But as she took hold of him, Harold quickly pulled the two feathers out of his pocket and tickled her nose with them.
In an instant the giantess fell back on her bed looking terribly white and frightened; but Harald laughingly gave her back her feathers, telling her he did not want to keep them.
“Ah, man, man!” said the giantess, “I know you did not do this alone; but I will let it pass this time!”
So this third night Harald also passed in the cave, and in the morning the giantess said to him—
“I have some fresh work for you to-day. You must kill one of my oxen. Then you must scrape and clean the skin to make a leather bag; cut up the animal in joints ready for cooking; clean all the entrails, and make spoons out of its horns. All must be finished ere I return this evening. I have fifty oxen, as you see, and it is one of these I want killed. I shall not, however, tell you which one I have fixed upon; that you must find out for yourself. If all is done as I wish when I return, you can depart in the morning and go wherever you like; and in addition, as a reward, you may choose three things from among such of my treasures as I value most. If, however, everything is not finished, or if you kill the wrong animal, then it will cost you your life, and I shall hang you the same as I did your brothers.” And so saying the giantess departed.
Harald was sorely puzzled. How could he possibly decide which of the animals the giantess wished killed? Then he remembered his friends.
“Dear Tritill, dear Litill, come once again to my aid,” he cried.
Hardly had the words passed his lips, than he saw them both coming towards him, leading a huge ox between them. They at once set to work and killed him, and while Harald cleaned the entrails and cut up the joints, Tritill scraped the skin and prepared it for making the bag, and Litill began fashioning the spoons out of the horns.
So the work sped along quickly and merrily, and all was ready ere the sun sank to rest.
Harald now told his friends what the giantess had promised him if he should have finished his task ere she returned.