o do.'

It was now close on midnight, so Niels began his watch, and Rasmus went
to sleep. It began to get colder, and Niels began to walk about a little
to keep himself warm. He soon found that they were not far from the edge
of the forest, and when he climbed up one of the trees there he could
see out over the open country beyond. At a little distance he saw a
fire, and beside it there sat three giants, busy with broth and beef.
They were so huge that the spoons they used were as large as spades, and
their forks as big as hay-forks: with these they lifted whole bucketfuls
of broth and great joints of meat out of an enormous pot which was set
on the ground between them. Niels was startled and rather scared at
first, but he comforted himself with the thought that the giants were
a good way off, and that if they came nearer he could easily hide among
the bushes. After watching them for a little, however, he began to get
over his alarm, and finally slid down the tree again, resolved to get
his gun and play some tricks with them.

When he had climbed back to his former position, he took good aim, and
waited till one of the giants was just in the act of putting a large
piece of meat into his mouth. Bang! went Niels' gun, and the bullet
struck the handle of the fork so hard that the point went into the
giant's chin, instead of his mouth.

'None of your tricks,' growled the giant to the one who sat next him.
'What do you mean by hitting my fork like that, and making me prick
myself?'

'I never touched your fork,' said the other. 'Don't try to get up a
quarrel with me.'

'Look at it, then,' said the first. 'Do you suppose I stuck it into my
own chin for fun?'

The two got so angry over the matter that each offered to fight the
other there and then, but the third giant acted as peace-maker, and they
again fell to their eating.

While the quarrel was going on, Niels had loaded the gun again, and
just as the second giant was about to put a nice tit-bit into his mouth,
bang! went the gun again, and the fork flew into a dozen pieces.

This giant was even more furious than the first had been, and words were
just coming to blows, when the third giant again interposed.

'Don't be fools,' he said to them; 'what's the good of beginning to
fight among ourselves, when it is so necessary for the three of us to
work together and get the upper hand over the king of this country. It
will be a hard enough task as it is, but it will b