kedness must now come to an end. But the giant showed fight and took
up his club to defend himself; whereupon Jack, with one clean cut of the
sword of strength, severed his head from his body, and would doubtless
have done the same to the magician, but that the latter was a coward,
and, calling up a whirlwind, was swept away by it into the air, nor
has he ever been seen or heard of since. The enchantments being thus
broken, all the valiant knights and beautiful ladies, who had been
transformed into birds and beasts and fishes and reptiles and insects,
returned to their proper shapes, including the duke's daughter, who,
from being a white hind, showed as the most beauteous maiden upon whom
the sun ever shone. Now, no sooner had this occurred than the whole
castle vanished away in a cloud of smoke, and from that moment giants
vanished also from the land.

[Illustration: The giant Galligantua and the wicked old magician
transform the duke's daughter into a white hind]

So Jack, when he had presented the head of Galligantua to King Arthur,
together with all the lords and ladies he had delivered from
enchantment, found he had nothing more to do. As a reward for past
services, however, King Arthur bestowed the hand of the duke's daughter
upon honest Jack the Giant-Killer. So married they were, and the whole
kingdom was filled with joy at their wedding. Furthermore, the King
bestowed on Jack a noble castle with a magnificent estate belonging
thereto, whereon he, his lady, and their children lived in great joy and
content for the rest of their days.

[Illustration: Headpiece--The Three Sillies]

THE THREE SILLIES

Once upon a time, when folk were not so wise as they are nowadays, there
lived a farmer and his wife who had one daughter. And she, being a
pretty lass, was courted by the young squire when he came home from his
travels.

Now every evening he would stroll over from the Hall to see her and stop
to supper in the farm-house, and every evening the daughter would go
down into the cellar to draw the cider for supper.

So one evening when she had gone down to draw the cider and had turned
the tap as usual, she happened to look up at the ceiling, and there she
saw a big wooden mallet stuck in one of the beams.

It must have been there for ages and ages, for it was all covered with
cobwebs; but somehow or another she had never noticed it before, and at
once she began thinking how dangerous it was to have the m