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.”