‘The lady took herself off straight away. And Dougal? He’d always been a good shepherd, and he kept on being one, looking after his flocks, earning a living, keeping himself to himself. Only he wasn’t alone anymore. He had his baby to look after. When the boy was small, Dougal cooked his supper and sang him lullabies and told him the names of all the sheep. He made the lad a sheepskin coat and woolly slippers. When the giant boy was older, and as tall as Dougal, they tended the sheep together. The giant boy grew tall enough to mend the roof without a ladder. He grew tall enough to pick the fruit from the highest boughs of the apple tree. He grew so tall that he and Dougal had to build a bigger house. Local folk were wary of the boy. Thing was, though, it was handy having such a big lad living among them. He scared away thieves and raiders and bad folk of all kinds. Even the wolves were afraid of him. Which was odd, since he was a gentle soul, the kind of boy who’d move a beetle or spider from the path so it didn’t get stepped on.