Three little boys were hunting in the Canadian
woods in old times. They pretended to be big like
-*- men. A giant was prowling about looking for food.
He saw the boys through the trees. He thought he would
catch them and have a good meal. So he slapped his hands
together rapidly and made a noise like a partridge drumming.
The little boys heard the noise. They thought it was a
partridge, and they went towards the sound. The giant
caught them. He picked each one by the heels and struck
the head of each on the ground. He thought they were all
dead. Then he put them in a big birch-bark bag, put it on
his back, and started home, well pleased with the thought of
the nice meal he was going to have.
But the ground on which he had struck the boys heads
was soft. The boys were only stunned by the blow. And
after the giant had walked a little way, the boys came to life
again. But they made no sound. One of the boys had
a little hunting knife made of stone. The giant walked under
the trees, and the branches rattled on the birch-bark bag.
When the branches rattled, the boy cut a hole in the bag, and
the giant could not hear the noise of the cutting. The boys
slipped through the hole, one after the other. Then they ran
home as fast as they could.
The giant was very strong. He had not felt the weight of
the boys on his back. And he did not notice a difference in
the weight when they slipped out. When he reached home,
he left his load outside. One of his brothers was waiting for
him. The giant said, " I have a good fat meal outside in my
bag. Come out and see it." When they opened the bag, it
was empty. The giant was very cross. But with his brother
he sat before the fire to eat greedily what food he had in his
cave.
When the boys reached home, they told their people what
had happened to them. The people set out to find the giants.
Soon they came to their cave. The giant and his brother
were sleeping before the fire after their hearty meal. The
people hid in the trees and shot at the giants. An arrow
struck the old giant. He awoke and said to his brother, " I
have a stitch in my side." But soon a shower of arrows
struck them and they fell dead, and the place was troubled no
more by giants.