The giant angrily seized a stone, and, clasping it in his fingers, squeezed moisture out of it.
The dwarf cunningly replaced the stone by a sponge of the same appearance, and squeezed still more moisture out of it.
The giant then took another stone, and threw it so violently on the ground that it became dust.
The dwarf took a stone, hid it under the ground, and threw on the ground a handful of flour, to the great astonishment of the giant.
Stretching forth his hand to the dwarf, the giant said: ‘I never expected to find so much strength in such a small man, I will not wrestle with you; but give me your hand in token of friendship and brotherhood.’
After this, the giant asked the dwarf to go home with him. But first he asked the dwarf why he had not pressed his hand in a brotherly manner. The dwarf replied that he was unable to moderate the force of his pressure, and that more than one man had already died from the fearful force of his hand. The new brothers then set out together. On their way to the giant’s house, they came to a stream which had to be forded.
The dwarf, fearing to be carried away by the current, told the strong man that he was suffering from belly-ache, and did not therefore wish to go into the cold water, so he asked to be carried over.
In the midst of the stream, the strong man, with the dwarf on his shoulders, suddenly stopped and said: ‘I have heard that strong people are heavy, but I do not feel you on my shoulders. Tell me how this is, for God’s sake.’
‘Since we have become brothers,’ replied the dwarf, ‘I have no right to press with all my weight upon you, and did I not support myself by holding on to the sky with one hand, you could never carry me.’
But the strong man, wishing to test his strength, asked the dwarf to drop his hand for a moment, whereupon the dwarf took from his pocket two nails, and stuck the sharp points of them in the shoulders of the strong man.