Kreiss had always felt a certain tenderness for him, and hence, after having asked the consent of all the other chieftains, he placed in the giant’s hands a large heap of gold scales such as the dwarfs were in the habit of collecting in the neighboring mountains.
It was enough to buy three wives, instead of one.
The fact had no sooner become known than all the happy giant fathers of the country desired him as a son-in-law, and when they saw how liberally his services had been rewarded by his new masters, they were all eager to become the serfs of the dwarfs.
Thus, thanks to Kreiss, the giants gradually came all, one by one, and entered the service of the dwarfs.
Certain skeptics have maintained that the whole story is symbolic.
According to their interpretation the giant fastened to the ground and muzzled by the dwarfs, is the people, the people always kept down and always held in subjection, in spite of its gigantic strength. The dwarfs, who lived under the oak, the sacred tree of all nations of Celtic origin, are the priests.
We say: Shame upon people, who would change a legend into an apologue and our friend Kreiss into a Druid!
When the dwarfs became reconciled again to men, they compelled the giants to execute for them great works of public utility, such as bridges and highroads, which were afterwards generally ascribed to the Romans.
The belief in little dwarfs continues to this day to exist in most of the Northern countries. They still live in myriads in the subterranean regions and in the rocks in Westphalia, in Sweden, and in Norway, and they are still hard at work amassing vast treasures.