'Why, what have you done to the Bonnach stone?' asked the giant.

'I feared lest it should fall over, and be broken, with your soul
in it,' said the queen, 'so I put it further back on the ledge.'

'It is not there that my soul is,' answered he, 'it is on the
threshold. But it is time the horses were fed;' and he fetched
the hay, and gave it to them, and they bit and kicked him as
before, till he lay half dead on the ground.

Next morning he rose and went out, and the queen ran to the
threshold of the cave, and washed the stones, and pulled up some
moss and little flowers that were hidden in the crannies, and by
and bye when dusk had fallen the giant came home.

'You have been cleaning the threshold,' said he.

'And was I not right to do it, seeing that your soul is in it?'
asked the queen.

'It is not there that my soul is,' answered the giant. 'Under the
threshold is a stone, and under the stone is a sheep, and in the
sheep's body is a duck, and in the duck is an egg, and in the egg
is my soul. But it is late, and I must feed the horses;' and he
brought them the hay, but they only bit and kicked him as before,
and if his soul had been within him, they would have killed him
outright.

It was still dark when the giant got up and went his way, and