THE SHEPHERD'S SON AND THE OGRE

THERE were once two shepherds who were neighbors and very fond of visiting each other. One lived on the east side of a river, and his friend lived on the west side. On a certain evening the shepherd from the west side of the river came to visit the shepherd who lived on the east side. He stayed until it was quite late. Then he rose to his feet and said, "It is time to go home."

"Stop with me till morning," urged the host, "for it must now be nearly midnight."

"No," the other responded, "I must not do that. I have not far to go, and I would not mind the walk, if only I were safe over the river."

The host had a big, strong son who now addressed the visitor and said, "I will go with you and see that you get across the river all right."

So they two set off together and presently arrived at the river. Here was a ford with stepping-stones along at one side. The moon was shining and they crossed on the stepping-stones almost as easily as if it had been day. They stood on the farther shore talking for a time and then they parted and the lad prepared to return. The moon was now behind a gloomy cloud. "I am not sure I could keep to the stepping-stones," thought the lad, "it is so dark."

He therefore sat down and took off his shoes and stockings and then waded the ford. But when he arrived at the home shore he happened to put his hand to his head and found that his cap was gone. "Where can I have lost it?" said he. "Shall I go back to look for it, or shall I go home without it? I must have dropped it when I took off my shoes and stockings. Well, I'll wade back, for the home people would laugh at me if I returned bareheaded."

He splashed along through the water to the other side of the river, and was surprised to see an ogre seated where he had been, and the ogre had the lad's cap in his hands. The shepherd's son was uncommonly strong and courageous, and he called out, "What business have you with that? It is mine."

Then he caught hold of the cap and pulled it away, whereupon the ogre jumped to his feet shouting, "But I will have it even if it is yours!"

The lad ran into the water and dashed along toward home. The ogre, however, soon caught up with him and tried to hold him back, and they fought all the way across. At last they were nearly to the shore, but do what he would the lad could not free himself from the ogre and get out of the water. He was almost exhausted, and the ogre was beginning to drag him toward a deep pool. On the bank, close by, grew a stout oak that reached out over the water, and to save himself the lad grasped this oak. He got a firm hold, and the ogre could not wrench him away, but the oak was bending and twisting. Finally it began to loosen in the earth. More and more it loosened and gave way until only a single root held. That, too, was about to slip when a rooster in some near by farmyard heralded the approach of day with a loud crow.

At this sound the ogre let go his grip on the young man, and said, "I have no more power. You fought well, and you had need to do so, or your cap would have cost you dear."

Then the ogre gave a mighty plunge into the pool and went down out of sight, and the lad never saw him afterward.