very now
and then have a new bed, and one day having been promised a bottle of
straw by a neighboring farmer, after much begging she got her son to
fetch it. Tom, however, made her borrow a cart-rope first, before he
would budge a step, without saying what he wanted it for; but the poor
woman, too glad to gain his help upon any terms, let him have it at
once. Tom, swinging the rope round his shoulder went to the farmer's,
and found him with two men threshing in a barn. Having told what he
wanted, the farmer said he might take as much straw as he could carry.
Tom at once took him at his word, and, placing the rope in a right
position, rapidly made up a bundle containing at least a cartload, the
men jeering at him all the while. Their merriment, however, did not
last long, for Tom flung the enormous bundle over his shoulders, and
walked away with it without any difficulty, and left them all gaping
after him.

After this exploit Tom was no longer allowed to be idle. Every one
tried to secure his services, and we are told many tales of his mighty
strength. On one occasion, having been offered as great a bundle of
fire wood as he could carry, he marched off with one of the largest
trees in the forest. Tom was also extremely fond of attending fairs;
and in cudgeling, wrestling, or throwing the hammer, there was no
one who could compete with him. He thought nothing of flinging a huge
hammer into the middle of a river a mile off, and, in fact, performed
such extraordinary feats, that the folk began to have a fear of him.

At length a brewer at Lynn, who required a strong lusty fellow to
carry his beer to the Marsh and to Wisbeach, after much persuasion,
and promising him a new suit of clothes and as much as he liked to
eat and drink, secured Tom for his business. The distance he daily
traveled with the beer was upwards of twenty miles, for although there
was a shorter cut through the Marsh, no one durst go that way for fear
of a monstrous giant, who was lord of a portion of the district, and
who killed or made slaves of every one he could lay his hands upon.

Now, in the course of time, Tom was thoroughly tired of going such a
roundabout way, and without telling his plans to any one, he resolved
to pass through the giant's domain, or lose his life in the attempt.
This was a bold undertaking, but good living had so increased Tom's
strength and courage, that venturesome as he was before, his hardiness
was so much increased tha