wrath that she
decided to run away with D. Joao. She counselled him to procure the
best horse from her father's stable for them to ride.

At midnight Guimara crept out of her room and ran to the place where
D. Joao was waiting for her with the horse, which travelled one
hundred leagues at each step. They mounted the horse and rode away.

Early the next morning the princess Guimara was missed from the royal
palace. Soon it was discovered that D. Joao was gone too, and also the
best horse from the stables. The giant talked over the matter with his
wife. She told him to take another horse which could travel a hundred
leagues a step and go after them as fast as he could. The giant
followed his wife's advice, and soon he had nearly caught up with the
fugitives, for they had grown tired and had stopped to rest.

Guimara spied her father coming and turned herself into a little
river. She turned D. Joao into an old negro, the horse into a tree,
the saddle into a bed of onions, and the musket they carried into a
butterfly.

When the giant came to the river he called out to the old negro who
was taking a bath, "O, my old negro, have you seen anything of a
little man accompanied by a handsome young woman?"

The old negro did not say a single word to him, but dived into the
water. When he came out he called the giant's attention to the bed of
onions. "I planted these onions," he said. "Aren't they a good crop?"

The bed of onions smelled so strong that the giant did not like to
stay near them. The butterfly flew at the giant's eyes and almost into
them. He was disgusted and went home to talk it over with his wife.

"How silly you were," said the giant's wife. "Don't you see that
Guimara had changed herself into a river and had changed D. Joao into
an old negro, the horse into a tree, the saddle into a bed of onions,
and the musket into a butterfly? Hurry after them at once."

The giant again went in pursuit, promising his wife that next time he
would not let Guimara play any tricks on him. The next time that
Guimara saw her father coming she thought of a new plan. She changed
herself into a church. She turned D. Joao into a _padre_, the horse
into a bell, the saddle into an altar and the musket into a mass-book.

When the giant approached the church he was completely deceived. "O,
holy _padre_," he said to the priest, "have you seen anything of a
little man, accompanied by a handsome young woman, passing this way?"

The