know how to get home, when suddenly a huge giant came out of the forest and said:
"What would you give if I carried you across?"
"Anything, anything," said the King.
"Will you give me the first thing that meets you as you come to the palace gate?"
The King thought for a while and then remembered that whenever he came to the gate of the palace his favourite deerhound Bevis always came to greet him. So, though he was sorry to lose him, he thought it was worth while, and agreed with the giant.
Thereupon the giant took the King upon his shoulders and wading across the raging stream landed him on the farther bank and saying to him, "Remember what you have promised," went back again to the other side.
The King soon found his way towards the palace, but as he came to the palace gate it happened that his son Prince Edgar was standing there, and before Bevis the hound could dash out to greet his master, Prince Edgar had rushed towards his father and caught him by the hand. The King was rather startled but thought to himself:
"Oh, how will the giant know who met me? After all I intended to give him Bevis, and that's what I'll do when he comes."
The next day the giant came to the castle gates and asked to see the King, and when he was admitted to his presence he said:
