ters to wife, and thou shalt take her to
your father's house the day after the wedding.'

'Give me the youngest instead,' replied the youth, and the giant's face
darkened as he heard him.

'Three things must thou do first,' said he.

'Say on, I will do them,' replied the prince, and the giant left the
house, and bade him follow to the byre, where the cows were kept.

'For a hundred years no man has swept this byre,' said the giant, 'but
if by nightfall, when I reach home, thou has not cleaned it so that a
golden apple can roll through it from end to end, thy blood shall pay
for it.'

All day long the youth toiled, but he might as well have tried to empty
the ocean. At length, when he was so tired he could hardly move, the
giant's youngest daughter stood in the doorway.

'Lay down thy weariness,' said she, and the king's son, thinking he
could only die once, sank on the floor at her bidding, and fell sound
asleep. When he woke the girl had disappeared, and the byre was so clean
that a golden apple could roll from end to end of it. He jumped up in
surprise, and at that moment in came the giant.

'Hast thou cleaned the byre, king's son?' asked he.

'I have cleaned it,' answered he.

'Well, since thou wert so active to-day, to-morrow thou wilt thatch this
byre with a feather from every different bird, or else thy blood shall
pay for it,' and he went out.

Before the sun was up, the youth took his bow and his quiver and set off
to kill the birds. Off to the moor he went, but never a bird was to be
seen that day. At last he got so tired with running to and fro that he
gave up heart.

'There is but one death I can die,' thought he. Then at midday came the
giant's daughter.

'Thou art tired, king's son?' asked she.

'I am,' answered he; 'all these hours have I wandered, and there fell
but these two blackbirds, both of one colour.'

'Lay down thy weariness on the grass,' said she, and he did as she bade
him, and fell fast asleep.

When he woke the girl had disappeared, and he got up, and returned to
the byre. As he drew near, he rubbed his eyes hard, thinking he was
dreaming, for there it was, beautifully thatched, just as the giant had
wished. At the door of the house he met the giant.

'Hast thou thatched the byre, king's son?'

'I have thatched it.'

'Well, since thou hast been so active to-day, I have something else for
thee! Beside the loch thou seest over yonder there grows a fir tree.
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