` It is not there that my soul is , ' answered the giant . ` Under the threshold is a stone , and under the stone is a sheep , and in the sheep 's body is a duck , and in the duck is an egg , and in the egg is my soul . But it is late , and I must feed the horses ; ' and he brought them the hay , but they only bit and kicked him as before , and if his soul had been within him , they would have killed him outright . It was still dark when the giant got up and went his way , and 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 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 XXXXX imitate the hole , so every woman would have found him out at once , and this he knew .
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