Giant Boots

By Astrogator

Chapter  1

Very late in the day, Zoltan, the ogre who had ruled the land for many years came crashing through the forest, taller than the trees and stopped, looking down at a little hut that lay in the clearing.  "Come out, woodman," he shouted in a huge voice.  "I am the mighty Zoltan!  Come out or I will crush your little house with you in it!"

The old woodsman came creeping out of the hut with his back bent and peering fearfully up at the monster.  "Have mercy on me, Lord Zoltan!" pleaded the woodman.  "I am old and poor and will die soon.  Have pity and leave me in peace!"

The giant scowled and made a rumbling noise deep in his throat.  "Do you expect me to believe that you live here alone, old man?  Do not lie to me!  If there is someone hiding in that hovel, they had better come out before I crush it."

"There is only me, mighty one!  Have mercy!  Do not destroy my house for I have no place to go."

The giant lifted his huge black boot and held it over the hut.  "This is your last chance," announced the giant.  "Come out now!"
There was a shriek and a woman came running from the hut and put her arms around the old woodman.  "Mercy! Mercy!" she pleaded.

"Ah ha!" boomed the giant.  "What have we here!"  He bent low and scooped up the tiny woman in his colossal hands.  He lifted her screaming into the air and held her near his face to examine her.  "You are too young for such an old man," said the giant.  "Who are you?"

"I am the woodman's granddaughter, Master," said the woman.  "Please do not harm us!  We are your loyal subjects!"

"What is your name," demanded the giant.

"I am called Selena," said the young woman, her whole body shaking with fear within the iron grip of the giant's encircling fingers.  "Are you going to kill us?  We have obeyed your laws and paid our tithes faithfully."

"I am very tired," said Zoltan.  "I have come many leagues across my vast kingdom and I need a place to rest and rebuild my strength for the long journey back to my castle.  This will do."

The giant turned his attention to the old man, raising his boot and stamping the poor fellow to death with one devastating blow.  Selena screamed in horror and looked away.  The giant bent over and placed her on the ground.

"Do not run away," Zoltan said sternly.  "I am not going to hurt you.  Go into the hut and wait."

She cast one tearful glance at the flattened body of her grandfather, then ran into the hut sobbing.  The giant then seated himself on the ground and removed his boots one at a time.  He placed one boot next the hut and it towered over the tiny cottage incongruously.  The giant then removed the other boot and placed it next to the first one.  As soon as he did so, the giant and the boots began to shrink rapidly until the giant was the size of an ordinary man and the boots were the size of an ordinary man's boots.  The ogre picked up the boots, slipped them under his arm and carried them into the hut.

Selena was astonished to see him and she stopped weeping for her grandfather and stared at him in wonder.  "How did you do that?" she asked.  "How can you be a giant one moment and an ordinary man the next?"

"None of your business," said the ogre.  He gazed around the hut and said, "This place is a disgrace to my station, but it is clean and warm.  You will feed me and warm my bed tonight with your young body.  Now what have you got to eat?"

Selena gestured toward the stove where a kettle was bubbling lazily.  "My poor grandfather lived on porridge and milk," she said.  "He had no teeth to chew solid food."

The ogre made a face and spat.  "Have you nothing better?"

"There are some beans and bread," said Selena.  "Give me time and I shall heat them for you."

"Do not delay," said the ogre.  "I am very hungry."

Selena gestured toward the door.  "What about my grandfather?"

"What about him?" said the ogre.

"How can you ask me to offer my hospitality while my murdered grandfather's body lies unburied just outside the door?"

"Stupid wench," growled Zoltan.  "Do you expect me to dig a grave for that piece of scum?  It is work for serf's, not sovereigns.  I am the ruler of this land!"

"Of course not, Master," said Selena.  "It would be an insult to your dignity to do such a thing.  I only ask your permission to leave the house long enough to place my grandfather's body beneath the sod.   Then I will return and prepare your meal."

The ogre grumbled.  "Never mind that," he said.  "You tend to the food.  I shall tend to your worthless grandfather."  He turned to go out the door, then remember the boots he was carrying.  He started to put them down, then looked at Selena appraisingly.  "I am going to leave my boots here," he said.  "If you touch them, you will die."

"I shall not touch them, Master," said Selena.  She watched carefully as he placed them on a high shelf and turned to face her once again.

"Those boots are enchanted," he said.  "If anyone touches them, they will cry out to me and I shall come and kill the thief!"

"Your boots are safe in my care," said Selena.

The ogre looked into her eyes appraisingly, then smiled and said.  "Now I shall bury your grandfather.  You are right, it is the decent thing to do.  The exercise will sharpen my appetite and help pass the time until supper."  His eyes gleamed as he added, "I want you to be easy in your mind while I explore that delightful body of yours tonight!"

When Zoltan returned to the cabin about an hour later, he glanced up at the shelf and saw the boots were still there, then turned to see that Selena had set a place for him on the rough-hewn board of the table that dominated the center of the cottage.  "Please be seated, my lord Zoltan," said Selena.  "It is simple fare I offer you, but it is hot and there is plenty of it."

Zoltan smiled and a warm, kindly feeling stole over him.  For a moment he fantasized himself a simple woodman, coming home to his beautiful young wife, all eager to fill his belly and lavish her tender caresses upon him.  "Is that fresh cornbread I smell?" he asked, as he took his eat at the table.

"Yes, Master," said Selena and she placed a huge platter of square cut slices before him, along side a bowl of freshly churned butter.  She then brought the kettle and dipped a magnificent pile of beans onto his plate.  "Would you like some fresh onions with that, Master?"

"Oh yes, indeed!" said Zoltan.  He studied the young woman's face but he could see no trace of anger or hostility there as she scattered the chopped onions over his beans.  "What a treasure you are," he said.  "If you are as good in bed as you are in the kitchen, I shall make you first lady of the land!"  

Selena's features were marred by a frown when he said that, and he realized that he had offended her.  He felt kindly toward her and had not wished to hurt her.  "Please accept my apologies," he said.  "I have grown accustomed to saying what I think without regard to the feelings of others."

"Your are Lord Zoltan," she said, inclining her head respectfully.  "We are all your humble subjects who exist only to serve you."  She poured him a mug of brew and said, "It is only an humble mead, Master, but it is an honest drink."

The ogre began to eat and after he tasted the first bite, he began to eat more rapidly, for the food though simple was delicious.  He finished the plate and asked  for more and she gave it to him and he downed two tall mugs of the frothy mead.  When he was done, he leaned back in his chair and patted his full belly.  "This is the way to live," he said.  "If I could, I would give up my power and responsibility and live the life of a simple woodman."  He looked up at her.  "Who needs power and dominion?  All a man needs to be happy is an humble cottage and a good woman like you to look after him.  Prepare my bed now.  I will sleep some."  With that, he rose to his feet and began removing his leggings, his breeches, and his jacket while Selena turned down the covers on the big bed that stood shoved up into the corner of the cabin.

Zoltan slid into bed  and raised up on his elbow.  "Take off your clothes Selena, and come here to me.  Tonight will be a night you shall long remember.  You will tell your granddaughters how you once slept with a god.  Perhaps you will have a child of my own blood."

"I will come soon," said Selena.  "But I must clean up the supper and lay the fire for your breakfast.  You will be hungry again in the morning.  A night of love making does that to a man."  She looked at him and smiled.

A big grin spread over Zoltan's face.  "You amaze me, Selena," he said.  "You are a woman worthy of a god, that is a certainty.  Your grandfather's body is still warm in his grave, yet you come eagerly to the embrace of the man who killed him.  You are not like other women and I admire you for it."

Selena moved quickly about the cottage, putting away the supper things, cleaning the dishes and pots and laying the fire.  Zoltan watched her with a warm, homey feeling and his ardor rose.  He was getting old, he knew, but this woman made him feel eighteen again.  "Don't take too long," he said.

Then Selena turned from her work and came toward the bed.  She took off her peasant scarf and simple homespun dress.  She removed her long woolen stockings and stripped off her under clothes.  When she at last stood naked before him, Zoltan moaned with pleasant pressure in his loins.  "You must be cold.  Come to me now!" he rasped, and she came to him.

Selena slid into the bed beside him and he pulled the covers over her.  Zoltan moved his hands over the curves of her hip and thing and felt the smooth, lean, supple muscles of a hard working peasant girl.  "You have made me feel happy again," said Zoltan.  "I had thought I would never again feel so much joy in living."

"I exist only to serve you," said Selena.

"You cannot expect me to believe that you are a woodman's grand-daughter," said Zoltan.  "You speak like one who has had some education."

"Mother married well," said Selena.  "I was raised by nuns.  They taught me to read and write, but I had no interest in convent life."

Zoltan said, "Lucky for me!" and grinned wickedly.  He started to swing his leg across her, but his leg felt unusually heavy!  He barely managed to straddle her when he was struck by tremendous wave of drowsiness.  He rolled back on his side and shook his head to clear it.  "I am so tired!" he said, and yawned hugely.

"Excuse me one moment, Master," said Selena and slipped lithely from the bed.

Between yawns and struggling to stay awake, Zoltan said, "Where are you going?"

"I merely wish to pick up your clothing, Lord Zoltan," said Selena as she began gathering up his leggings, breeches, and jacket.

"Be careful with those," said Zoltan.  "Those garments are enchanted."
"I will brush them and fold them for you," said Selena.  "My Lord Zoltan should not walk about it wrinkled clothing."  She finished the task quickly and turned back to the bed.

The ogre was fast asleep at last.