The giant's dochter went out next morning with the lad's breakfast,
and found him in a terrible state, for aye as he cleaned out a bit, it
aye fell in again. The giant's dochter said she would help him, and
she cried a' the beasts of the field, and a' the fowls o' the air, and
in a minute they a' came, and carried awa' everything that was in the
stable and made a' clean before the giant came home. He said, 'Shame
for the wit that helped you; but I have a worse job for you
to-morrow.' Then he told Nicht Nought Nothing that there was a loch
seven miles long, and seven miles deep, and seven miles broad, and he
must drain it the next day, or else he would have him for his supper.
Nicht Nought Nothing began early next morning and tried to lave the
water with his pail, but the loch was never getting any less, and he
did no ken what to do; but the giant's dochter called on all the fish
in the sea to come and drink the water, and very soon they drank it
dry. When the giant saw the work done he was in a rage, and said,
'I've a worse job for you to-morrow; there is a tree seven miles high,
and no branch on it, till you get to the top, and there is a nest, and
you must bring down the eggs without breaking one, or else I will have
you for my supper.' At first the giant's dochter did not know how to
help Nicht Nought Nothing; but she cut off first her fingers and then
her toes, and made steps of them, and he clomb the tree, and got all
the eggs safe till he came to the bottom, and then one was broken. The
giant's dochter advised him to run away, and she would follow him. So
he travelled till he came to a king's palace, and the king and queen
took him in and were very kind to him. The giant's dochter left her
father's house, and he pursued her and was drowned. Then she came to
the king's palace where Nicht Nought Nothing was. And she went up
into a tree to watch for him. The gardener's dochter, going to draw
water in the well, saw the shadow of the lady in the water, and
thought it was herself, and said, 'If I'm so bonny, if I'm so brave,