Suddenly he felt himself moving. In an instant he was out from among the rushes, and he found that he was sliding down a long hill of ice as smooth as a polished slab of marble, and which extended a great distance, to what seemed the bottom of a deep ravine. The descent was very gradual, and the giant slid slowly down, but though he made every effort to do so, he found it impossible to stop. In a moment a strange figure appeared before him. It was a very small dwarf, about a foot high, mounted upon stilts four or five times longer than himself. On the end of each stilt was a little skate, and on these the dwarf was sliding backward down the hill.
"Hello!" said the little fellow. "How do you like it?"
"I don't like it at all," roared Shamruck. "What does it all mean?"
"It means that you are going to the bottom of this ravine," said the dwarf, throwing out his arms to steady himself. "I expect you'll go faster after you get well started, but you needn't be afraid. There's a pile of straw—four or five tons—at the bottom, and you'll go right into that."
"Who did this thing?" cried Shamruck.
"You'll find out when you get to the bottom," said the dwarf. "But there! did you see? I nearly went over."
"You'll break your neck directly," said the giant.
"No, I won't. Or at least I think I won't. But my stilts are very unsteady. They are made of skewers tied together with thread, and they are not stiff a bit, and the skates make them more shaky yet."
"What did you put them on for, you little idiot?" said the giant.
"I was bound to slide down with you," replied the dwarf, "and I wanted something to raise me up, so I could talk to you and hear you. You see, I want to tell the ice imps and the fairies what you say while you are sliding down."