The boy well knew the dangers which attended securing the oil from the deadly _cobra_ of the jungle, but never in his life had he disregarded a request from his mother. He at once set out for the jungle; and, in spite of the perils of the deed, he succeeded in obtaining the oil which his mother had requested.

On the way back to the city, the boy met a little old woman carrying a pole over her shoulder from which there hung, head downward, several live fowls which she was taking to market. It was really the Holy Mother herself who had come to aid the lad in answer to his mother's prayer.

"Where are you going, my lad?" asked the old woman. The boy told his story and showed the precious oil which he had obtained from the _cobra_. "The day is coming, the day is coming, my lad, when you will, in truth, need the _cobra's_ oil," said the little old woman. "But that day is not today. Today hen's oil will serve your purpose just as well. You may kill one of my hens and use the hen's oil, but leave the _cobra's_ oil with me so that I may keep it safely for you until the day when you will require it."

The boy heeded the advice of the little old woman and killed one of her hens. He left the _cobra's_ oil with her and took the hen's oil in its place to his mother. Because his mother had nothing at all the matter with her eyes, the hen's oil cured them just as well as the _cobra's_ oil. There was no one who knew the difference, except the boy and the little old woman.

When the boy had gone out the giant came in from his own room and said, "In truth your son is a brave lad. I did not dream that he would have the courage to go in search of the oil of the deadly _cobra_, much less succeed in his quest."

"You do not know the great love we bear each other," said the lad's mother.

"I am going to demand a new proof of your son's strength and skill,"

said the giant. "Tomorrow you must complain of the pain in your back and send the boy in search of the oil of the porcupine to cure it.

This is my command."

The next day the woman had to complain of a pain in her back just as the giant had commanded. There was nothing else which she could do.

The boy at once went in search of a porcupine, and succeeded in slaying one and getting the oil.

On his way back to the city the lad again met the little old woman who was really _Nossa Senhora_. "Leave the oil of the porcupine with me, my son," said she when she had heard his story. "I will keep it for you until the morrow when you will have great need of it. Today hen's oil will serve your purpose just as well."

Because the boy's mother had nothing at all the matter with her back she was cured with the hen's oil which the boy brought, just as easily as if it had been the porcupine's oil. The giant came out of his room and said, "In truth, lad, you are a boy of great skill and strength."

The boy had not seen the giant before and he was very much surprised.

Before he even had time to recover from his amazement the giant had seized him and bound him securely with a great rope. "If you are really a strong boy you will break this rope," said the giant. "If you are not strong enough to break it I shall cut you into five pieces with my sword."

The boy struggled with all his might to break the great rope. It was no use. He was not strong enough. The giant stood by laughing.

When the lad's mother saw that he could not break the rope she fell upon her knees before the giant and cried, "Do what you will to me, but spare my son!"

The cruel giant laughed at her request. When she saw that she could not keep him from slaying the boy, she said, "If you will not grant my large request I beg that you will listen to just a tiny, tiny, little one. When you cut my son into five pieces do it with his father's sword which he has brought with him from the little hut in the forest where we used to live. Then bind his body upon the back of his father's horse which he brought with him out of the forest and turn the horse loose, so it may travel, perchance, back to the forest from which I brought my lad to meet this terrible death."

The giant did as she requested, and the horse bore the slain boy's body along the road to the forest. Outside the city they met the little old woman who was really _Nossa Senhora_. She took the parts of the lad's body and anointed them with the porcupine's oil. Then she held them tight together. They stayed securely joined. "Are you lacking anything," she asked the boy.

The boy felt of his legs, his arms, his ears, his nose, his hair. "I am all here except my eyesight," he said. The little old woman anointed his eyes with the _cobra's_ oil. His sight was immediately restored. Then he knew that the little old woman was indeed the Holy Mother. She vanished as he knelt to receive her blessing.

The boy in his new strength quickly hastened back to the city. It was night and the giant was asleep. He seized his father's sword and plunged it into the giant's body. The giant turned over without awakening. "The mosquitoes are biting me," he muttered in his sleep.

The boy saw the giant's own enormous sword lying on the floor. It was so heavy he could barely lift it, but mustering all his strength he drove it into the giant's body. The giant died immediately.

"The magic circle of a mother's love, with the Holy Mother's help, will guard a lad against all perils," said the boy's mother when she heard her son's story and saw the giant lying dead.

VII

HOW THE GIANTESS GUIMARA BECAME SMALL

Once upon a time a prince called D. Joa went hunting with a number of companions. In the deep forest he became separated from his comrades and soon found out that he was lost. He wandered about for a long time, and at last he spied what looked like a mountain range in the distance. He journeyed toward it as fast as he could travel, and when he got near to it he was surprised to find out that it was really a high wall. It was the great wall which bounds the land of the giants.

The ruler of the country was an enormous giant whose head reached almost to the clouds. The giant's wife was nearly as enormous as he was, and their only child was as tall as her mother. Her name was Guimara.

When the giant saw D. Joa he called out, "O, little man, what are you doing down there?" D. Joa narrated his adventures to the giant, and the giant said, "Your story of your wanderings interests me. It is not often that little men like you pa.s.s this way. If you like you may live in my palace and be my servant." D. Joa accepted the giant's offer and stayed at the palace.

The giant's daughter Guimara was very much pleased with D. Joa. He was the first little man she had ever seen. She fell deeply in love with him. Her father, however, was very much disgusted at her lack of good taste. He preferred to have a giant for a son-in-law. Accordingly he thought of a plot to get D. Joa into trouble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The giant's daughter, Guimara was very much pleased with D. Joo]

The next day he sent for D. Joa to appear before him. "O little man,"

he said to him, "they tell me that you are very proud of yourself and that you are boasting among my servants that you are able to tear down my palace in a single night and set it up again as quickly as you tore it down."

"I never have made any such boast, your majesty," replied D. Joa.

He went to Guimara and told her about it. "I am an enchantress," said Guimara. "Leave it to me and we will surprise my father."

The very next night Guimara and D. Joa tore down the giant's palace and set it up again exactly as it was before. The giant was greatly surprised. He suspected that his daughter had meddled with the affair.

The next day he sent for D. Joa and said to him, "O little man, they tell me that you say that in a single night you are able to change the Isle of Wild Beasts into a beautiful garden full of all sorts of flowers and with a silvery fountain in the centre."

"I never said any such thing, your majesty," replied D. Joa.

He told Guimara about it and she said that it would be great fun to escape from her room that night and make over the Isle of the Wild Beasts into a lovely garden.

Accordingly Guimara worked hard all night long helping D. Joa to make the Isle of the Wild Beasts over into a garden full of all sorts of beautiful flowers and with a silvery fountain in the centre. The king was greatly surprised to see the garden in the morning and he was very angry at Guimara and D. Joa.

Guimara was so frightened at her father's terrible wrath that she decided to run away with D. Joa. She counselled him to procure the best horse from her father's stable for them to ride.

At midnight Guimara crept out of her room and ran to the place where D. Joa was waiting for her with the horse, which travelled one hundred leagues at each step. They mounted the horse and rode away.

Early the next morning the princess Guimara was missed from the royal palace. Soon it was discovered that D. Joa was gone too, and also the best horse from the stables. The giant talked over the matter with his wife. She told him to take another horse which could travel a hundred leagues a step and go after them as fast as he could. The giant followed his wife's advice, and soon he had nearly caught up with the fugitives, for they had grown tired and had stopped to rest.

Guimara spied her father coming and turned herself into a little river. She turned D. Joa into an old negro, the horse into a tree, the saddle into a bed of onions, and the musket they carried into a b.u.t.terfly.

When the giant came to the river he called out to the old negro who was taking a bath, "O, my old negro, have you seen anything of a little man accompanied by a handsome young woman?"

The old negro did not say a single word to him, but dived into the water. When he came out he called the giant's attention to the bed of onions. "I planted these onions," he said. "Aren't they a good crop?"

The bed of onions smelled so strong that the giant did not like to stay near them. The b.u.t.terfly flew at the giant's eyes and almost into them. He was disgusted and went home to talk it over with his wife.

"How silly you were," said the giant's wife. "Don't you see that Guimara had changed herself into a river and had changed D. Joa into an old negro, the horse into a tree, the saddle into a bed of onions, and the musket into a b.u.t.terfly? Hurry after them at once."

The giant again went in pursuit, promising his wife that next time he would not let Guimara play any tricks on him. The next time that Guimara saw her father coming she thought of a new plan. She changed herself into a church. She turned D. Joa into a _padre_, the horse into a bell, the saddle into an altar and the musket into a ma.s.s-book.

When the giant approached the church he was completely deceived. "O, holy _padre_," he said to the priest, "have you seen anything of a little man, accompanied by a handsome young woman, pa.s.sing this way?"

The _padre_ went on with his ma.s.s and said:

"I am a hermit _padre_ Devoted to the Immaculate; I do not hear what you say.