then the king and the queen ran forward to take up the threshold,
while the horses looked on. But sure enough! just as the giant
had said, underneath the threshold was the flagstone, and they
pulled and tugged till the stone gave way. Then something jumped
out so suddenly, that it nearly knocked them down, and as it fled
past, they saw it was a sheep.

'If the slim yellow dog of the greenwood were only here, he would
soon have that sheep,' cried the king; and as he spoke, the slim
yellow dog appeared from the forest, with the sheep in his mouth.
With a blow from the king, the sheep fell dead, and they opened
its body, only to be blinded by a rush of wings as the duck flew
past.

'If the hoary hawk of the rock were only here, he would soon have
that duck,' cried the king; and as he spoke the hoary hawk was
seen hovering above them, with the duck in his mouth. They cut
off the duck's head with a swing of the king's sword, and took
the egg out of its body, but in his triumph the king held it
carelessly, and it slipped from his hand, and rolled swiftly down
the hill right into the river.

'If the brown otter of the stream were only here, he would soon
have that egg,' cried the king; and the next minute there was the
brown otter, dripping with water, holding the egg in his mouth.
But beside the brown otter, a huge shadow came stealing along--
the shadow of the giant.

The king stood staring at it, as if he were turned into stone,
but the queen snatched the egg from the otter and crushed it