d he whistled than he heard a whizzing
and a whirring from all quarters, and such a large flock of birds
swept down, that they blackened all the field in which they settled.

[Illustration: No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing and a
whirring from all quarters, and such a large flock of birds swept down
that they blackened all the field in which they settled.]

"What does our master want to-day?" they asked.

If he were their master, the soldier said, he would like to know if
they could tell him how to get up to the earth again. No, none of them
knew anything about that; "But our mother has not yet arrived," they
said; "if she can't help you, no one can."

So he whistled once more, and shortly heard something flapping its
wings far away, and then it began to blow so hard that he was carried
away between the houses like a wisp of hay across the courtyard, and
if he had not caught hold of the fence he would no doubt have been
blown away altogether.

A big eagle--bigger than you can imagine--then swooped down in front
of him.

"You come rather sharply," said the soldier.

"As you whistle so I come," answered the eagle. So he asked her if she
knew any means by which he could get away from the world in which they
were.

"You can't get away from here unless you can fly," said the eagle,
"but if you will slaughter twelve oxen for me, so that I can have a
really good meal, I will try and help you. Have you got a knife?"

"No, but I have a sword," he said. When the eagle had swallowed the
twelve oxen she asked the soldier to kill one more for victuals on the
journey. "Every time I gape you must be quick and fling a piece into
my mouth," she said, "else I shall not be able to carry you up to
earth."

He did as she asked him and hung two large bags of meat round her neck
and seated himself among her feathers. The eagle then began to flap
her wings and off they went through the air like the wind. It was as
much as the soldier could do to hold on, and it was with the greatest
difficulty he managed to throw the pieces of flesh into the eagle's
mouth every time she opened it.

At last the day began to dawn, and the eagle was then almost exhausted
and began flapping with her wings, but the soldier was prepared and
seized the last hind quarter and flung it to her. Then she gained
strength and brought him up to earth. When she had sat and rested a
while at the top of a large pine-tree she set off with him again