ayed all day in
the fields on the edge of the forest where the giant lived.

One day Manoel met the giant. The giant lived all alone in the forest,
so he was very lonely and wished he had a little boy like Manoel. He
loved little Manoel as soon as he saw him, and after that they were
together every day. The giant taught Manoel all the secrets of the
forests and jungles. He taught him all the secrets of the wind and the
rain and the thunder and the lightning. He taught him all the secrets
of the beasts and the birds and the serpents.

Manoel grew up a wise lad indeed. His father and mother were very
proud of him and so was his kind teacher, the giant.

One day the king's messenger rode up and down the kingdom with a
message from the king's daughter. The king's daughter, the beautiful
princess of the land, had promised to wed the man who could tell her a
riddle she could not guess. All the princes who had sung of love
beneath the palace window had been very stupid. The princess wished to
marry a man who knew more than she did.

When Manoel heard the words of the messenger he said to his father and
mother, "I am going to the palace to tell a riddle to the princess. I
am sure I can give her one which she cannot guess."

"You are an exceedingly clever lad, I know, my son," replied his
mother, "but there will be many princes and handsome _cavalheiros_ at
the palace to tell riddles to the princess. What if she will not
listen to a lad in shabby clothing!"

"I will make the princess listen to my riddle," replied Manoel.

"What riddle are you going to ask the princess?" asked Manoel's
father.

"I do not know yet," replied the lad. "I will make up a riddle on the
way to the palace. I am going to start at once."

The kind giant who had been the lad's friend gave him his blessing and
wished him luck. The lad's mother prepared a lunch for him to carry
with him. His father sat before the door and boasted to all the
neighbours that his son was going to wed the king's daughter. Manoel
took his dog with him when he went on his journey, because he wanted
some one for company.

Manoel journeyed on and on through the forests and jungles and after a
time he had eaten all the lunch his mother had given him when he went
from home. When he became hungry he spent his last _vintem_ for some
bread from a little _venda_ in the town he passed through. He went on
to the forest to eat the bread, and before he tasted of it himself he
gave