k, and in the duck is an egg, and in the egg is my soul.
But it is late, and I must feed the horses;' and he brought them the
hay, but they only bit and kicked him as before, and if his soul had
been within him, they would have killed him outright.

It was still dark when the giant got up and went his way, and then
the king and the queen ran forward to take up the threshold, while
the horses looked on. But sure enough! just as the giant had said,
underneath the threshold was the flagstone, and they pulled and tugged
till the stone gave way. Then something jumped out so suddenly, that it
nearly knocked them down, and as it fled past, they saw it was a sheep.

'If the slim yellow dog of the greenwood were only here, he would soon
have that sheep,' cried the king; and as he spoke, the slim yellow dog
appeared from the forest, with the sheep in his mouth. With a blow from
the king, the sheep fell dead, and they opened its body, only to be
blinded by a rush of wings as the duck flew past.

'If the hoary hawk of the rock were only here, he would soon have that
duck,' cried the king; and as he spoke the hoary hawk was seen hovering
above them, with the duck in his mouth. They cut off the duck's head
with a swing of the king's sword, and took the egg out of its body,
but in his triumph the king held it carelessly, and it slipped from his
hand, and rolled swiftly down the hill right into the river.

'If the brown otter of the stream were only here, he would soon have
that egg,' cried the king; and the next minute there was the brown
otter, dripping with water, holding the egg in his mouth. But beside the
brown otter, a huge shadow came stealing along--the shadow of the giant.

The king stood staring at it, as if he were turned into stone, but the
queen snatched the egg from the otter and crushed it between her two
hands. And after that the shadow suddenly shrank and was still, and they
knew that the giant was dead, because they had found his soul.

Next day they mounted the two horses and rode home again, visiting their
friends the brown otter and the hoary hawk and the slim yellow dog by
the way.

From 'West Highland Tales.'

A French Puck

Among the mountain pastures and valleys that lie in the centre of France
there dwelt a mischievous kind of spirit, whose delight it was to play
tricks on everybody, and particularly on the shepherds and the cowboys.
They never knew when they were safe from him, as he could c