expanded until it was once more the giant covered with pumicestone; it
walked no longer erect, however, but crawled along the ground at the feet
of the beautiful woman, whimpering and howling like a whipped cur. She
then said to it: "At last I possess the emerald circlet, in which
resides your power over me. I can destroy you, but my name is Clementine
and so I will grant you mercy. I will only banish you to your rocks.
There you shall remain until the last hour of the last day. Papaluka,
Papaluka,--Emerald, perform thy duty!"

The giant of pumice-stone immediately glowed like molten iron. Once he
raised his clenched fist towards Wendelin, and then plunged into the lake
where the hissing and foaming waters closed over him. The lady and the
knight were left alone together. When she asked him what reward he
desired, he could only answer that he wished to have her for his wife,
and to take her to his home in Germany; but she blushed and answered
sadly: "I may not leave this country, and it is not permitted to me to
become the wife of any mortal man. But I know how heroes should be
rewarded, and I offer you my lips to kiss."

He knelt down before her and she took his head between her slim hands and
pressed her mouth against his.

George, the squire, saw this, sighed deeply, and wondered: "Why was my
father only a miller? What favours are granted to a knight like that!
But I hope the kiss won't be the end of it all; for, unless she is a
miserly fairy, there ought to be much more substantial pay for his
services in store for him."

But Clementine bestowed even a richer reward than he had expected upon
her rescuer. When she discovered that a lock of the brown hair on