A giant lived in the wild thickets of Benshir. He was an evil and cruel giant and treated his wife, the giantess Clansheed, very poorly.
Just think: every night he beat and pounded her with anything. Either she didn’t wash the cave properly, or she didn’t prepare dinner properly, or his hands were just itching, and he couldn’t sleep until he beat her.
And every night the cries of the poor giantess were heard over the forests and hills of Benshir. The worst situation was for James Gray, whose farm was located not far from those places.
One night after another, neither he nor his entire family could close their eyes, and so during the day, instead of working, James Gray was nodding off in the field, his wife in the kitchen, and their children doing their homework. All business was at a standstill, and the farm was threatened with ruin.
And then one day, when James Gray was mending a fence on the border of his land - although his eyes, to be honest, were completely drooping - he suddenly heard loud rumbles of thunder. A miracle, and that’s all! And the sky is clear, not a cloud, and the sun is shining, where does the thunder come from?
And it turns out that the giantess Clansheed went out to look for something for lunch for her husband.
- What luck! - James Gray was happy. “I’ve been waiting for this meeting for a long time.”
And he screamed at the top of his lungs, calling for Clansheed, whose head was visible somewhere high above the trees of the nearby forest.
The giantess immediately walked towards him, pushing the tall trees apart as if they were pathetic blackberry bushes.
- Good afternoon, man! - her voice boomed. - What do you want from me?
- I want to complain! - James shouted. “Because of you, neither I nor my family know either sleep or peace!”
Clansheed replied that she was very sorry and asked what she had done to disturb them.
“You make such a noise every night,” said James, “that you don’t let us sleep at all.” Is it really impossible not to scream and yell for at least one night? There is such a ringing in my ears, as if a thousand evil spirits are filling the air with their screams. This cannot go on!
But Clansheed explained to him why she screams and screams every night, and James even felt sorry for her.
“My husband is a terrible man,” sighed the giantess. “I would really like to get rid of him.”
“You’re right, madam,” he happily joined in. “It would be good for you to get rid of him.” We would all feel calmer then.
Word for word, the giantess and the farmer parted as good friends.
That same night, as soon as the full moon appeared, Clansheed came to the farm. She knocked lightly on the door, causing the whole house to shake. James Gray immediately guessed what kind of night guest had come to him.
- What do you want? - he asked, opening the door. “Unfortunately, I can’t invite you into the house: you won’t fit in it.”
“No need,” said the giantess. “Come on, help me kill my husband!” I heard you're a good shot. And if you kill him, he will no longer be able to beat me and then you will sleep peacefully.
“You’re a funny woman,” said James Gray. - How can I kill him? It's like telling an ant: kill the elephant!
“Oh, you don’t know anything,” said the giantess. — My husband has a mole above his heart. If you hit it, he will die immediately.
James Gray agreed. If you were him, you would agree: just think how many nights he did not sleep due to the fault of this very giant!
And so, taking a bow and arrows and sitting astride the shoulders of the giantess Clansheed, James Gray went to the giant’s cave.
And the giant had already met them, waiting at the entrance to the cave and shaking his fists in the air.
Gray took out an arrow, put it in his bow, pulled the string tighter, took aim - well, it was not so difficult to do, because the mole over the giant's heart was probably the size of a Scottish cap - and fired.
The giant gasped and disappeared into thin air.
Here Clansheed began to dance in joy and stomped and twirled so much that James Gray begged her to stop: it was not very comfortable to sit on the shoulders of a dancing giantess.
Clansheed lowered James to the ground and said:
“You have done me a great service, James Gray!” From now on you can have me and my time as you please. Tell me quickly: what can I do for you?
But the last thing James wanted at that moment was to use the services of the giantess. The only thing he dreamed of was a good night's sleep! And, wanting to quickly get rid of the obliging giantess, he said, pointing to a herd of deer running through the forest at that time:
- You see, it was my horses that broke out of the stable. Collect them and drive them back to their stalls!
The gullible and not very smart Clansheed rushed to complete his task, and James Gray returned home and went to bed.
But before he even had time to lay his head on the pillow, he heard a knock! here! here! — his house began to shake from the familiar knock.
“I have driven your horses into stalls,” she said. - Although it was not so easy: the horses turned out to be terribly disobedient. Well, now what?..
But we don’t know what James Gray answered her, or when this poor fellow finally managed to sleep peacefully for at least one night!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru