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 between her two hands . And after that the shadow suddenly shrank and was still , and they knew that the giant was dead , because they had found his soul . Next day they mounted the two horses and rode home again , visiting their friends the brown otter and the hoary hawk and the slim yellow dog by the way . From ` West Highland Tales . ' A French Puck Among the mountain pastures and valleys that lie in the centre of France there dwelt a mischievous kind of spirit , whose delight it was to play tricks on everybody , and particularly on the shepherds and the cowboys . They never knew when they were safe from him , as he could change himself into a man , woman or child , a stick , a goat , a ploughshare . Indeed , there was only one thing whose shape he could not take , and that was a needle . At least , he could transform himself into a needle , but try as he might he never was able to imitate the hole , so every woman would have found him out at once , and this he knew . Now the hour oftenest chosen by this naughty sprite -LRB- whom we will call Puck -RRB- for performing his pranks was about midnight , just when the shepherds and cowherds , tired out with their long day 's work , were sound asleep . Then he would go into the cowsheds and unfasten the chains that fixed each beast in its own stall , and let them fall with a heavy clang to the ground . The noise was so loud that it was certain to awaken the cowboys , however fatigued they might be , and they dragged themselves wearily to the stable to put back the chains . But no sooner had they returned to their beds than the same thing happened again , and so on till the morning .
Or perhaps Puck would spend his night in plaiting together the manes and tails XXXXX two of the horses , so that it would take the grooms hours of labour to get them right in the morning , while Puck , hidden among the hay in the loft , would peep out to watch them , enjoying himself amazingly all the time .
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