“Are ye able to walk on, for I’m in a bit o’ a hurry, as ye’d have seen if your attention hadna been turned to the north.”
“Oh, quite able,” replied the king as they strode along together.
“What’s wrong wi’ those scamps to lay on a poor beggar man?” asked the stranger.
“Nothing, except that the beggar man is not so poor as he looks, and has a belt of gold about him, which he was foolish enough to show last night at the inn where these lads were drinking.”
“Then the lesson hasn’t taught you much, or you wouldn’t say that to a complete stranger in the middle of a black forest, and you alone with him, that is, unless they’ve succeeded in reiving the belt away from you?”
“No, they have not robbed me, and to show you that I am not such a fool as you take me for, I may add that the moment you came up I resolved to give to my rescuer every gold piece that is in my belt. So you see, if you thought of robbing me, there’s little use in taking by force what a man is more than willing to give you of his own free will.”
The giant threw back his head and the wood resounded with his laughter.
“What I have said seems to amuse you,” said the king not too well pleased at the boisterous merriment of his companion.
“It does that,” replied the stranger, still struggling with his mirth; then striking the king on the shoulder, he continued, “I suppose there is not another man in all broad Scotland to-day but me, that wouldn’t give the snap of his fingers for all the gold you ever carried.”