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The Boy of Great Strength and the Giants
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THE BOY OF GREAT STRENGTH AND THE GIANTS
[168]
N the banks of a mighty river near a great lake in the
West, there lived in old times a boy who was very small
in size. As he grew older he did not grow larger, and
he remained very tiny. He lived alone with his sister,
who was older than he. His sister looked upon him as a
child and made him toys to play with. One day in winter
he asked his sister to make him a ball to play with on
the ice of the river. And she made him a ball out of
strong cord. The boy played on the ice, throwing the
ball in front of him and running after it as it rolled
to see if he could catch it. At last the ball went very
far in front of him and the wind blew it along so that
it did not stop rolling. He followed it a long distance
and he saw in front of him four giant men lying on the
ice spearing fish. When he came close to them, they
looked at him and laughed, and one said, "See what a
tiny mite is here," but they did not speak to him. The
boy was very cross because they had laughed at his
small size, and he thought, "I shall teach them that I
am powerful although I am small."
HE SAW FOUR LARGE FISH LYING ON THE ICE.
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As
the boy passed them on his way back, he saw four
[169] large
fish lying on the ice beside them. He took the one
nearest to him and ran away as fast as he could. When
the giant who owned the fish looked up, he saw the boy
running away, and he said to his companions, "The small
boy has stolen my fish." When the boy reached home, his
sister asked him where he had got the fish, and he
answered that he had found it on the ice. "How could
you get it there?" she asked, but he would not answer;
he merely said, "Go and cook it." So they cooked it and
ate it for their evening meal.
The
next day the boy played again on the ice of the river.
The giant men were again fishing. When he came up to
where they were, his ball rolled into a hole through
which they fished. He asked one of the men to hand him
his ball, but the man laughed at him and pushed the
ball under the ice with his spear. Then the boy caught
the man's arm and twisted it until he broke it, for he
had great strength; he picked his ball from under the
ice and went home. The man with the broken arm called
his comrades and showed them what had happened, and
they all swore that they would kill the boy.
The next
day the four giant brother fishermen set out to find
the boy. Soon they reached his home among the rocks
on the bank of the river. The boy's sister heard
the noise of their snow shoes on the crusted snow as
they came near, and she ran into the house in great
fear. But the boy said,
[170] "Have no fear; give me
something to eat." She gave him food on a dish
which was made from a magic shell, and he began
to eat. Just then the men came to the door and were
about to push it open when the boy turned his dish
up-side-down and at once the door was closed with a
large stone. Then the men tried to crack the stone,
and at last they made a small hole in it. One of them
put his eye to the hole and peeped in, but the boy shot
an arrow into his eye and killed him. Then the
others, not knowing what had caused their brother to
fall, peeped through the hole, and each one was killed
in his turn by an arrow shot through his eye.
Then
the boy went out and cut them into small pieces, and as
he did so he said, "Henceforth let no man be bigger
than your pieces are now." So men became of their
present size, and they have never since grown to giant
stature.
When
the springtime came, the boy's sister made him new
bows and arrows. He took one of the arrows and shot
it far out into the lake. Then he swam out after it,
while his sister in fear watched him from the shore and
called to him to come back. But he cried loudly,
"Fish of the red fins, come and swallow me." And at
once a great fish came and swallowed him. Then his
sister tied an old moccasin to a strong cord and
fastened it to a tree that grew out over the lake.
And the fish said to the boy, "What is that floating in
the water?" And the boy said, "Take hold of it and
swallow it." The fish swallowed it and was held fast
to the tree
[171] by the cord. Then the boy took hold of the
line and pulled himself and the fish to the shore.
His sister cut the fish open and let the boy out.
Then they cut up the fish and dried it, and the boy told
his sister never again to doubt his strength, for
although he was small he was very powerful. And since
that time, men have never grown larger than he, but
although small they have had power over all other
creatures.
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