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“But,” continued the dwarf, “you will Tiave to devote your life and your liberty, if we restore both to you, to the service of our decimated people; do you hear? You must understand me clearly; you will not be our protector, but our servant; you will unhesitatingly perform every kind of work which may be required of you for our safety or our comfort. First of all you will replant that oak tree, under which the dwarfs of this district were living in peace, and you will water it every morning until it has taken root again. Now, close your eyes, if you mean to accept our conditions!”
Quadragant opened and shut his eyes quickly ten times in succession.
Kreiss made with his lamp a kind of telegraphic signal; his brothers, all seven dressed in garments of mouse skin or mole skin, and carrying each one a lantern with a firefly inside, climbed in an instant upon the face of the giant, which now looked quite brightly illuminated.
Three of them took their station on his forehead; two others by the side of each eye. The last two held each a long thorn in their hands, which they seemed to use as a dagger.
Kreiss, who had remained at his place, said again to the giant:—
“If, after you have been set free, you dare utter a sound to call for help, you lose both of your eyes instantly. Mind the warning!”
Armed with his double pointed spear, he then went once more into Quadragant’s mouth, and loosened one of the transverse beams which formed the ceiling. The giant assisted him with his tongue in the work of demolition; then, after drawing a long sigh of relief, he closed his mouth and crushed between his formidable jaws all the timber, posts, and beams, as if they had been a bundle of matches, and swallowed the whole in anticipation of his supper.