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¥VON AND, BINE TT E ‘IT belong to the house,” answered Yvon; "the giant took me into his service this morning.” " His service!" repeated the young girl. "May Heaven preserve you from it!” “Why so?” said Yvon. “I have a good master; the work is not hard. The stable once swept, my task is finished.” | " Yes, and how will you set to work to sweep it?” said the lady. “If you sweep it in the usual way, for every forkful of dung that you throw out of the door, ten will come in at the window. But I will tell you what to do. Turn the fork and sweep with the handle, and the dung will instantly fly out of itself.” "1 will obey,” said Yvon; upon which he sat down by the young girl and began to talk with her. She was the daughter of a fairy, whom the wretched giant had made his slave. Friendship soon springs up between companions in misfortune. Before the end of the day Finette (for that was the lady’s name) and Yvon had already promised to belong to each other if they could escape from their abominable master. The difficulty was to find the means. Time passes quickly in this kind of talk. Evening was approaching when Finette sent away her new friend, advising him to sweep the stable before the giant came home. Yvon took down the fork and attempted to use it as he 9
