ing for a King's son to do, the
Prince went to the Giant's house to be his servant, and the Giant gave
the Prince a room, to sleep in, which, very strangely, had a door on
every side. However, the Prince thought little of this, for he was very
tired, and he went quickly to bed, and slept soundly all night.

Now, the Giant had a large herd of goats; and very likely the Prince
thought the Giant would send him to herd the goats. But the Giant did
nothing of the sort. In the morning he prepared to take the goats to
pasture himself; but before he set out he told the Prince that he
expected him to clean the stable before he came back in the evening.

"I am a very easy master," said the Giant, "and that is all I expect you
to do. But remember, I expect the work to be well done." Then, before he
reached the door, he turned back and said, in a threatening way: "You
are not to open a single one of the doors in your room. If you do, I
shall kill you."

Then the Giant shut the door in a way that seemed to say, "I mean every
word I have said," and he went off with his goats, and left the Prince
alone.

When he was gone, the Prince drummed for a while with his fingers on the
window. Then, when the Giant and his flock had gone out of sight, he
began to walk about the room, whistling to himself and looking at the
forbidden doors.

The house seemed silent and lonely, and he really had nothing to do. To
clean a stable with only one stall seemed a very small task for a sturdy
boy like him.

At last he said to himself: "I wonder what the Giant keeps behind those
doors? I think I shall look and see."

If the Giant had been there the Prince would have paid dear for his
curiosity; but he was far away, and the Prince boldly opened the first
door, and inside he saw a huge pot, or cauldron, boiling away merrily.

"What a strange thing," said the Prince; "there is no fire under the
pot. I must go in and see it!"

And into the room he went, and bent down to see what queer soup it was
that boiled without a fire. As he did so, a lock of his hair dipped into
the pot; and when he raised his head, the lock looked like bronze. The
cauldron was full of boiling copper.

He went out and closed the door carefully behind him; and, wondering if
there was a copper pot in the next room, he opened the second door.
There was a cauldron inside, boiling merrily; but there was no fire to
be seen. He went over and looked into the pot; and as it did not lo