y reached the further bank, and advanced
towards the castle.

In front of the entrance was a sort of tent supported on poles, and
under it the giant was sitting, basking in the sun. As soon as he
noticed the colt bearing Peronnik and the lady, he lifted his head, and
cried in a voice of thunder:

'Why, it is surely the idiot, riding my colt thirteen months old!'

'Greatest of magicians, you are right,' answered Peronnik.

'And how did you manage to catch him?' asked the giant.

'By repeating what I learnt from your brother Bryak on the edge of the
forest,' replied the idiot. 'I just said--

Colt, free to run and free to eat,
Colt, gallop fast until we meet,

and it came directly.'

'You know my brother, then?' inquired the giant. 'Tell me why he sent
you here.'

'To bring you two gifts which he has just received from the country of
the Moors,' answered Peronnik: 'the apple of delight and the woman of
submission. If you eat the apple you will not desire anything else, and
if you take the woman as your servant you will never wish for another.'

'Well, give me the apple, and bid the woman get down,' answered Rogear.

The idiot obeyed, but at the first taste of the apple the giant
staggered, and as the long yellow finger of the woman touched him he
fell dead.

Leaving the magician where he lay, Peronnik entered the palace, bearing
with him the flower that laughs. Fifty doors flew open before him, and
at length he reached a long flight of steps which seemed to lead into
the bowels of the earth. Down these he went till he came to a silver
door without a bar or key. Then he held up high the flower that laughs,
and the door slowly swung back, displaying a deep cavern, which was as
bright as the day from the shining of the golden bowl and the diamond
lance. The idiot hastily ran forward and hung the bowl round his neck
from the chain which was attached to it, and took the lance in his hand.
As he did so, the ground shook beneath him, and with an awful rumbling
the palace disappeared, and Peronnik found himself standing close to the
forest where he led the cattle to graze.

Though darkness was coming on, Peronnik never thought of entering
the farm, but followed the road which led to the court of the duke
of Brittany. As he passed through the town of Vannes he stopped at a
tailor's shop, and bought a beautiful costume of brown velvet and a
white horse, which he paid for with a handful of gold th