So, as soon as he arose the next morning, he took his crab-tree club and went down into the dungeon. There he first began to abuse them by calling them all sorts of wicked names; but they made him no answer.
Then he fell upon them with his club and beat them most savagely until they fell upon the floor and were not able to help themselves in the least. Having done this, he left them alone in the darkness, to moan and groan in their deep distress. And there they lay all that day, expecting only to die.
In the evening the giant's wife asked him what he had done with his prisoners. He told her that he had beaten them without mercy, but that they were still alive and groaning on the floor of the dungeon.
"Why don't you kill them at once?" she asked.
"Truly, that is what I should like to do," answered Giant Despair; "but I don't dare to put myself in danger of the law."
"Well, then, if I were you," said the woman, "I would give them some knives and tell them to kill themselves."
The giant was pleased with this advice, and early the next morning he went down into the dungeon again. He spoke to them in the same surly manner as
