` Not yet , ' replied the apple in the kitchen , but when in a few minutes , he put the question for the fourth time and received an answer from the apple outside the house door , he guessed what had happened , and ran to the room to look for himself . The bed was cold and empty ! ` My father 's breath is burning my back , ' cried the girl , ` put thy hand into the ear of the mare , and whatever thou findest there , throw it behind thee . ' And in the mare 's ear there was a twig of sloe tree , and as he threw it behind him there sprung up twenty miles of thornwood so thick that scarce a weasel could go through it . And the giant , who was striding headlong forwards , got caught in it , and it pulled his hair and beard . ` This is one of my daughter 's tricks , ' he said to himself , ` but if I had my big axe and my wood-knife , I would not be long making a way through this , ' and off he went home and brought back the axe and the wood-knife . It took him but a short time to cut a road through the blackthorn , and then he laid the axe and the knife under a tree . ' I will leave them there till I return , ' he murmured to himself , but a hoodie crow , which was sitting on a branch above , heard him . ` If thou leavest them , ' said the hoodie , ` we will steal them . ' ` You will , ' answered the giant , ` and I must take them home . ' So he took them home , and started afresh on his journey . ` My father 's breath is burning my back , ' cried the girl at midday . ` Put thy finger in the mare 's ear and throw behind thee whatever thou findest in it , ' and the king 's son found a splinter of grey stone , and threw it behind him , and in a twinkling twenty miles of solid rock lay between them and the giant . ` My daughter 's tricks are the hardest things that ever met me , ' said the giant , ` but if I had my lever and my crowbar , I would not be long in making my way through this rock also , ' but as he had got them , he had to go home and fetch them . Then it took him but a short time to hew his way through the rock . ' I will leave the tools here , ' he murmured aloud when he had finished . ` If thou leavest them , we will steal them , ' said a hoodie who was perched on a stone above him , and the giant answered : ` Steal them if thou wilt ; there is no time to go back . ' ` My father 's breath is burning my back , ' cried the girl ; ` look in the mare 's ear , king 's son , or we are lost , ' and he looked , and found a tiny bladder full of water , which he threw behind him , and it became a great lock . And the giant , who was striding on so fast , could not stop himself , and he walked right into the middle and was drowned . The blue-grey mare galloped on like the wind , and the next day the king 's son came in sight of his father 's house .
` Get down and go in , ' said the bride , ` and tell them XXXXX thou hast married me .
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