The giant and the man

 A man fishing by the river. Suddenly, as he raises his head, attentive to the slightest animal likely to pass in the area, he sees the silhouette of an immense man rising on the horizon. A giant.

The man is very scared. “He’s going to kill me,” he thinks. How to escape him? Maybe I could pretend to be dead, frozen solid. » And there he lies on the ground, feigning death. As the giant approaches, the man holds his breath. The giant leans over the body to hear if the man is breathing. Not a breath. To make sure the man is dead, he grabs him and shakes him in all directions. “He’s not moving at all, he’s dead,” the giant thinks. He ties his burden with a leather strap and throws it on his back. The man tenses all his muscles to appear frozen. He tries very hard to stay stiff and hold his breath as long as possible. So he looks like he froze to death. After a while, the giant, with his burden on his back, crosses a region planted with many small, stunted willows. The man, who half-opens his eyes from time to time, has an idea when he sees the shrubs. “If I hold on to the willows, the giant will get tired and eventually leave me behind,” he said to himself.
There he is, clinging to the branches. Each time the giant, feeling his progress slowing down, pulls, the man lets go of the branch; and the giant stumbles. After nearly falling several times, the giant stops to rest. He wonders why he has so much difficulty progressing, and he usually takes long strides. Seized with doubt, he listens to find out if the man is alive. Nothing, not a breath. The man holds his breath as best he can.

The giant is moving again. The man, once again, clings with all his strength to the willows and lets them go each time the giant pulls. The giant stumbles again and again and eventually becomes exhausted. Worn out by hours of difficult walking, the giant finally arrives at his great home. He puts the man away standing near the entrance. Then, exhausted, he lies down on the platform which serves as a bed. His wife, also a giant, sees the fresh meat stored in the entrance and goes to get fuel to rekindle the flames of the oil lamp. The poor man discreetly opens his eyes to see what is happening. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the woman bustling about. He understands that she is preparing the meal and that the meal; it's him!
The giant's two big children who are playing next to the man surprise him and cry out with one voice: “Father, our dinner is so fresh that his eyes have just opened! » Quickly, the man closes his eyes and freezes. The giant looks at him and replies: “But no, he is dead and dead. »
The man is really scared and wonders how he is going to get out of this. He opens his eyes again, as discreetly as possible, and, without moving his head, looks for a way to escape. He sees, on the side, the giant's great axe.
“She’s very close,” he said to himself. If only I could reach it. » Very slowly, he moves his hand forward, feeling his way. The two children see him and cry out again: “Father, our dinner is so cold that his hand is still quivering!” »
Quickly, the man puts his hand back in place and freezes. The giant, already lying on the platform, takes a look and replies: “But no, he is dead and dead. Don't bother me anymore, go play outside! The walk has been long and difficult and I need to rest! »

The giant, finally alone and peaceful, falls asleep. The man waits, terrified, until he finally hears the giant's snoring. He then grabs the ax and kills the sleeping giant. He pokes his head through the entrance and, looking to the right and left, sees the woman busy in the distance.
Neither one nor two, here he starts running as fast as possible. The giant's children see the scene and call out to their mother, shouting: "Mother, our dinner is so fresh that his legs keep running!" » The giantess turns around and sees the meal fleeing. She immediately stops her task and goes after him, screaming. Thanks to her long legs, she quickly gains ground.
The man feels her on his heels but cannot accelerate. " What to do? he asks himself, panicked. I can't go any faster and alone, even with this axe, I will be no match for a raging giantess. If I swing my ax hard on this spot, perhaps the ground will split and swallow the giantess. »
Here he hits the ground with all his might with his axe. The ground then splits and a river gushes out. The man jumps onto the opposite bank and waits. The big woman is coming soon. But the river has become so wide and the current is so strong that the giantess has to stop: “How did you cross it? »
“By drinking it whole. » Then the woman begins to drink, drinking until the river is nothing more than a thin stream. The man said to him: “There’s some left, finish it!” » Then the woman starts drinking again, drinking, and the more she drinks, the more she swells. When it was already huge, he said to her again: “There’s some left, finish it!” » By the time she finishes the river, she is so enormous and her skin so stretched by the absorbed water that she explodes, throwing thousands of fine water droplets into the air. This is how the fog was created. The man stays there for a long time because there is so much fog that he no longer knows which direction to go. Finally, the wind rises and gradually dissipates the fog from the tall woman. The man can go home.
This is what they say about the giant and the man.