day when they went out to hunt she would take the broom and make the
palace neat and clean. They called her "little sister" and loved her
with all their big giant hearts.
All was well until a little bird went and told Angelita's step-mother
that she was alive and living in the depths of the jungle with the
three giants. When the step-mother heard about it she was so angry
that she thought she could never be happy as long as Angelita was
living in the world. She consulted a wicked witch as soon as she could
find her shawl.
The wicked witch gave the step-mother some poisoned slippers. "These
will cause the immediate death of any person who puts them on," said
the wicked witch. Then she showed the step-mother just how to reach
the palace where Angelita lived in the depths of the jungle with the
three giants.
Angelita's step-mother followed the directions which the witch had
given her and easily found the giants' palace. Angelita was so happy
living with the giants and keeping house for them that she had
forgotten what fear was like. She was not frightened at all when she
heard some one clap hands before the door one day when the giants were
away. She went to the door; and, though she was very much surprised to
see her step-mother, she invited her into the house. Her step-mother
gave her a loving embrace and kissed her upon both cheeks. "Dear
child, it is a long time since I have seen you," she said. "I have
brought you a little gift to show you that I have not forgotten you.
It is only a poor, mean little gift, but it is the best I could
bring."
Angelita was touched at her step-mother's gift and accepted it with
hearty thanks. As soon as her step-mother had gone she untied the red
ribbon around the package and opened it. Inside was a pair of leather
slippers. Angelita looked at the little slippers. They were like the
slippers which her dear father, the image-maker, had once brought home
to her. "How kind it was in my step-mother to bring these slippers to
me," she said as she put them on.
As soon as the slippers were on Angelita's feet, she fell dead just as
the wicked witch had promised the step-mother she would do. Her
step-mother was watching through the window, and when she saw Angelita
dead she hurried home in joy. "Now I, alone, am the peerless beauty,"
she said.
When the three giants came home to dinner they knew at once that there
was something wrong. There were dirty tracks on the floor and dirty
finger prints upon the door. "Who made these dirty marks?" said the
biggest giant.
"What has happened to our dear little sister that she has not cleaned
them away?" asked the middle-sized giant.
"I am afraid there is something wrong with little sister," said the
littlest giant who was not little at all.
They clapped their big hands before the door, but no smiling little
sister ran to meet them. They entered the big hall of the palace with
a bound. There in the middle of the floor lay Angelita, just as she
had fallen when she put on the poisoned slippers which her step-mother
had given her.
"What evil, has befallen our dear little sister?" said the biggest
giant.
"Who could have slain our little sister whom we loved so much?" said
the middle-sized giant.
"Who will keep house for us now that our dear little sister is dead?"
asked the littlest giant.
Then the biggest giant and the middle-sized giant and the littlest
giant all began to sob so loud that it shook the earth. "Our dear
little sister is dead! What shall we do! What shall we do!"
The giants could not go into the city to give their little sister
Christian burial, but they built a beautiful casket out of silver and
carried it to the path which led to the city. Then they hid themselves
to watch and make sure that some one found it to carry to the burying
place.
Soon a handsome prince passed by on horseback. He noticed the silver
casket at once and opened it. The girl whose still form lay inside was
the most beautiful maid he had ever gazed upon. "This dead maid is my
own true love," he said and he carried the silver casket home to his
own palace.
He commanded that no one should enter the room where he placed the
silver casket, and this aroused the curiosity of his little sister at
once. At the very first opportunity she slipped into the room. She
opened the casket and was surprised to see the beautiful quiet maid.
"You are very lovely," she said to the still form, "all except your
slippers. I think they are very ugly." With these words she pulled off
the leather slippers.
Angelita gave a deep sigh, opened her beautiful eyes, and asked for a
drink of water.
The little sister called the prince at once. When he saw Angelita was
really alive he could hardly believe the good fortune. He asked that
the wedding night be celebrated immediately.
Angelita begged that she might go back into the deep jungle and invite
the three giants to the wedding. The biggest giant, the middle-sized
giant, and the littlest giant who was not little at all, came to the
wedding feast. After that they visited their little sister often at
her new home; and, when she had children of her own, it was the
funniest sight one ever saw to see the biggest giant hold the tiny
babes upon his knee.
VI
THE FOREST LAD AND THE WICKED GIANT
Once upon a time there was a man who took his wife and tiny baby son
into the deep forest to make their home. With his own hands he built
the house out of mud, and he made for it a thatched roof from the
grass of the forest. For food they depended upon the fruits of the
forest and the beasts which they killed in the hunt. They lived like
hermits, seeing no one.
As the baby son grew into a large strong boy he learned from his
father all the secrets of the forest. He grew wise as well as strong.
From his mother he heard stories of their former life in the great
city which had been their home before they went to live in the forest.
These were the tales he loved to hear best of all. Very often when his
father went out into the forest to hunt the boy would beg to remain at
home with his mother. While his father was away she would sit on the
ground before their hut and unfold to the boy all her memories of
their old life.
"Father," said the lad one day after his father had returned from his
hunting trip, "I am tired of living here in the forest all by
ourselves. Let us return to the city to live."
"Your mother has been telling tales to you," replied his father. "I
will see to it that she never mentions the city to you again. We left
the city to save our lives. Let me never hear from you another word
about returning to the city."
After that the lad was made to accompany his father when he went out
hunting. There was no more opportunity to hear the tales he loved from
his mother's lips. Nevertheless he hid away in his mind all that his
mother had told him of their old life; and at night, when the fierce
storms in the forest or the sound of the wild beasts would not let him
sleep, he often lay awake upon his mat on the floor of the hut,
pondering over the stories she had told.
At last the father grew sick of a fever and died. Now that the lad and
his mother were left alone in the forest the lad said, "Come, let us
return to our home in the city. Let us not stay here alone in the
forest any longer. I must live in my own life the tales you have told
me of the _festas_ and the dancing, the great tournaments, and the
songs at night under the balconies of the fair maidens."
The lad's request was so urgent that his mother could not have refused
him, even if she, in her own heart, was not longing for a return to
the life of the city. Accordingly, they took all their possessions,
which consisted only of a horse and a sword, and set out for the city.
The lad and his mother reached the city at nightfall. They went from
one street to another, but saw no living being. They knocked and
clapped their hands before all the doors of the city, but no one
responded. At last they reached the street where their old home had
been. The lad was delighted to see what a big handsome house it was.
"No wonder my mother longed to return to a home like this," he
thought. "How could she ever have endured the rude hut in the depths
of the forest?"
The doors of the beautiful house stood wide open. The lad and his
mother entered, and passed from one room to another. His mother saw
one room after another with everything unchanged. She recognized one
object after another just as she had left it. There was one room in
the house which was securely barred on the inside, however.
The lad and his mother spent the night in their old home. In the
morning they again walked about the deserted streets of the city. They
saw no one and heard no living sound. It was like a city of the dead.
They grew hungry at length; and the lad went outside the city to seek
for food in the forest, according to the custom which he had known all
his life.
The mother returned to her old home to await the coming of her son. As
soon as she went upstairs she saw that the barred door was wide open.
There in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had ever seen. The
great halls of the house were high, but the giant could not stand up
in them without stooping.
[Illustration: There in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had
ever seen]
"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" roared the giant in
such a terrible voice that the house trembled.
The woman who had lived so many years in the forest was not easily
frightened. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" she
shouted at the giant in the loudest tones she could muster.
One might have expected that the giant would have killed her
instantly, but on the contrary her bold answer pleased him
exceedingly. He laughed so hard that he had to lean against the wall
to keep from falling.
"So you think that this is your house, do you?" said the giant as soon
as he could regain his voice. "Well, I'll tell you what we can do. I
like you, and we can share this house if you will consent to be my
wife."
"I am not alone," said the lad's mother as soon as she could recover
from her surprise sufficiently to find words. "My son is with me and I
am expecting him any moment to return from the forest whither he has
gone to procure food for us."
"I can dispose of your son very quickly, just as I have destroyed all
the inhabitants of this city," said the giant with a frown.
"You cannot dispose of my son so easily as you may think," replied his
mother. "He has grown in the deep forest and is very strong, far
stronger than the city dwellers. Besides his great strength, he is
surrounded by the magic circle of his mother's love."
"I do not know what the magic circle of a mother's love is like," said
the giant. "I don't remember having seen one anywhere. Nevertheless I
like you, and because I like you I will endeavour to dispose of your
son as painlessly as possible. I believe you say you are expecting him
any moment. Just lie down here and pretend that you are sick. When the
boy comes in tell him that you have a terrible pain in your eyes. As
you have lived long in the forest you will know that the best remedy
for a pain in your eyes is the oil of the deadly _cobra_ of the
jungle. Send the lad out into the jungle to obtain this oil for you,
and I promise you he will never return alive. I'll go back into my
room and bar the door so the boy will never see me, but I shall listen
through the wall to know whether you carry out my command."
At that very moment they heard the lad's footsteps and his gay voice
at the door. The giant went inside his room and barred the door. The
lad's mother lay down with a cloth over her eyes, moaning in loud
tones. "The giant little knows the strength and skill of the lad whose
mother I am," she said to herself as she smiled amidst her moans and
groans.
"O dear little mother, what evil has befallen you during my absence?"
asked the boy as he entered the room.
His mother complained of the pain in her eyes just as the giant had
instructed. "The only thing which will cure me of this terrible
affliction is the oil of the _cobra_," she said.
The boy well knew the dangers which attended securing the oil from the
deadly _cobra_ of the jungle, but never in his life had he disregarded
a request from his mother. He at once set out for the jungle; and, in
spite of the perils of the deed, he succeeded in obtaining the oil
which his mother had requested.
On the way back to the city, the boy met a little old woman carrying a
pole over her shoulder from which there hung, head downward, several
live fowls which she was taking to market. It was really the Holy
Mother herself who had come to aid the lad in answer to his mother's
prayer.
"Where are you going, my lad?" asked the old woman. The boy told his
story and showed the precious oil which he had obtained from the
_cobra_. "The day is coming, the day is coming, my lad, when you will,
in truth, need the _cobra's_ oil," said the little old woman. "But
that day is not today. Today hen's oil will serve your purpose just as
well. You may kill one of my hens and use the hen's oil, but leave the
_cobra's_ oil with me so that I may keep it safely for you until the
day when you will require it."
The boy heeded the advice of the little old woman and killed one of
her hens. He left the _cobra's_ oil with her and took the hen's oil in
its place to his mother. Because his mother had nothing at all the
matter with her eyes, the hen's oil cured them just as well as the
_cobra's_ oil. There was no one who knew the difference, except the
boy and the little old woman.
When the boy had gone out the giant came in from his own room and
said, "In truth your son is a brave lad. I did not dream that he would
have the courage to go in search of the oil of the deadly _cobra_,
much less succeed in his quest."
"You do not know the great love we bear each other," said the lad's
mother.
"I am going to demand a new proof of your son's strength and skill,"
said the giant. "Tomorrow you must complain of the pain in your back
and send the boy in search of the oil of the porcupine to cure it.
This is my command."
The next day the woman had to complain of a pain in her back just as
the giant had commanded. There was nothing else which she could do.
The boy at once went in search of a porcupine, and succeeded in
slaying one and getting the oil.
On his way back to the city the lad again met the little old woman who
was really _Nossa Senhora_. "Leave the oil of the porcupine with me,
my son," said she when she had heard his story. "I will keep it for
you until the morrow when you will have great need of it. Today hen's
oil will serve your purpose just as well."
Because the boy's mother had nothing at all the matter with her back
she was cured with the hen's oil which the boy brought, just as easily
as if it had been the porcupine's oil. The giant came out of his room
and said, "In truth, lad, you are a boy of great skill and strength."
The boy had not seen the giant before and he was very much surprised.
Before he even had time to recover from his amazement the giant had
seized him and bound him securely with a great rope. "If you are
really a strong boy you will break this rope," said the giant. "If you
are not strong enough to break it I shall cut you into five pieces
with my sword."
The boy struggled with all his might to break the great rope. It was
no use. He was not strong enough. The giant stood by laughing.
When the lad's mother saw that he could not break the rope she fell
upon her knees before the giant and cried, "Do what you will to me,
but spare my son!"
The cruel giant laughed at her request. When she saw that she could
not keep him from slaying the boy, she said, "If you will not grant my
large request I beg that you will listen to just a tiny, tiny, little
one. When you cut my son into five pieces do it with his father's
sword which he has brought with him from the little hut in the forest
where we used to live. Then bind his body upon the back of his
father's horse which he brought with him out of the forest and turn
the horse loose, so it may travel, perchance, back to the forest from
which I brought my lad to meet this terrible death."
The giant did as she requested, and the horse bore the slain boy's
body along the road to the forest. Outside the city they met the
little old woman who was really _Nossa Senhora_. She took the parts of
the lad's body and anointed them with the porcupine's oil. Then she
held them tight together. They stayed securely joined. "Are you
lacking anything," she asked the boy.
The boy felt of his legs, his arms, his ears, his nose, his hair. "I
am all here except my eyesight," he said. The little old woman
anointed his eyes with the _cobra's_ oil. His sight was immediately
restored. Then he knew that the little old woman was indeed the Holy
Mother. She vanished as he knelt to receive her blessing.
The boy in his new strength quickly hastened back to the city. It was
night and the giant was asleep. He seized his father's sword and
plunged it into the giant's body. The giant turned over without
awakening. "The mosquitoes are biting me," he muttered in his sleep.
The boy saw the giant's own enormous sword lying on the floor. It was
so heavy he could barely lift it, but mustering all his strength he
drove it into the giant's body. The giant died immediately.
"The magic circle of a mother's love, with the Holy Mother's help,
will guard a lad against all perils," said the boy's mother when she
heard her son's story and saw the giant lying dead.
VII
HOW THE GIANTESS GUIMARA BECAME SMALL
Once upon a time a prince called D. Joaõ went hunting with a number of
companions. In the deep forest he became separated from his comrades
and soon found out that he was lost. He wandered about for a long
time, and at last he spied what looked like a mountain range in the
distance. He journeyed toward it as fast as he could travel, and when
he got near to it he was surprised to find out that it was really a
high wall. It was the great wall which bounds the land of the giants.
The ruler of the country was an enormous giant whose head reached
almost to the clouds. The giant's wife was nearly as enormous as he
was, and their only child was as tall as her mother. Her name was
Guimara.
When the giant saw D. Joaõ he called out, "O, little man, what are you
doing down there?" D. Joaõ narrated his adventures to the giant, and
the giant said, "Your story of your wanderings interests me. It is not
often that little men like you pass this way. If you like you may live
in my palace and be my servant." D. Joaõ accepted the giant's offer
and stayed at the palace.
The giant's daughter Guimara was very much pleased with D. Joaõ. He
was the first little man she had ever seen. She fell deeply in love
with him. Her father, however, was very much disgusted at her lack of
good taste. He preferred to have a giant for a son-in-law. Accordingly
he thought of a plot to get D. Joaõ into trouble.
[Illustration: The giant's daughter, Guimara was very much pleased
with D. João]
The next day he sent for D. Joaõ to appear before him. "O little man,"
he said to him, "they tell me that you are very proud of yourself and
that you are boasting among my servants that you are able to tear down
my palace in a single night and set it up again as quickly as you tore
it down."
"I never have made any such boast, your majesty," replied D. Joaõ.
He went to Guimara and told her about it. "I am an enchantress," said
Guimara. "Leave it to me and we will surprise my father."
The very next night Guimara and D. Joaõ tore down the giant's palace
and set it up again exactly as it was before. The giant was greatly
surprised. He suspected that his daughter had meddled with the affair.
The next day he sent for D. Joaõ and said to him, "O little man, they
tell me that you say that in a single night you are able to change the
Isle of Wild Beasts into a beautiful garden full of all sorts of
flowers and with a silvery fountain in the centre."
"I never said any such thing, your majesty," replied D. Joaõ.
He told Guimara about it and she said that it would be great fun to
escape from her room that night and make over the Isle of the Wild
Beasts into a lovely garden.
Accordingly Guimara worked hard all night long helping D. Joaõ to make
the Isle of the Wild Beasts over into a garden full of all sorts of
beautiful flowers and with a silvery fountain in the centre. The king
was greatly surprised to see the garden in the morning and he was very
angry at Guimara and D. Joaõ.
Guimara was so frightened at her father's terrible wrath that she
decided to run away with D. Joaõ. She counselled him to procure the
best horse from her father's stable for them to ride.
At midnight Guimara crept out of her room and ran to the place where
D. Joaõ was waiting for her with the horse, which travelled one
hundred leagues at each step. They mounted the horse and rode away.
Early the next morning the princess Guimara was missed from the royal
palace. Soon it was discovered that D. Joaõ was gone too, and also the
best horse from the stables. The giant talked over the matter with his
wife. She told him to take another horse which could travel a hundred
leagues a step and go after them as fast as he could. The giant
followed his wife's advice, and soon he had nearly caught up with the
fugitives, for they had grown tired and had stopped to rest.
Guimara spied her father coming and turned herself into a little
river. She turned D. Joaõ into an old negro, the horse into a tree,
the saddle into a bed of onions, and the musket they carried into a
butterfly.
When the giant came to the river he called out to the old negro who
was taking a bath, "O, my old negro, have you seen anything of a
little man accompanied by a handsome young woman?"
The old negro did not say a single word to him, but dived into the
water. When he came out he called the giant's attention to the bed of
onions. "I planted these onions," he said. "Aren't they a good crop?"
The bed of onions smelled so strong that the giant did not like to
stay near them. The butterfly flew at the giant's eyes and almost into
them. He was disgusted and went home to talk it over with his wife.
"How silly you were," said the giant's wife. "Don't you see that
Guimara had changed herself into a river and had changed D. Joaõ into
an old negro, the horse into a tree, the saddle into a bed of onions,
and the musket into a butterfly? Hurry after them at once."
The giant again went in pursuit, promising his wife that next time he
would not let Guimara play any tricks on him. The next time that
Guimara saw her father coming she thought of a new plan. She changed
herself into a church. She turned D. Joaõ into a _padre_, the horse
into a bell, the saddle into an altar and the musket into a mass-book.
When the giant approached the church he was completely deceived. "O,
holy _padre_," he said to the priest, "have you seen anything of a
little man, accompanied by a handsome young woman, passing this way?"
The _padre_ went on with his mass and said:
"I am a hermit _padre_
Devoted to the Immaculate;
I do not hear what you say.
_Dominus vobiscum_."
The giant could get no other response from him. At last he gave up in
despair and went home to talk things over with his wife.
"Of all stupid fools you are the most stupid of all," said his wife
when she had heard the tale. "Don't you see that Guimara has changed
herself into a church, D. Joaõ into a priest, the horse into a bell,
the saddle into the altar, and the musket into the mass-book? Hurry
after them again as fast as you can. I am going with you, myself, this
time, to see that Guimara does not play any more tricks on you."
This time the fugitives had travelled far when Guimara's parents
overtook them. They had almost reached D. Joaõ's own kingdom. Guimara
threw a handful of dust into her parents' eyes, and it became so dark
that they could not see. Guimara and D. Joaõ escaped safely into his
own kingdom.
When they had started out on the journey, Guimara had said, "O, D.
Joaõ, whatever happens, don't forget me for one single minute. Think
of me all the time." He had promised and he had remembered her every
instant on the journey. However, when they reached his own kingdom, he
was so happy to see home once more after all his adventures that he
thought he had never before been so happy in all his life. After one
has been living in Giantland it is very pleasant to get home where
things are a few sizes smaller and a bit more convenient. Then, too,
it was very pleasant for him to see all his friends again. He was so
happy at being home that, just for one little minute, he forgot all
about Guimara.