“Nothing daunted, however, Hans, speaking in a low tone of voice, informed his friends of all that he had planned in his head, and, knowing how valuable is example upon all such occasions, he told them that he would himself approach the enemy in the first instance, so that if he should suddenly awake, none other save the leader of the attack need of necessity be lost. The gallant six all expressed their readiness to go too, but Hans told them that they must in every respect obey his orders if he was to continue their leader, and upon this they yielded the point, and graciously consented to remain in comparative safety, whilst the valiant tailor advanced upon the foe. This he did very cautiously, and walked twice all round the sleeping giant in order to be quite sure that he was really fast asleep. This was indeed the case, as he speedily assured himself: there was no pretence about the matter; the deep, regular breathing of the sleeper, his closed eyes, and the air of repose visible in every feature, told their own tale, and Hans felt that no moment could be more propitious for his design. Accordingly, he climbed up into the branches of a neighbouring tree, and choosing one of them, which appeared from its position and size to be suitable to his purpose, swung himself lightly down, and alighted upon the giant’s chin, close to his mouth, to reconnoitre which was his first object and intention. “He had a stick in his hand, and in entering the mouth, which was to him like some enormous cave, unfortunately touched with it some tender place in the skin, {163}which caused the monster to be seized with a violent desire to sneeze, which he accordingly did with an effect hardly anticipated by the luckless Hans, who, stick and all (the latter being broken in several’ pieces), was sent up many feet in the air, and fell, more nearly frightened than he had ever been before in his life, upon the enormous breast of the creature who had thus treated him. [Illustration: 180] “Most fortunately for the little fellow, giants sleep longer and more soundly than any other created beings, and it was not one sneeze that could cause old Bramble-buffer to awake from an after-dinner nap. The fall of Hans upon his breast was to him no more than would have been the dropping of a nut from an overhanging tree, {164}and with a kind of half-grunt, half-snore, he almost immediately became again completely unconscious, and, with his mouth wide open, returned to the land of dreams and snored audibly.