knight saves boy from giant
Orlando's travels, as he pursues Angelica to the Orient, take him to deep Russia, by the Tana (Don) river. Here, he meets a despondent old man, whose young son has been captured by a giant. Nobly, our knight puts aside his own agenda to help reunite the family. Or maybe he just needs to proceed along the path that the giant is blocking.
...Count Orlando was not afraid, and he set out to talk to the giant on the pathway that led to the red cliff. The three-meter-tall giant, seeing him coming, yelled out to him: "You got a death wish, knight? The king of Carcassia has placed me here so that I would not allow anyone to pass here, and I won't let you pass either.
"A rabid beast - no, a monster - resides on that red cliff," the giant continued as Orlando listened. "And you should know that this strange monster knows the answer to any question that a passerby may ask it. Afterward, however, it tells the wanderer a riddle of its own, and he who cannot solve the riddle is a dead man."
Orlando inquired about the boy who had been kidnapped from his father, and the giant said that he wanted to keep him. Without much forewarning, a brawl broke out, the giant brandishing a stick and the paladin dealing him blows with the sword Durindana.
It only took one whack on the ribs - the giant learned quickly and allowed himself to be persuaded to return the youth, not wishing to experience any more of that pain. In fact, he said "I don't want any more!" and disappeared, and nothing else was ever heard of him.
Having found the boy, Orlando brought him to the teary-eyed father. Wishing to thank the brave paladin, he fished a little book out of his pocket. It was an enameled volume, covered with gold and wrapped in a white cloth, which the pilgrim offered as a gift to Orlando.
"Noble baron," he said, "accept this book. Its main virtue is a wondrous one: every time your mind is in doubt, open its pages and they will reveal any enigma to you."