Part 4

Climbing the long hill was not nearly so hard as he had expected, for he had rolled so many of the round stones from the path as he went down. Then, too, the sun was no longer directly overhead. Indeed, the air grew cooler and cooler, and when he came to where the four roads met, it was so cold that he had to blow on his fingers to keep them from being stiff and numb.

“I suppose a boy can seek his fortune whether it is hot or cold,” thought Hansel, and he set off bravely to walk in the third road. This seemed to lead directly across a vast plain; but he could not see very far, for there were thick clouds of dust blowing in little whirlwinds. “All this dust must come from some great city,” thought the boy. “Perhaps I shall come to it before long. I will go straight to the Lord Mayor, and say, ‘Sir Lord Mayor, is there anything for a boy to do to make his fortune?’ He will answer, ‘Yes, one of my ships is all ready to sail. You may sail with her, and if you have anything to venture, perhaps you will make your fortune in one voyage. What have you to send?’ Then I’ll say, ‘Sir Lord Mayor, I have a black seed and a white one.’ No, I forget, if he happens to be a giant, I must say ‘Yes’ to the first question. That will be such nonsense that he will think I am a philosopher, and he will say, ‘I need another counselor, and I’ll take you. You shall have a long red gown and a white wig, and every morning before breakfast you shall have a great piece of red, red gold.’ I will say ‘Thank you, I--’”

Without thinking what he was about, Hansel had been talking aloud; and now the words were fairly blown from his lips, for a great storm had suddenly arisen. Big hailstones beat upon him. He was thrown into the brambles and against the stones. His cap was lost, his clothes were torn, and he was almost exhausted when at last he managed to get into the shelter of a high rock that kept the biting wind from him.

It seemed to him that he had hardly taken three long breaths before he heard a loud buzzing. “Come and help us,” it said; “come and help us.”

“I knew cocks could talk,” thought Hansel in surprise, “and cats can, of course, but I never heard bees talk before. They must be in some great trouble. I can’t do anything to help them, that’s sure, for it is all I can do to get my breath.”

“Come and help us,” buzzed the bees, until Hansel could not bear to hear their pleading any longer and he asked:--

“What is the matter?”

“Our hive is blown over,” they replied. “The storm came up so suddenly that many bees are away, and when they come back, they will not know where to go if the hive is not in its place. Do put it back for us.”

“Surely, I can do so much for them if I am tired,” thought Hansel; and he asked, “Where does your hive belong?”

“On top of this high rock,” they replied.

“I shouldn’t think it would stay there in this wind,” said Hansel to himself, “but I suppose they know best. People say that bees are wise, and maybe they know some way of making it firm.”--“I don’t know whether I can climb the rock in this storm,” he said aloud, “but at least I can try.”

So Hansel took up the beehive carefully and began to climb. It seemed at every step as if the wind would surely blow him away; but he kept on and on, and at last he was at the top of the rock and had put the hive into the place that the bees pointed out. The storm grew worse and worse until it almost seemed as if the rock itself would be blown over.

“I don’t see how your hive is going to stay there,” said Hansel. “The moment I let go, it will fall down and be blown to nobody knows where.”

“Please stay and hold it for us,” the bees pleaded anxiously.

“It’s all I can do to hold my head on my shoulders,” replied Hansel.

But the bees still begged, “Do stay and help us, do help us.”

“All right, I’ll try it,” said Hansel, “but it looks as if the hive and the rock and myself would all blow away together.”

The wind blew as if it feared it would never have another chance and meant to make the best of this one. The rain fell, not in drops, it seemed to Hansel, or in pailfuls, but in whole pondfuls, in oceanfuls. He threw one arm around the hive and the other around a jagged point of rock, and there he clung for dear life. It was a hard pull for the tired boy, but after a while the storm cleared as suddenly as it had arisen. Many of the wandering bees returned and made their way into the hive and were safe. The other bees buzzed a welcome to them, and Hansel could not help being glad that he had saved their home. They clustered around Hansel and buzzed their thanks into his ear. They gave him all the honey he could eat and a fine large piece of comb to carry away with him.

“But where are you going?” they asked.

“Everywhere and nowhere,” answered Hansel. “I haven’t any father or any mother or any place to stay in, and I am going out into the world to seek my fortune.”

“There’s no good fortune to be found on this road,” declared the bees. “You must go back to where the four roads meet and choose another.”

“There are roads enough in the world,” said Hansel with a laugh, “but somehow none of them seem to be the right ones.”

“Every one has his own road,” said the bees. “Some find it in one day, some in two days, and some in three days, but there is surely a road.”

“All right, I’ll go back and try the road uphill,” Hansel said. “Bees are wise, I know. Can you tell me whether I shall find my fortune on that road? The mountain is so steep that I am sure I should break my neck if I had to come down it by night; and then, too, there are no more roads to try.”

“We must not say any more,” buzzed the bees, “but we can make you a gift that will be of help in time of need”; and they brought out from the farthest corner of the hive a tiny seed as yellow as their own honey. “Take good care of this,” they said, “for the time will come when you will have need of it. And there is one thing more; we have some advice for you.”

“I’ve had two pieces already,” rejoined Hansel, laughing, “and yet I don’t seem to be wise enough to find the right road.”

“At least, we can tell you something that will keep you from going where you do not wish to go,” buzzed the bees.

“Thank you kindly,” said Hansel. “I will put it into my jacket pocket with the other pieces. When one has not much else to carry, he can surely carry a piece of advice. What is it, then?”

“To the third question that a giant asks you, be sure to answer, ‘In the land and in the sea,’” replied the bees earnestly. “Do not forget.”

“No, I’ll remember,” Hansel promised. “To the first question I am to say ‘Yes’; to the second, ‘With salt’; and to the third, ‘In the land and in the sea.’ I hope no one will ask me a fourth question, for I’d have to answer that all out of my own wit. Now good-bye. Thank you kindly for the honey and the seed and the bit of advice. I’ll turn back and go up the mountain if I can see to find the road.” He waved his hand in farewell, turned back, and crossed the plain once more.

Before long he was at the place where the four roads met. He could not exactly “choose” which one to take, for there was only one left that he had not tried; but he gazed for at least three minutes at the long, winding way that disappeared in the shadows. He fancied that there was a heavy stone castle at the top of the mountain, but it was fast growing dusky and he could not be sure whether what he saw was not a gray cloud. It was a lonely road to follow in the twilight, and Hansel could not help thinking of the other boys who were safe in their own homes; but he was a stout-hearted little fellow, and he said to himself, “I suppose that if a boy is seeking his fortune, he must seek it; and since the end of the road won’t come to me, why, then, I’ll go to the end of the road.” And he set off bravely to climb the mountain.

The road wound about and went in many zigzags, but at last Hansel was at the top of the mountain. Sure enough, there was a great stone castle that towered up till the battlements really seemed to reach the clouds. Hansel walked timidly up to the gate and knocked. No one answered. He knocked again, for it was so dark and wild on the hill that he began to feel afraid. “If they will only let me come in,” he thought, “and give me a bit of straw to lie on, I don’t care for any grand fortune”; and he knocked a third time.

Then the gate was opened a little way, and a great coarse hand as large as Hansel’s whole body was stretched out and pulled him in through the opening. Of course, the hand belonged to a giant, who was almost as tall as the walls of the castle. The boy ventured to put his head back and take one look at the giant’s face. It would have been frightful enough in any case, for it looked so hateful; but it was especially startling because it had three eyes, one above each ear and one on the top of the head. The giant could see best with that, and now he bent his head over and glared at Hansel with it. This eye was red and fiery, and at its flashing the boy felt as though the lightning was about to strike him. The giant gazed a minute or two and then called:--

[Illustration: A GREAT COARSE HAND PULLED HIM IN]

“Brothers Humpkin and Lumpkin, here’s a boy.”

“Let’s eat him, Brother Mumpkin,” cried two harsh voices, and immediately two more dreadful giants came shambling out of the castle keep. One had three ears, and the other had three mouths. This third giant was Lumpkin, and he was the most horrible of the three, for he was continually grating his teeth and mumbling his heavy lips.

“We’ll eat him, well eat him,” they cried; but when they caught sight of the boy and saw how small and thin he was, they laughed scornfully.

“He’ll be only a mouthful apiece for us,” said Humpkin. Lumpkin, however, began to feel the boy’s ribs and thighs, pinching him now and then to see if the flesh was firm and solid.

“Maybe he’ll not be so bad,” said Lumpkin. “Well put him into one of the dungeons, and in a day or two we’ll have a feast. These little creatures are small, but they are tender.”

Now one giant would have been enough to frighten anybody, but with three such monsters before him it is no wonder that Hansel was white with terror. Mumpkin held him up by the back of the neck as if he was a kitten and demanded:--

“Do they eat boys in the land of the Pogglywogs?”

If Hansel had answered, “I don’t know,” the giant would probably have retorted, “You’ll find out that we do here,” and perhaps have taken a bite on the instant, but Hansel in all his terror had not forgotten his promise to the cock, and he faltered, “Yes.”

“Listen to that!” cried Humpkin. “Now we’ll know how the Pogglywogs do it, for we must do like them if we want to grow any taller.”

Then Mumpkin gave the boy a pinch to make sure that he was attending and asked in a voice that sounded like distant thunder:--

“How do they eat them?”

“With salt,” answered the boy faintly.

“He says, ‘With salt,’” repeated Mumpkin. “What’s salt? I never saw any. You boy, where do they find salt?”

“In the sea and in the land,” answered the boy.

“‘In the sea and in the land,’” repeated Mumpkin. “There’s one thing sure, we must have some salt, whatever it may be. Humpkin, if you will take the boy to the dungeon, I’ll go out and look the land through for some salt.”

So poor Hansel was taken to the dungeon and left there. Giants are usually dull, and although these monsters wanted him to grow fat, it never entered their stupid heads that they must give him anything to eat. They shut the door, locked and bolted it, and went away, thinking what a dainty morsel would be ready for them when Mumpkin came back with the salt.

“It won’t take him long to find it,” said Humpkin. “That third eye of his can see all there is to see.”

“I wonder where he will go,” said Lumpkin.

“Oh, not farther than the foot of the hill,” declared Humpkin. “There isn’t much land beyond.”

While they were talking, Mumpkin was plunging down the hill. He kicked the great stones from his path as if they were only so many pebbles, and he tore up the bushes and little trees along his way. It was night, of course, but that made no difference, for, as any three-eyed person knows, one who has three eyes can see as well in the night as in the daytime. When he came to the foot of the hill, he looked around at the different roads. He did not know anything about salt and thought it was as likely to grow on trees as anywhere else, so he started to go through the forest. With two eyes he looked at the trees on either side of the way and with the third, the one on the top of his head, he kept close watch of the moon. “I heard once that the moon was made of green cheese,” he said to himself, “and maybe salt is a kind of cheese.”

Now Mumpkin was not at all used to thinking, and he was so tired by this effort that he had to sit down to rest. He fell asleep and slept a long while. He was awakened by a loud “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” directly in front of him. The giant rubbed his three eyes and looked around. A big handsome cock was strutting up and down in the path, looking at the monster as if he were a new kind of worm that might or might not be good to eat.

“Get out of the road!” roared the giant.

“With pleasure,” replied the cock. It gave a little flutter with its wings and in a moment it was resting comfortably on the giant’s left shoulder.

“Yah! Get off!” the giant growled.

“Certainly,” the cock replied, “but if you knew how much I know, you would be glad to have me whisper in your ear.”

“I’ll wring your neck,” roared the giant, and put up his hand to catch the cock; but in a twinkling the bird was on the limb of a tree higher than even a giant could well reach.

“Are you going farther down this road?” the cock asked.

“Yes, I am,” said the giant. “I am going to find salt; but it’s no business of yours.”

“May I give you a bit of advice?” asked the cock politely.

“Keep your advice to yourself,” the giant growled.

“But I have to give it,” said the cock. “That is what I am put here for. It is this: Do not go down this road any farther. There is no salt here, and if you go, something will surely happen to you.”

“Something might happen to you, you stupid little bunch of bill and feathers,” shouted the giant angrily, “but things don’t happen to folk as big as I am, I’ll have you know.” And he started off down the road faster than he had ever walked before in all his life.

For a long while nothing happened except that the trees grew taller and taller; but suddenly the giant heard a growling which sounded louder than any growling that he had ever heard before, and in a moment a dreadful creature came out of the woods. It was a thousand times as big as the giant. Its enormous tail switched from side to side. It walked on four legs, and when it stretched one of them out, the giant saw that it was armed with sharp claws almost as long as his whole body. The creature was covered with a thick growth of yellow-and-black hair which stood on end at the sight of the strange object in the road. It glared at him with horrible great yellow eyes, and then put out one big paw to touch him and rolled him over and over in the dust. Never was a giant so terribly frightened before. The monster tumbled him about and played with him awhile, then gave a great yawn which revealed a vast cavern of a mouth as red as a fiery furnace, and walked away.

The giant lay trembling, but after a time he shook himself and turned toward home. “Salt or no salt, I’ll go no farther,” he declared. “I’ll go home, and I’ll run faster than any giant ever ran before.”

He ran as fast as he could, but somehow he did not get over the ground at all rapidly. It seemed a long way from one tree to another. He was tired and he was thirsty. He stopped at a clear, quiet little pool to get a drink. A beetle sat in the bottom of the pool, looking straight at him. “I never saw a beetle like that in the water before,” growled the giant, and he made an ugly face at it. The beetle did the same, but made no reply. The giant drank what he wanted and went on. It was a long, long way. The sun rose and the sun set many and many a time, but at last the giant was at the gate of the castle.

“Let me in,” he cried. “I tell you, let me in.” He pounded on the gate with all his might, and at last he heard his brothers coming. “I’ll kill them,” he growled, “for keeping me out here,” and he thumped louder than ever. At last Lumpkin opened the gate.

“It is strange, isn’t it,” he said, “that Mumpkin does not come. I suppose he’s found something good to eat, another boy, maybe, and he means to keep it all for himself. I don’t care whether he comes or not, but I want that salt. Ugh! what a horrid beetle that is,” and he crushed it with his foot. This was the end of Mumpkin. The forest was no ordinary forest, of course, but an enchanted wilderness; and whoever went too far in it turned into some wild creature. The giant had not found it out, but he had really been a beetle for a long, long time, and the monster that had given him such a fright was only a playful cat.

The brothers shut the gate and went into the castle again. They were tired of waiting for a mouthful of roasted boy, but they were always afraid that the other race of giants, the Pogglywogs, would become larger than they; and now that they had heard that the Pogglywogs ate salt with their boys, they did not want to taste this one without it.

“I won’t wait any longer,” declared Lumpkin. “I’m going to find some salt, and what’s more, I won’t be so long about it as that stupid lubber.” So the second giant set out to search for salt. When he came to the foot of the mountain, he looked at the three roads and concluded to go on the one that went still farther down. The rolling stones gave him considerable trouble, and more than once he had rather a hard fall because of them. He was half-stunned by the last tumble, and he lay on the ground a minute or two before he tried to get up. When he rose again and looked around him, there stood a cock quietly watching him.

“May I ask,” said the cock politely, “if you intend to go much farther on this road?”

“What’s that to you?” growled Lumpkin, rubbing his bruised elbow and grating his teeth horribly. “I’ll eat you, I will. I always eat cocks.”

“May I give you a bit of advice?” asked the cock.

“No,” the giant thundered. “I can make advice for myself. Get out.”

“But I have to give it,” said the cock quietly. “That is what I am put here for. This is it: Do not go down this road any farther. There is no salt here, and if you go, something will surely happen to you.”

“Something will happen to _you_!” shouted the giant, and with all three mouths at once he tried to bite the cock’s head off. The cock flew up on the limb of a great tree, far above the head of the giant, and sat there watching as the giant strode off down the hill.

It was not long before he came to a lake. Now the giant had never seen water in that form before. This looked smooth and easy to walk on, so he set out to walk on it instead of on the road. Even near the shore the water was deep, and in a little less than no time the giant was down on his knees in the lake, spluttering and storming and snarling and growling and grating his teeth together as if he meant to eat even the rocks and the sand.

“There are better ways of getting over the water than trying to walk on it,” said a voice pleasantly.

The giant staggered to his feet and looked around.

“Eh?” said he.

“There are better ways of getting over the water than trying to walk on it,” the voice repeated; and now the giant saw that it proceeded from a boat that was coming nearer and nearer. In the boat was a yellow-and-black cat, who bowed politely and sat waiting for him to speak.

“What’s that thing you’re in?” demanded the giant.

“This is a boat,” the cat replied. “With it one can easily go on the water.”

“Get out, I want it,” the giant growled.

The cat’s yellow eyes began to look fiery, but she asked very quietly:--

“Are you sure that you can manage it?”

“Of course I can; I am a hundred times as big as you.”

“But I have a collar around my neck, and you have none.”

“I’ll have one, too,” the giant cried. “Where’s the stuff you make it of?”