Page:Lange - The Blue Fairy Book.djvu/349

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THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR
309

him. When he came to the outskirts of the wood he said to his followers: ‘You wait here, I’ll manage the giants by myself;’ and he went on into the wood, casting his sharp little eyes right and left about him. After a while he spied the two giants lying asleep under a tree, and snoring till the very boughs bent with the breeze. The little tailor lost no time in filling his wallet with stones, and then climbed up the tree under which they lay.

When he got to about the middle of it he slipped along a branch till he sat just above the sleepers, when he threw down one stone after the other on the nearest giant. The giant felt nothing for a long time, but at last he woke up, and pinching his companion said: ‘What did you strike me for?’ ‘I didn’t strike you,’ said the other ‘you must be dreaming.’ They both lay down to sleep again, and the tailor threw down a stone on the second giant, who sprang up and cried: ‘What’s that for? Why did you throw something at me?’