But the youngest brother had a brave heart, and would not awaken his brothers, so he met the alligator, and gave him three blows in succession, and at each blow he cut off one of the three heads. Then he cut off the six ears and put them in his pocket, and threw the body and the three heads into the lake. Whilst he was thus busy the fire had quite gone out, so he—having nothing there with which he could light the fire, and not wishing to awaken his brothers from their deep slumbers—stepped a little way into the forest, with the hope of seeing something with which he might rekindle the fire.
There was, however, no trace of any fire anywhere. At last, in his search, he climbed up a very high tree, and, having reached the top, looked about on all sides. After much looking he thought he saw the glare of a fire not very far off. So he came down from the tree and went in the direction in which he had seen the fire, in order to get some brand with which he might again light the fire. He walked very far on this errand, and though the glare seemed always near him, it was a very long time before he reached it. Suddenly, however, he came upon a cave, and in the cave a great fire was burning. Round it sat nine giants, and two men were being roasted, one on each side of the fire. Besides that, there stood upon the fire a great kettle full of the limbs of men ready to be cooked. When the king’s son saw that, he was terrified and would gladly have gone back, but it was no longer possible.
Then he shouted as loud and cheerfully as he could, ‘Good evening, my dear comrades! I have been a very long time in search of you!’
They received him well, saying, ‘Welcome! if thou art of our company!’
He answered, ‘I shall remain yours for ever, and would give my life for your sake!’
‘Eh!’ said they, ‘if you intend to be one of us, you know, you must also eat man’s flesh, and go out with us in search of prey?’
The king’s son answered, ‘Certainly; I shall do everything that you do!’
‘Then come and sit with us!’ cried the giants; and the whole company, sitting round the fire, took meat out of the kettle and began to eat. The king’s son pretended to eat, also, but instead of eating he always threw the meat behind him, and thus deceived them.
When they had eaten up the whole of the roasted meat, the giants got up and said, ‘Let us now go to hunt, that we may have meat for to-morrow.’ So they went away, all nine of them, the king’s son making the tenth. ‘Come along!’ they said to him, ‘there is a city near in which a great king lives. We have been supplying ourselves with food from that city a great many years.’ As they came near the city they pulled two tall pine-trees up by the roots, and carried them along with them. Having come to the city wall, they reared one pine-tree up against it, and said to the king’s son, ‘Go up, now, to the top of the wall, so that we may be able to give you the other pine-tree, which you must take by the top and throw down into the city. Take care, however,’ they said, ‘to keep the top of the tree in your hands, so that we can go down the stem of it into the city.’ Thereupon the king’s son climbed up on the wall and then cried out to them, ‘I don’t know what to do; I am not acquainted with this place, and I don’t understand how to throw the tree over the wall; please one of you come up and show me what I must do.’ Then one of the giants climbed up the tree placed against the wall, caught the top of the other pine-tree, and threw it over the wall, keeping the top all the time safe in his hand. Whilst he was thus standing, the king’s son drew his sword, struck him on the neck, and cut his head off, so that the giant fell down into the city.
Then he called to the other eight giants, ‘Your brother is in the city; come, one after the other, so that I can let you also down into the city!’ And the giants, not knowing what had happened to the first one, climbed up one after the other, and thus the king’s son cut off their heads till he had killed all the nine.