When three or four days had passed, one of the ogres dragged in an enormous cooking-pot on his back, which was thenceforth used exclusively. They all kept pointing to the kettle which seemed too small to them. Suddenly in came a whole herd of ogres, who devoured all he had cooked, and became quite animated over their eating.
#The kingdom tales full#
The merchant skinned it, fetched fresh water, washed the meat and cooked several kettles full of it. In a short space of time they returned with another deer they had caught. Then they left the cave and closed the opening with a great rock. When it was done to a turn he gave them some of it to eat, and the two creatures devoured it with the greatest satisfaction. So they went to the ship with him, and he brought his cooking gear to the cave, collected brush-wood, made a fire and cooked the remains of the deer. So he tried to make them understand in dumb show, and finally they seemed to get an idea of his meaning. The ogres did not understand what he was saying, however, and were still ferocious. Then he said: “Let me go! Aboard my ship I have frying-pans and cooking-pots, vinegar and spices.
Then they once more went through the bag but he gestured with his hand to show them that he had no more. They divided it, ate it up and it seemed to taste good to them. But the merchant hurriedly took a bag of bread and dried meat out and offered it to them. Then they talked to each other with animal sounds, and were about to tear his clothes from his body and devour him. The merchant was terrified by this sight and turned to flee but the ogres had already noticed him and they caught him and dragged him into their cave. And in it sat two ogres, with teeth like spears and eyes like fiery lamps. So he stopped and looked into one of the openings. No sooner had he entered the hills than he could see at either hand the entrances to caves, one close beside the other, like a row of beehives. So he took some food with him and went ashore.
It was a land of hills broken by ravines and green with luxuriant foliage, yet he could see something along the hills which looked like human dwellings.
Once his ship was suddenly driven on a distant shore by a great storm. In the land of Annam there once dwelt a man named Su, who sailed the seas as a merchant. We would encourage parents to read beforehand if your child is sensitive to such themes. This is a vintage fairy tale, and may contain violence.