"'I am not,' said I, 'but the ropes are so tight that I take long to
loose them.' I let out one of the goats, and there he was caressing
her, and he said to her, 'There thou art thou shaggy, hairy white
goat; and thou seest me, but I see thee not.' I kept letting them
out by the way of one and one, as I flayed the buck, and before the
last one was out I had him flayed bag-wise. Then I went and I put my
legs in place of his legs, and my hands in place of his forelegs,
and my head in place of his head, and the horns on top of my head,
so that the brute might think that it was the buck. I went out. When
I was going out the giant laid his hand on me, and he said, 'There
thou art, thou pretty buck; thou seest me, but I see thee not.' When
I myself got out, and I saw the world about me, surely, oh, king!
joy was on me. When I was out and had shaken the skin off me, I said
to the brute, 'I am out now in spite of you.'

"'Aha!' said he, 'hast thou done this to me. Since thou wert so
stalwart that thou hast got out, I will give thee a ring that I have
here; keep the ring, and it will do thee good.'

"'I will not take the ring from you,' said I, 'but throw it, and I
will take it with me.' He threw the ring on the flat ground, I went
myself and I lifted the ring, and I put it on my finger. When he
said me then, 'Is the ring fitting thee?' I said to him, 'It is.'
Then he said, 'Where art thou, ring?' And the ring said, 'I am
here.' The brute went and went towards where the ring was speaking,
and now I saw that I was in a harder case than ever I was. I drew a
dirk. I cut the finger from off me, and I threw it from me as far as
I could out on the loch, and there was a great depth in the place.
He shouted, 'Where art thou, ring?' And the ring said, 'I am here,'
though it was on the bed of ocean. He gave a spring after the ring,