two fought desperately, their bodies swaying always nearer the
edge. It seemed as if Rosald, being the smaller of the two, MUST
fall over, when, with his left hand, he drew the robber's sword
out of its sheath and plunged it into his heart. Then he took
from the dead man a beautiful ring set with a large stone, and
put it on his own finger.

The fame of this wonderful deed soon spread through the country,
and people would often stop Geirald's horse, and ask leave to see
the robber's ring, which was said to have been stolen from the
father of the reigning king. And Geirald showed them the ring
with pride, and listened to their words of praise, and no one
would ever have guessed anyone else had destroyed the robbers.

In a few days they left the kingdom and rode on to another, where
they thought they would stop through the remainder of the winter,
for Geirald liked to be comfortable, and did not care about
travelling through ice and snow. But the king would only grant
them leave to stop on condition that, before the winter was
ended, they should give him some fresh proof of the courage of
which he had heard so much. Rosald's heart was glad at the
king's message, and as for Geirald, he felt that as long as
Rosald was there all would go well. So they both bowed low and
replied that it was the king's place to command and theirs to
obey.

'Well, then,' said his Majesty, 'this is what I want you to do:
In the north-east part of my kingdom there dwells a giant, who
has an iron staff twenty yards long, and he is so quick in using
it, that even fifty knights have no chance against him. The