"The Giant and Pastaris" is a Latvian folk tale.

Once upon a time a fisherman and his only son, Pastaris, were at sea when a terrible giant seized Pastaris. He carried him to his ship and sailed away, and the fisherman could do nothing to stop the giant.

The giant took Pastaris to his great palace on an island, and locked him in a pitch-dark room.

"Here you'll stay," said the giant. "Do not light a fire no matter what happens!"

Pastaris huddled under a blanket but could not sleep; he heard wailing and weeping. The next night the same thing happened.

On the third night, Pastaris decided he must build a fire so he could see, but he had nothing to use to build it.

In the morning, he called to the giant. "Let me visit my poor father. Just for one day. I swear I'll return."

The giant agreed, and he waited on the ship while Pastaris went ashore.

"I need a small candle, a flint and some tinder," Pastaris told his father. "Sew them into the lining of my coat so the giant will not find them."

This the fisherman did. "Just promise me that you will use your wits," the fisherman said.

Pastaris returned to the ship, and the giant set sail. That night, Pastaris heard the wailing, so he lit the candle.

When the room lighted up, he saw a beautiful maiden, but she was so frightened by the light that she ran away.

The giant stormed into Pastaris' room. "You disobeyed me!" he thundered, and he carried Pastaris to a mountain and left him at the top, all alone, with nothing to eat or drink.

For two days, Pastaris sat there. On the third day, he climbed down. When he reached the bottom, his hands were scraped and his clothing torn. He walked and came upon four men standing around a fallen horse, a sword stuck in the earth beside them.

"Do not pass by us!" the men cried. "We need you to divide this horse among us. We have killed it, but we don't know how to divide it."

Then each man introduced himself, and Pastaris understood how he must divide up their prize. To the first man, chief of cattle, Pastaris gave the shanks. To the man who called himself the leader of birds, he gave the shoulders. Pastaris handed the middle of the horse to the one who said he looked out for the fish, and to the fourth man, captain of crawling creatures, Pastaris gave the head.

Then he set down the sword and turned to leave.

"Wait, we must reward you for your help."

The man who led the cattle gave Pastaris a hair from a bull. "Spin this hair and your strength will be greater than the strength of any man or beast."

The bird man gave Pastaris a feather. "Spin this and you'll move faster than any creature moves."

"And this," said the fish man, handing Pastaris a scale, "will help you swim faster than any man or beast."

The man of the crawling things gave him an ant's leg and said, "With this you'll be able to dig to the center of the Earth."

Pastaris thanked them and off he set, but that evening the ground began to tremble, and the giant's voice roared, "Who told you to leave the mountain?"

"I did," said Pastaris.

"Is that so?" the giant thundered. "Then I shall kill you!"

Pastaris felt the giant's breath on his neck, so he spun the hair of the bull and struck the giant.

The hair had given Pastaris amazing strength. The giant fell to the ground, and Pastaris said, "Now I shall kill you!"

"My soul is not inside my body," the giant laughed.

"Then tell me where it is," said Pastaris," and I will destroy it."

Again the giant laughed. "On the other side of the ocean in a palace courtyard stands a post. Hit this post with your finger, and a sword will fall from heaven. With this sword kill a snake, and a rabbit will appear and race away. Catch that rabbit and cut off its head, and a dove will appear. If you catch the dove, an egg will fall, and in that egg is my life. You will never have it."

Pastaris left the giant and twirled the fish scale, and in one second he swam across the ocean. He found the post in the palace courtyard, and he hit that post with his finger. A great sword fell to the ground.

In the forest, Pastaris found a snake, and he did everything the giant said he couldn't do — even catching the egg, which he carried back to the giant's palace and smashed. The giant died.

Pastaris and the beautiful maiden lived happily ever after.