They went on a long way , until they caught sight of a hind with a gold ring on its horns . The Prince was eager to catch it , if possible , so they gave chase and rode on without stopping until all the horses began to founder beneath them . At last the Prince 's horse gave way too , and then there came over them a darkness so black that they could no longer see the hind . By this time they were far away from any house , and thought it was high time to be making their way home again , but they found they had got lost now . At first they all kept together , but soon each began to think that he knew the right way best ; so they separated , and all went in different directions . The Prince , too , had got lost like the rest , and wandered on for a time until he came to a little clearing in the forest not far from the sea , where he saw a woman sitting on a chair and a big barrel standing beside her . The Prince went up to her and saluted her politely , and she received him very graciously . He looked down into the barrel then , and saw lying at the bottom an unusually beautiful gold ring , which pleased him so much that he could not take his eyes off it . The woman saw this , and said that he might have it if he would take the trouble to get it ; for which the Prince thanked her , and said it was at least worth trying . So he leaned over into the barrel , which did not seem very deep , and thought he would easily reach the ring ; but the more he stretched down after it the deeper grew the barrel . As he was thus bending down into it the woman suddenly rose up and pushed him in head first , saying that now he could take up his quarters there . Then she fixed the top on the barrel and threw it out into the sea . The Prince thought himself in a bad plight now , as he felt the barrel floating out from the land and tossing about on the waves . How many days he spent thus he could not tell , but at last he felt that the barrel was knocking against rocks , at which he was a little cheered , thinking it was probably land and not merely a reef in the sea . Being something of a swimmer , he at last made up his mind to kick the bottom out of the barrel , and having done so he was able to get on shore , for the rocks by the sea were smooth and level ; but overhead there were high cliffs . It seemed difficult to get up these , but he went along the foot of them for a little , till at last he tried to climb up , which at last he did . Having got to the top , he looked round about him and saw that he was on an island , which was covered with forest , with apples growing , and altogether pleasant as far as the land was concerned . After he had been there several days , he one day heard a great noise in the forest , which made him terribly afraid , so that he ran to hide himself among the trees . Then he saw a Giant approaching , dragging a sledge loaded with wood , and making straight for him , so that he could see nothing for it but to lie down just where he was . When the Giant came across him , he stood still and looked at the Prince for a little ; then he took him up in his arms and carried him home to his house , and was exceedingly kind to him .
He gave him to his wife , saying he had found this child in the XXXXX , and she could have it to help her in the house .
cliffs foot forest home quarters something trees trouble waves wood