River Legends; Or, Father Thames and Father Rhine
put him to death or render him the dependant and slave of those over
whom he had so long tyrannized. It would of course be no easy task, but,
on the contrary, one which would require much courage and determination,
not to say self-sacrifice, as a possibility by no means remote. For,
should the giant awake during the operations which were contemplated, he
would probably make short work of Hans and his six followers; and thus,
in attempting {162}to achieve the freedom of their people, they would
emphatically have walked out of the frying-pan into the fire.
“Nothing daunted, however, Hans, speaking in a low tone of voice,
informed his friends of all that he had planned in his head, and,
knowing how valuable is example upon all such occasions, he told them
that he would himself approach the enemy in the first instance, so that
if he should suddenly awake, none other save the leader of the attack
need of necessity be lost. The gallant six all expressed their readiness
to go too, but Hans told them that they must in every respect obey his
orders if he was to continue their leader, and upon this they yielded
the point, and graciously consented to remain in comparative safety,
whilst the valiant tailor advanced upon the foe. This he did very
cautiously, and walked twice all round the sleeping giant in order to be
quite sure that he was really fast asleep. This was indeed the case, as
he speedily assured himself: there was no pretence about the matter; the
deep, regular breathing of the sleeper, his closed eyes, and the air of
repose visible in every feature, told their own tale, and Hans felt
that no moment could be more propitious for his design. Accordingly, he
climbed up into the branches of a neighbouring tree, and choosing one
of them, which appeared from its position and size to be suitable to his
purpose, swung himself lightly down, and alighted upon the giant’s
chin, close to his mouth, to reconnoitre which was his first object and
intention.
“He had a stick in his hand, and in entering the mouth, which was to him
like some enormous cave, unfortunately touched with it some tender place
in the skin, {163}which caused the monster to be seized with a violent
desire to sneeze, which he accordingly did with an effect hardly
anticipated by the luckless Hans, who, stick and all (the latter being
broken in several’ pieces), was sent up many feet in the air, and fell,
more nearly frightened than he had ever been before in his life, upon
the enormous breast of the creature who had thus treated him.
“Most fortunately for the little fellow, giants sleep longer and more
soundly than any other created beings, and it was not one sneeze that
could cause old Bramble-buffer to awake from an after-dinner nap. The
fall of Hans upon his breast was to him no more than would have been
the dropping of a nut from an overhanging tree, {164}and with a kind of
half-grunt, half-snore, he almost immediately became again completely
unconscious, and, with his mouth wide open, returned to the land of
dreams and snored audibly.
“This, then, was the opportunity for which Hans had earnestly hoped, and
he beckoned forward his followers, who approached at once, in order to
perform their part of the tremendous task before them. They were divided
into two parties, whose occupation was essentially different. Three
of them employed themselves upon the beard and hair of the sleeping
monster. They’ carefully, and with the lightest possible touch,
separated hair from hair, and then fastening to each single hair a
strong rope, as far as their ropes would go, bound it down to the ground
with pegs or nails, or fastened it securely to the branch of some tree
near at hand. They took every precaution not to wake the creature upon
whom they were at work, and they performed their business with a skill
and quickness which showed that Hans had made a good selection in the
volunteers whom he had accepted. The monster was ere long bound by
innumerable ties to the earth, and the number and strength of these was
momentarily increased. Nor, indeed, were the operations of the three men
confined to the hairs of the head and beard: the old Daddyroarer was a
very hairy person, and they found upon his legs and arms so many hairs
of the thickness of a large-sized rope, that by turning their attention
to these limbs and to other parts of his body, they multiplied many
times over the links by which they gradually bound him more and more
securely to mother earth.
“Meanwhile the other three volunteers were actively engaged {165}in an
occupation if possible still more dangerous. It was the mouth of the
giant upon which Hans had always known he should have to make his great
attempt. For should every other part of his huge frame be brought under
subjection and his mouth left free, the direst consequences might be
apprehended. His roars might bring to his assistance others of his kind
from a distance; and even if this did not actually occur, the whole
population of the country would be alarmed, if indeed the volunteers
themselves were not deafened and rendered senseless by the sound. It
was bad enough even when they commenced, for the snores of the sleeping
giant were like very loud thunder, closer to the earth than common, or
the roar of many cannons in some great conflict of human armies. Luckily,
however, he only snored at intervals, between which much could be done,
and by carefully filling their ears with cotton wool, the four men were
able to proceed with their task, the noise being somewhat deadened by
this wise precaution.
“Hans, armed with a long spear sharpened at both ends, boldly entered
the mouth first. It was as dark as an oven, and almost as hot, whilst
the odour was far less agreeable, as the monster liked his venison high,
and had eaten rather an unusual quantity that day. In fact, from time to
time the men were obliged to creep out, faint and sick, and take a whiff
of fresh air and a drop of brandy before they could go on with their
work. Hans carefully placed his long spear in such a position between
the jaws that they could not possibly be closed upon him. He was obliged
to be exceedingly careful in climbing round and over the teeth, which
were of such size, {166}length, and sharpness, that to traverse them was
like climbing over a wall with enormously long pointed iron spikes at
the top of it. In fact, but for the circumstance of the existence of
various holes and crevices through which he could creep, Hans would have
found his task even more difficult than was actually the case.
“His three companions, meanwhile, had provided themselves with a great
quantity of beams, joists, rafters, and all other necessary articles
for the purpose which they intended to accomplish. They set to work with
great zeal to fortify the giant’s mouth after a novel fashion, fixing
strong beams of oak between the teeth, and building in planks of oak and
fir so as to create a fixed and strong roof within the mouth which
no power could remove save in the same manner by which it had been
{167}erected, namely, by carpenters’ work performed by skilful
operators. As the darkness of the interior of the mouth rendered it
difficult to work therein, the workmen, who became bolder after they had
worked for some time without interruption, fetched a lantern, which
Hans carefully hung from one of the beams, and, by the assistance of its
light, the work proceeded more rapidly; and after a time the four men
arrived at the conclusion that there was little more to do in order to
secure the object for which they had undertaken their hazardous task.
“Accordingly they all left the mouth, except their valiant leader, who
now struck a severe blow upon the tongue of the giant with a fragment of
beam, in order to awake and summon him to surrender. Such, however, was
the thickness of the monster’s skin, that even upon this most sensitive
part a second and harder blow was necessary before the desired effect
could be produced.
Having {168}dealt this with all his force, Hans went forth and stood
upon the protruding lip of the giant, whence lie was presently hurled
down once more upon his breast, as the huge frame trembled and, with a
sigh, the monster awoke. Hans was speedily upon his legs again, climbed
at once boldly through the beard and whiskers of his prostrate enemy,
and standing upon the lower part of his cheek, and elevating his
lantern, shouted at the top of his voice, ‘You vile old murdering
Daddy-roarer! surrender yourself as my prisoner. Villain, you shall now
pay dearly for all the mischief you have done, and the innocent lives
which you have sacrificed. Monster, you must die!’
“Old Bramble-buffer, half asleep and half awake, at first made no
response whatever to this appeal, which, in fact, he scarcely heard.
Neither could he see the individual by whom he was addressed; all he
heard was a noise as of a shrill penny trumpet close to his ear, and it
was some few seconds before he recovered his senses sufficiently to make
out what was said to him. All he saw was the feeble ray of a lantern,
and he waited for awhile in hopeless confusion. Then, at last, he
perceived the strange little figure which had addressed him in so
haughty a tone, and for an instant a feeling of contemptuous mirth took
possession of his soul. This, however, did not last long, for Hans spoke
again.
“‘You don’t believe you are captive, don’t you?’ he cried. ‘Just try to
move, you old beggar, will you, and you’ll soon know the rights of it!’
“Bramble-buffer, on hearing these words, immediately followed the advice
which they gave, but found that he was so firmly secured to the ground
by more than {169}half the hairs of his head and body, that he could not
move an inch. Then he tried to roar, or at all events to speak to his
vanquisher, and discover what it all meant, but found himself totally
unable to do so. His mouth was so carefully and solidly fortified, that
he could no more close it than fly, and he found that he was completely
and absolutely in the power of those who had taken advantage of his
sleep to make him a helpless captive.
“As soon as he saw that the giant was aware of his condition, Hans
carefully kicked him on the nostril, and went on to say, ‘Now, you old
rascal, you will have time to repent, perhaps, but no more. The crows
and ravens will soon come and pick out your eyes, and the wolves and
other animals for whom the flesh of an old giant is not too strong, will
doubtless make an end of you before long. If, however, these should not
arrive soon, you may starve here as comfortably as you can, and die
of hunger at your leisure.’ With these words the little tailor stamped
violently on the old Daddy-roarer’s cheek, and laughed scornfully as he
did so.
“Perfectly helpless, overcome with sorrow at his miserable condition,
and struck with horror at the melancholy and wretched fate which he saw
impending, Bramble-buffer could bear up no longer, but burst into
tears, in doing which he very nearly destroyed his conqueror, who
would certainly have been washed away by the stream which suddenly came
gushing down the cheek on which he was standing, had he not with his
wonted agility jumped on one side, and swung himself off by the whiskers
on to the ground.
“Seeing his enemy thus completely prostrate in body and {170}soul, and
evidently perfectly conscious of the helplessness of his position, the
acute brain of Hans began immediately to consider whether there might
not be some better way of turning the giant to account than by either
killing him or leaving him to die, especially as there would be
considerable practical inconvenience in getting rid of so huge a