th. The
earth had never before been shaken at the laugh of the king of the
giants, though it had often heard his angry voice in the thunder. The
people did not know what to make of it.

Now it happened that the king of the land of giants had a beautiful
giantess daughter who never laughed. She remained sad all the time.
The king had offered half his kingdom to the one who could make her
laugh, and all the giants had done their very funniest tricks for her.
Never once had they brought even a tiny little smile to her lovely
face. "If my daughter can keep from laughing when she sees this funny
sight I'll give up in despair and eat my hat," said the king of the
land of giants, as he saw the jolly little figure playing upon the
violin and the assembly of cat, sheep, monkeys and everything else
dancing to the gay music. If the giant king had known how to dance he
would have danced himself, but it was fortunate for the people of the
earth that he did not know how. If he had, there is no knowing what
might have happened to the earth.

As it was, he took the little band into his daughter's palace where
she sat surrounded by her servants. Her lovely face was as sad as sad
could be. When she saw the funny sight her expression changed. The
happy smile which the king of the land of giants had always wanted to
see played about her beautiful lips. A gay laugh was heard for the
first time in all her life. The king of the land of giants was so
happy that he grew a league in height and nobody knows how much he
gained in weight. "You shall have half my kingdom," he said to the
boy, "just as I promised if any one made my daughter laugh."

The boy from that time on reigned over half of the kingdom of giants
as prince of the land. He never had the least bit of difficulty in
preserving his authority, for the biggest giants would at once obey
his slightest request if he played on his violin to them. The beasts
stayed in the land of the giants so long that they grew into giant
beasts, but the boy and his violin always remained just as they were
when they entered the land.

IV

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS

Long ago there was a king who was very ill. He wanted a hare killed to
make him some broth. His only son, the prince, set out to find one. As
the prince walked along the path to the forest a pretty little hare
ran out of the hedge and crossed his path. He at once started in
pursuit. The hare was a very swift runner. The prince