the ropes; he then killed the Giants, and thus saved himself from the cruel death they meant to put him to.

Jack next took a great bunch of keys from the pocket of Blunderbore, and went into the castle again. He made a strict search through all the rooms; and in them found three ladies tied up by the hair of their heads, and almost starved to death. They told him that their husbands had been killed by the Giants, who had then condemned them to be starved to death, because they would not eat the flesh of their own husbands.

“Charming Ladies,” said Jack, “I have put an end to the monster and his wicked brother; and I give you this castle, and all riches that it contains, to make you some amends for the dreadful pains you have felt.”

He then very politely gave them the keys of the castle, and went further in his journey to Wales.

Caring very little for riches, Jack had not taken any of the Giant's wealth for himself, and having but little money of his own, he thought it best to travel as fast as he could.

At length he lost his way; and when night came on, he was in a valley between two lofty mountains. He thought himself lucky at last in finding a large and handsome house. He went to it, and knocked at the gate; when, to his surprise, there came forth a Giant with two heads. He spoke to Jack very civilly, for he was a Welsh Giant, and all the mischief he did was done under a show of friendship. Jack told him he was a benighted traveller, when the monster bade Jack welcome, and led him into a room where he could pass the night. But though he was weary he could not sleep, for he heard the Giant walking backward and forward in the next room, saying,

“Say you so?” quoth Jack; “that is like one of your Welsh tricks.”

Then getting out of bed, Jack groped about the room, and at last found a billet of wood; he laid it in his place in the bed, and hid himself in a corner of the room. In the middle of the night the Giant came with his great club, and struck many heavy blows on the bed, in the very place where Jack had laid the billet; and then went to his own room, thinking he had broken all Jack's bones.

Early in the morning Jack walked into the Giant's room to thank him for his lodging. The Giant started when he saw him, and began to stammer out,—

“Pray, how did you sleep last night? Did you hear or see any thing in the dead of the night?”

“Nothing worth speaking of,” said Jack, carelessly; “a rat, I believe, gave me three or four flaps with its tail, but I soon went to sleep again.”

The Giant did not answer a word, but brought in two bowls of hasty-pudding for their breakfasts. Jack wanted to make the Giant believe that he could eat as much as himself, so he contrived to button a leathern bag inside his coat, and slipped the pudding into the bag instead of his mouth.

When breakfast was over, he said to the Giant, “I will shew you a fine trick: I could cut my head off one minute, and put it on sound the next. But see here!”

He then took a knife, ripped up the bag, and all the pudding fell on the floor.

“Odds splutter hur nails,” cried the Giant, who was ashamed to be outdone by Jack, “hur can do that hurself!”

So he snatched up the knife, plunged it into his stomach, and in a moment dropped down dead.

Jack having thus outwitted the monster, went further on his journey.