The woman saw this , and said that he might have it if he would take the trouble to get it ; for which the Prince thanked her , and said it was at least worth trying . So he leaned over into the barrel , which did not seem very deep , and thought he would easily reach the ring ; but the more he stretched down after it the deeper grew the barrel . As he was thus bending down into it the woman suddenly rose up and pushed him in head first , saying that now he could take up his quarters there . Then she fixed the top on the barrel and threw it out into the sea . The Prince thought himself in a bad plight now , as he felt the barrel floating out from the land and tossing about on the waves . How many days he spent thus he could not tell , but at last he felt that the barrel was knocking against rocks , at which he was a little cheered , thinking it was probably land and not merely a reef in the sea . Being something of a swimmer , he at last made up his mind to kick the bottom out of the barrel , and having done so he was able to get on shore , for the rocks by the sea were smooth and level ; but overhead there were high cliffs . It seemed difficult to get up these , but he went along the foot of them for a little , till at last he tried to climb up , which at last he did . Having got to the top , he looked round about him and saw that he was on an island , which was covered with forest , with apples growing , and altogether pleasant as far as the land was concerned . After he had been there several days , he one day heard a great noise in the forest , which made him terribly afraid , so that he ran to hide himself among the trees . Then he saw a Giant approaching , dragging a sledge loaded with wood , and making straight for him , so that he could see nothing for it but to lie down just where he was . When the Giant came across him , he stood still and looked at the Prince for a little ; then he took him up in his arms and carried him home to his house , and was exceedingly kind to him . He gave him to his wife , saying he had found this child in the wood , and she could have it to help her in the house . The old woman was greatly pleased , and began to fondle the Prince with the utmost delight . He stayed there with them , and was very willing and obedient to them in everything , while they grew kinder to him every day . One day the Giant took him round and showed him all his rooms except the parlour ; this made the Prince curious to have a look into it , thinking there must be some very rare treasure there . So one day , when the Giant had gone into the forest , he tried to get into the parlour , and managed to get the door open half-way . Then he saw that some living creature moved inside and ran along the floor towards him and said something , which made him so frightened that he sprang back from the door and shut it again . As soon as the fright began to pass off he tried it again , for he thought it would be interesting to hear what it said ; but things went just as before with him . He then got angry with himself , and , summoning up all his courage , tried it a third time , and opened the door of the room and stood firm .
Then he saw that it was a big Dog , which spoke to him and said : ` Choose me , XXXXX Ring . '
Giant Prince day days first mind parlour sledge swimmer third