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For a time all went well, but soon Jerry said in a whisper—somehow the dark made him whisper rather than speak aloud—“I can’t touch the roof any more, can you?” Bob turned to Jerry and shook his hand. “We’ve done it, old boy. We’ve beaten the Labyrinth.” Young men oft find, on industry,.
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Conrad
Everything was prepared for this great sacrifice; nothing so mournful had before been seen; nothing to be met anywhere but black garments, and pale and horrified faces. Four hundred maidens of the highest rank, dressed in long white robes, and crowned with cypress, accompanied the Princess, who was carried in an open litter of black velvet, that all might look on this masterpiece of beauty. Her hair, tied with crape, hung over her shoulders, and she wore a crown of jasmine, mingled with a few marigolds. The grief of the King and Queen, who followed, overcome by their deep sorrow, appeared the only thing that moved her. The giant, armed from head to foot, marched beside the litter, and looked with hungry eye at the Princess, as if anticipating his share of her when she came to be eaten; the air resounded with sighs and sobs, and the road was flooded with the tears of the onlookers. Just as they were beginning to get warm they heard two or three loud knocks at the door. It was the ogre who had come home. His wife immediately made the children hide under the bed, and went to open the door. The ogre first asked if his supper was ready, and if she had drawn the wine, and with that he sat down to his meal. The mutton was all but raw, but he liked it all the better for that. He sniffed right and left, saying that he smelt fresh meat. "It must be the calf I have just skinned," said his wife. "I tell you, I smell fresh meat," replied the ogre, giving an angry glance at his wife; "there is something here I do not understand." With these words, he rose from the table and went straight towards the bed. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "so this is the way in which you would deceive me, you wretched woman! I do not know what hinders me from eating you also! It is well for you that you are such an old creature! But here is some game, which comes in handy, and will serve to feast three of my ogre friends, who are soon coming to pay me a visit." He dragged the children from under the bed, one after the other. They fell upon their knees, begging for mercy, but they had to deal with the most cruel of all the ogres, and who, far from feeling pity for them, devoured them already with his eyes, and said to his wife that they would be dainty bits, when she had made a good sauce for them. He went and took up a large knife, and as he came towards the children again, he whetted it on a long stone that he held in his left hand. He had already seized one of them, when his wife said to him, "Why are you doing that at this hour of night? Will it not be time enough to-morrow?" "Hold your peace," replied the ogre. "They will be the more tender." "But you have already too much food," continued his wife. "Here are a calf, two sheep, and half a pig." "You are right," said the ogre, "give them a good supper, that they may keep plump, and then put them to bed." The good woman was rejoiced, and brought them plenty of supper; but they could not eat, they were so overcome with fright. As for the ogre, he seated himself to drink again, delighted to think he had such a treat in store for his friends. He drained a dozen goblets more than usual, which made him feel sleepy and heavy, and obliged him to go to bed. Not to listen to what they may say; From the river the country had looked flat. But once faced in the direction the old man had told them to go, they found the way was quite hilly. Perhaps they had been so used during the past days in the canyon to the walls towering straight up on each side of them that the gradual rise did seem flat. But they soon realized it would be quite a climb..
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