drop-cap
Beforevery long, they came to a great castle, and a warder stood before the gate.
“Ho, warder!” cried the giant when he came up. “How goes it with my grandfather’s uncle, the old giant Omscrag?”
“He has been dead a month,” said the warder, “and his property is all divided among his heirs.”
“That is not so,” roared the giant. “I am one of his heirs, and I haven’t got anything.”
“I don’t know anything about it,” said the warder. “I was told to give that message to every one who came, and I’ve given it to you.”
“Who told you to give it?” cried the giant.
“My master, Katofan, who is the old giant’s principal heir, and who now owns the castle.”
“Katofan!” exclaimed the giant. “What impudence! He’s a ninth cousin by marriage. Where is he? I want to see him.”
“I don’t think he is well enough to see anybody to-day,” said the warder.
THE YOUNG GIANT FELDAR COMPELS THE WARDEN TO OPEN THE SICK GIANT’S CASTLE-GATE
THE YOUNG GIANT FELDAR COMPELS THE WARDEN TO OPEN THE SICK GIANT’S CASTLE-GATE
THE YOUNG GIANT FELDAR COMPELS THE WARDEN TO OPEN THE SICK GIANT’S CASTLE-GATE
“Open that gate!” the giant roared, “or I shall plunge your family into woe!”
The warder turned pale, and opened the gate as wide as it would go, while the giant, with the fairy on his finger, walked boldly in.
In a large inner hall, sitting before a great fire, they saw a giant so tall and thin that he looked as if he had been made of great fishing-poles. He turned uneasily in his chair when he saw his visitor, and was going to say something about being too unwell to receive company, when our young giant,whose name was Feldar, interrupted him by calling out, in a tremendous voice:
“Well, now, Katofan, I should like to know what all this means! How did you come to be heir to this castle?”
“Because it descended to me from my good old relative and friend,” said the other.
“I expect there are a hundred heirs, who have a better right to it than you,” said our giant. “The truth is, no doubt, that you were here when my grandfather’s uncle died, and that you took possession, and have since kept everybody out.”
“Oh, no,” said the thin giant, “the other heirs have had a share of the fortune.”
“How many of them?” said Feldar, “and how much did they get?”
“As many as two or three of them,” said the other, “and they got some very nice things in the way of ornaments and curiosities.”
“Well,” said Feldar, stretching himself up high, “I am one of the heirs to this property, and I want my share of it. Who attends to the dividing business? Do you do it yourself?”
“Oh, no!” said the thin giant. “I am not well enough for that.I cannot go about much. But I will send for my dividing-agent. I had to employ one, there was so much to do. He will see that you get your share.”
He then rang a bell, and a small man appeared. When the fairy saw him, she could not help laughing, but her laugh was such a little one that no one noticed it. He had a bushy head of hair, which was as black as ink on one side and as white as milk on the other. Looking at him from one side, he seemed quite young, and from the other side, quite old.
FELDAR INTERVIEWS THE SICK GIANT
FELDAR INTERVIEWS THE SICK GIANT
FELDAR INTERVIEWS THE SICK GIANT
“Flipkrak,” said the thin giant,“this is another heir to this property; we overlooked him when we made our division. I wish you would take him, as you did the others, and let him choose something that he would like to have.”
“Certainly,” said Flipkrak. “This way, good sir,” and he went out of a side-door, followed closely by Feldar.
“How would you like a hinge?” cried the thin giant, as they reached the door. “There are some very handsome and odd hinges, nearly new. If you take one, you might some day get another to match it, and then you would havea nice pair all ready when you put up a new door.”
Feldar stopped a moment in the doorway.
“I’ll look at them,” he answered, and then went on.
“Here, good sir,” said Flipkrak, showing the young giant into a large room, “is a collection of most beautiful articles. You can choose any one of them, or even two if you like. They will be admirable mementos of your deceased relative.”
Feldar looked around. There were all sorts of brass and iron ornaments, old pieces of furnitureand various odds and ends, of little value.
“A nice lot of rubbish,” said the young giant. “If I ever have any holes to fill up, on my ground, I may send for a few wagon-loads of it. Suppose we look through the rest of the castle?”
“Oh, good sir,” said the dividing-agent, “the things in the rest of the castle belong to my good master!”
“You can come if you choose,” said Feldar, striding away, “or you can stay behind,” and the poor man, frightened, ran after him as fast as he could.
The young giant walked through several of the vast rooms of the castle. “I see you have a great deal of very fine furniture here,” he said to Flipkrak, “and I need furniture. I will mark some of it with this piece of chalk, and you can send it to me.”
“Oh, yes, good sir,” cried the dividing-agent, quite pleased at this. “We can send it to you after you go away.”
Feldar took a piece of chalk from his pocket, and marked enough furniture to furnish an ordinary castle.
“This kind of chalk will not ruboff,” he said, “and I’ve marked the things where it won’t show. But don’t overlook any of them. Now, where are your money-vaults?”
“Oh, good sir!” cried the dividing-agent, “you can’t go there, we don’t divide any of–I mean we haven’t any money-vaults!”
“Give me the key,” said Feldar.
“Oh, good sir!” cried Flipkrak, shaking with terror, “I must not let that go out of my keeping–I mean I haven’t got it.”
The giant made no answer, but taking the dividing-agent by the heels, he held him upside down inthe air, and shook him. A big key dropped from his pockets.
“That’s the key, no doubt,” said the giant, putting the man down, and picking up the key. “I can find the vault by myself. I won’t trouble you any more.”
But as he went down to the lower parts of the castle, the dividing-agent ran after him, wailing and tearing his two-colored hair.
THE YOUNG GIANT’S WAY OF GETTING THE KEY
THE YOUNG GIANT’S WAY OF GETTING THE KEY
THE YOUNG GIANT’S WAY OF GETTING THE KEY
When he reached the money-vault, Feldar easily opened the door and walked in. Great bags of gold and silver, each holding about a bushel, were piled up around the walls. Feldar took out his pieceof chalk, and marked about a dozen of those bags which held the gold coin.
“Oh, that’s right, good sir,” cried Flipkrak, feeling a little better. “We can send them to you after you go away.”
“What is in those small bags, on that shelf?” asked Feldar.
“Those are diamonds, good sir,” said the agent; “you can mark some of them if you like.”
“I will mark one,” said the giant to the fairy, who was securely nestled in the ruffles of his shirtbosom, “and that I will give to you.”
“To me!” exclaimed Flipkrak, who did not see the fairy; “what does he mean by that?”
“Thank you,” said the little creature, in delight. “Diamonds are so lovely! How glad I am that your grandfather’s uncle died!”
“You shouldn’t say that,” said the giant. “It isn’t proper.”
“But you feel glad, don’t you?” she asked.
“I don’t talk about it, if I do,” said Feldar. Then turning to the dividing-agent, he told him that he thought he had marked all the bags he wanted.
“All right, good sir,” said Flipkrak,“we will send them to you, very soon–very soon.”
“Oh, you needn’t trouble yourself about that,” said Feldar; “I will take them along with me.” And so saying, he put the bag of diamonds in one of his coat-pockets, and began to pile the bags of money on his shoulders.
The dividing-agent yelled and howled with dismay, but it was of no use. Feldar loaded himself with his bags, and walked off, without even looking at Flipkrak, who was almost crazy at seeing so much of his master’s treasure boldly taken away from him.
Feldar stopped for a moment in the great hall, where the thin giant was still sitting before the fire.
“I’ve taken my share of the money,” he said, “and I’ve marked a lot of furniture and things which I want you to send me, inside of a week. Do you understand?”
The thin giant gave one look at the piles of bags on Feldar’s shoulders, and fainted away. He had more money left than he could possibly use, but he could not bear to lose the least bit of the wealth he had seized upon.
“What in the world are you goingto do with all that money?” the fairy asked.
“I am going to give one bag of it to Count Cormo, so that he can offer the children a decent Christmas-tree, and the rest I shall carry to my castle on Shattered Crag.”
“I don’t believe the Count will take it,” said the fairy. “He’s awfully proud, and he would say that you were giving the Christmas feasts and not he. I wish you would let me manage this affair for you.”
“Well, I will,” said the giant.
“All right,” cried the fairy, clappingher hands. “I’ll do the thinking and you can do the working. It’s easy for me to think.”
“And it’s just as easy for me to work,” said Feldar, with hearty good-will.