Success

Success. No hound could overtake him, no archer could strike him. They kept shooting at him. He kept running. It was not a peaceful life, and at last he got used to it. He knew he was in no danger, and when he saw all the hunters and hounds so eager to pursue him, he even joked with them.

A whole year passed, and at the end of the year the giant told him to go home. Like all the other animals, he was firmly under the giant's control. The giant said something to the young man that he did not understand, and at once the hare became a man again. "Well, how do you like being my servant?" "Do you like being a hare?"

The lad said he liked it very much. He had never run so fast on the ground before. The giant showed him a lump of money and said it was his wages. The young man gladly agreed to serve the giant for another year.

On the first day of the second year, the young man did the same thing as the year before -- that is, he fed all the wild animals in the giant's stable. When he had finished feeding, the giant said some more words to him, and he changed into a crow and flew high into the air. The lad was glad, for now he could fly faster than the hare, and the hounds could not come after him. This was indeed a happy thing for him, but he soon found that he could not live peacefully, for he saw all the shooters and hunters aiming at him and shooting him, for they had no other birds to shoot but him, and the giant had shut up all the others.

But he found out that they could never hit him, and he got used to it. All that year he flew here and there until the giant told him to go home again. The giant said strange things to him, which restored him to his human form. "Hey, do you like being a crow?" "Asked the giant.

"I like it," said the young man. "I've never flown this high before." The giant gave the young man two Portuguese wages, so the young man was happy to serve the giant for another year.

The first day of the third year was the same. He fed all the animals. When he had finished his task, the giant said some spells to him again, and he changed into a fish and jumped into the river. He swam up and down, and found it more comfortable to swim down the stream, and so he came to the sea, and swam farther and farther. At last he came to a glass palace under the sea. He could see all the rooms and halls, and everything in them was magnificent; All the furniture was made of white ivory, inlaid with gold and pearls. There was a rainbow of soft cushions and beautiful carpets like moss, and trees and flowers of all sorts, green and yellow and white and red. There was also a fountain, from which water poured from beautiful snail shells into mussel shells, and at the same time made beautiful music that echoed throughout the palace.

The most beautiful of all, however, was a young girl, who came out of it alone, going from room to room, but she did not seem to be happy with all the beautiful things around her. She walked alone and melancholy, never even thinking of looking in the bright glass walls around her, in spite of her stunning beauty. The young man swam around the palace, peeping at the girl from every Angle. He was fascinated by her.

"If only I were a man now, instead of a poor dumb fish," he said to himself