Selena was relieved to see that the sleeping powders had finally taken control of Zoltan.  She waited but a moment, to be sure he was fast asleep and took the boots from off the shelf where Zoltan had placed them.  The boots did not cry out for Zoltan and he remained unconscious, breathing heavily.   She started to slip her feet into the boots, then glanced around at the cabin and realized that if she became a giant now, she would destroy her home and she did not wish to do that.  Selena opened the cabin door and a chill breath of mountain air reminded her that she was still naked.

Quickly, Selena pulled on her peasant dress, picked up the boots once more and rushed outside into the night.  The full moon had just risen, so there was light enough to see, even though the sun had been down for almost two hours.  Selena pulled on the right boot and noted that her feet felt tiny inside the huge boots.  As soon as she pulled the left boot on and straightened up, she was gratified with the realization that she was growing rapidly taller.

Unfortunately, Selena's dress did not grow with her and as she shot up into the sky, her dress burst and fell from her, leaving her a naked, booted giantess, towering above the countryside under a full moon in the chill mountain air.  For a moment, Selena was awestruck by the site of the world stretching out at her feet.  There was her little cabin, no higher than her ankles.  The path that led down into the valley where grandfather used to sell his wood in the town was just a tiny ant trail winding its way across the shrunken meadow.   The cords of wood that grandfather had cut before he came too sick to work were like little stacks of matches arrayed in the yard.  

A brief wave of vertigo struck Selena and she thought for a moment she was going to faint.  She staggered a bit, trying to keep her balance and felt something crunch beneath her right boot.  Selena took her foot away and looked down to see her grandfather's two wheeled cart had been crushed to splinters.  "I must be more careful," Selena thought.

Suddenly becoming aware of the cold on her naked flesh, Selena pondered what to do.  If she took off the boots and resumed her normal size, she would be vulnerable to Zoltan's domination again, but if she remained a naked giantess, she would soon die from exposure.  Her clothes apparently were unaffected by the magic of the boots but … Zoltan's clothing changed size with him!  That was the answer.

Zoltan would be asleep for many hours before he awoke, if he awoke at all.  Even in his reduced state, he was still quite a big man and Selena had dosed him very liberally to be sure the sleeping powders would do their work.  Selena seated herself on the meadow grass and began removing the boots.  The frosty dew burned her bare buttocks, but she could not get the boots off without sitting down.  She removed one boot and set it down, but she was still a giantess.  She removed the other boot and held it in her hand for a moment.  There was no sign that she was shrinking.  What if she was forced to remain a giantess forever?  That would be awful, living always outdoors, requiring enormous amounts of food, and trying to find refuge from the ever-present cold.  The winter snows were not far off and Selena realized that if she were forced to live out in the open as a sixty foot giantess, she would die.

Not to worry, however.  As soon as Selena placed the left boot on the ground next to its mate, she and the boots began to shrink rapidly to their normal size.  When it was done, she picked up the boots and hurried into the cabin.  Zoltan was still asleep, but the fire was burning low and it was getting darker inside the hut.  Selena laid a couple of logs on the fire and then dressed herself in Zoltan's clothes.  To her surprise, they shrunk to fit her trim frame perfectly as if the tailor had cut them especially for her.  They were indeed magic garments as Zoltan had claimed.

Selena picked up the boots and started for the door once again when Zoltan suddenly sprang from the bed roaring.  "What are you doing!  Stop!"  She tried to escape through the door, but he was on her like a tiger, slamming the door with his left hand and shoving her down on the foor with a powerful swipe of his right arm.  "Give me those boots!"

Selena tried to pull the boots on.  She got the right one on, but he grabbed the left one from her grasp, then dragged the right one off her foot by the heel.  "Please don't hurt me," she begged.  "I wasn't going to keep them!  I only wanted to see what it was like.  I have no desire for power or rule!  I am your loyal subject!"

For a moment, Zoltan said nothing as he held the boots before his eyes and stared at them.  "Light a lamp, girl," he growled.  "Light a lamp now!"

Selena scrambled to obey, hoping against hope that some miracle might prevent Zoltan from taking his terrible revenge upon her.  Why had she been so foolish as to dream of god like power?  Why could she not be content to serve Zoltan?  He liked her and would have made her the first lady of the land.  She could have pleased him, she knew it in her heart.  Now all was lost, all was ruined.  

In the light of lamp which Selena held up, she beheld Zoltan standing naked next to the door, holding his boots and she saw that tears were coming down his face.  Only then did Selena notice that the boots now seemed tiny in his big hands.  "Look what you have done!" Zoltan said, his voice broken by a sob.  "I should kill you!"

"What is wrong, Master?" said Selena, shaking with terror of the man, yet a touch of sympathy for his genuine grief.

"I am ruined!" said Zoltan.  "Look!"  He sat down on a chair and tried to pull on the right boot.  It was too small for him now.  He was only able to thrust his foot halfway into the boot.  He pulled the left boot on the same and sat there in the chair, looking ridiculous.  "I cannot wear the boots!"  He glared at her.  "You wore them, didn't you?"

Selena dropped to her knees in front of Zoltan.  "Yes,  Master, I am sorry.  I did not know."

"The boots have now adapted to your feet and not to mine," he said.  "This cannot be undone."

"Can you not make another pair, Lord Zoltan?"

Zoltan shook his head sadly.  "Impossible.  As soon as the wizard gave me the boots I killed him.  The spell that made them is lost and all my power is gone.  What am I to do?"

Selena bowed her head and said, "You do not need the boots, Lord Zoltan.  Your subjects will obey you even though you appear before them in the guise of an ordinary man."

Zoltan hurled the boots into the corner.  "Stupid girl!" he roared.  "You know nothing about politics!  The boots were the source of all  my power!  Because I had the boots, I did not need an army to uphold my rule, so I did not bother to raise one. I needed no alliances, so I made none.  Because I was omnipotent, I ruled with a hand of iron and showed no mercy to those who displeased me.  If I were to appear before my subjects in the guise of a man, they would instantly tear me apart and there would be no one to defend me!  I am doomed."

"What will you do, Master?" said Selena.

"I must go into hiding," said Zoltan grimly.  "If word of this gets to my enemies, I will be tracked down and killed.  And every man is my enemy."  He suddenly bent down in his chair and began to weep in big explosive sobs, the way a big man cries when he is overcome by despair.

Selena had not forgotten that Zoltan had murdered her grandfather, nor had she forgotten the many stories of the cruelties that this monster had inflicted on his subjects, nevertheless she felt some empathy for this fallen god who sat before her, sobbing.  Selena rose to her feet and put her arms around Zoltan.  "I am not your enemy, my Lord Zoltan.  No matter what happens, I shall remain your faithful subject."

Gratefully, he turned to her, pulling her down on to his lap and holding her tightly in his powerful arms.  "If only I had known someone like you when I was young," he lamented.  "I was not always an ogre.  Once I was a hero, a mighty warrior.  But I was not content with that.  I blame the Lady who betrayed me for another while I was away at the wars.  You would not have betrayed me, would you Selena?"

"Never, Master," said Selena.

"Call me Zoltan," he said.  "I came home from the war with honors, but little money.  My Lady betrayed me for a man of great wealth and I swore revenge, but while she grew richer, I grew poorer until I was forced to become a bandit and steal for my livelihood…"

"The legend of your rise to power is well known," said Selena.  "You did what you had to do to survive in this harsh world.  You are to be commended for your restraint."

"I could have taken her life and his," said Zoltan.  "But I did not.  I only took their money and sent them to live among the beggars and thieves.  It was a much more satisfying revenge to enjoy the spectacle of their daily misery.  It was the perfect revenge, that went on and on year after year while her beauty faded and her once arrogant husband came to despise her.  But I would not let them part from one another."  He sighed.  "It was so good being a god."  His voice broke, and then he added, "Now look at me!"  He pushed Selena away and rose to his feet.

"Those cursed boots!" he cried.   "I wish I had never seen those cursed boots!"  He stalked to the corner where the boots had fallen and picked them up.  "I would not be in this hellish predicament were it not for these damned boots!"  He raised his arm and started to throw them into the fire, but something made him hesitate.

"Wait!" cried Selena, and rushed to him, grasping his arm.  "Do not destroy them!  They still have great power!  They are very valuable!"

"To you, perhaps," he said, lowering his arm, but regarding her thoughtfully, "but they are worthless to me."

" It is true that you can no longer wear the boots," said Selena.  "But I can wear them for you."

"Do you take me for a fool?" he said.  "Once you put on these boots my life would be forfeit.  You would crush me beneath them as I crushed the wizard who gave them to me."

"Never!" said Selena.  "If I were going to do such a thing, I could have done it while you slept.  Have I not proven my love for you?  Keep the boots and let me wear them for you.  I will use their power as you command!  I will protect you from your enemies and through me, you shall still be the ruler of your empire."

Zoltan scowled.  "Once you put on the boots, you will have no need for me.  What is to prevent you from crushing me, or worse, delivering me into the hands of my enemies?"

"I love you," said Selena.  "Have you forgotten the power of love?"

Zoltan said, "I do not trust you.  You cannot love me.  I am a monster."

"You do not need to trust me," said Selena.  "Not now.  But please do not destroy the boots, for only they can be the instrument of your salvation.  You need not fear that I, a weak woman, could take them away from you."

"You took them once before," Zoltan pointed out, glaring at her.  "Treacherously while I slept."

"I am sorry," said Selena.  "But if you give me a chance, I will prove to you that I can be trusted.  I did not mean to steal them, only to borrow them for a little while.  I am too much a coward to wield such great power.  I was terrified when I became a giant and could not take them off quickly enough."

"No, they are too dangerous," said Zoltan.  "If I cannot wear them, no one must wear them!"  He carried the boots to the fire and started to throw them into the flames, but once again he hesitated.

"Without them, you have nothing!" cried Selena.  "As long as you have the boots, you hold the key to ultimate power, even if you cannot wield it yourself!  If the boots are destroyed, then you have nothing!"

Zoltan sighed and turned away from the fire.  "You are right.  The boots are too valuable to be destroyed.  Whatever happens, I must hang on to them."   He looked at her suspiciously.  "Why are you wearing my clothes?"

Selena looked down at her garments guiltily.  "I only wanted to try them…"

"Never mind," said Zoltan.  "Just take them off and come back to bed."  He watched as she removed his clothes from her body and folded them again.  "I am no longer Zoltan the giant," he said.  "But I am a man, and you are a woman."

"Of course," said Selena as she smiled and offered him her hand.  "Tonight is your night," she said.  But in her head she thought, "Tomorrow belongs to me."