9. Interpretations of Fairy Tales

When the time came for the giants to reappear, he took everything the giants liked to eat and drink and went to them. But on the way, he took a piece of cheese and a lark with him and arrived at the giants' place with his many things and the piece of cheese and the lark. The giants said, “We have come back to wrestle with the strongest; no one has yet defeated us!” Then the journeyman said, “Well, then, I will wrestle with you!” “That will end badly for you!” said one of the giants. Then the tailor said, “Show us your strength and what you can do!” So the giant took a stone and crushed it between his fingers. Then he took a bow and an arrow and shot the arrow into the air, so that it took a long time to come down again. “Now you shall see my strength! If you want to wrestle with me, you must come up with something else.” The tailor took a small stone and secretly covered it with some cheese, and when he pressed it with his fingers, the cheese squirted out. Now he said to the giant, “I can squeeze water out of the stone, and you can't!” This made a strong impression on the giant, that someone else could do something he couldn't. Then the tailor also took a bow and arrow, but while he was shooting, he let the lark fly up unnoticed; it did not come back. Then he said to the giant, “Your arrow has come back down, but I shot mine so high that it won't come down!” The giants were surprised that someone stronger than them had been found, and they said to him, “Won't you be our comrade?” He agreed. He was small, but he was a good addition. So they took him into their company, and he stayed with them for a while. But it was still terrible to them that there was someone stronger than themselves, and once, when he was lying awake in bed, he heard them decide to kill him.