is this, Osth? The stones will not remain at the top, and if they did they are no use there," but to that Osth only grunted, and said he that would succeed must labor.
"It shall not be my fault if I do not succeed," thought Wulnoth, and he set to work again, and rolled the stones all day long though he could not see any use in it, until one day the giant said to him—
"Seest thou yon oak tree, Wulnoth? Canst pull off a branch at one wrench?"
"Neither I nor any man could do that," answered Wulnoth; but the berserker said—
"Try."
So Wulnoth went to the oak, and he took a firm grip on a branch and pulled, and lo, the branch came away.
"Whence have I got this strength?" cried the youth in wonder. And the giant answered, "Rolling stones. Each stone added a little, and each little joined the rest, until thou canst do this. Thou must learn another lesson now."
So Osth set him to leap the precipices and to descend from point to point, until he was as surefooted as the goat, and then one day he bade him strip and wrestle.
Now Wulnoth wrestled hard, but he could not throw the giant, and each time the giant threw him so that he lost heart, and said—
"What use wrestling with thee, O Osth? I shall never conquer thee." But the giant answered with a grunt—