“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?” “There’s some stuff you might use on the ground on the farther side of that big rock,” said the cat. “See that you make it thick enough.” The giant picked up a great mass of the stuff. It was lead and it was exceedingly heavy, but he bent it and squeezed it and pulled it and punched it and jammed it and pounded it until he had made a collar big enough to go over his head with only the least bit of crowding. It would have taken at least ten common men to lift it, but the giant put it on without any trouble. “Bring that boat to me,” he called in a voice that would have frightened most cats out of a year’s growth; but this one only looked at him and slowly rowed the boat up to the shore. Then she sprang out lightly and curled herself up on a warm rock. The giant stepped on the gunwale of the boat with one of his enormous feet. Then he lifted the other foot, and, of course, the boat tipped over just as any other boat would have done, and in a moment the giant lay on the bottom of the lake. His head with the leaden collar was down and his heels were up; and up they stayed, for this was the end of the three-mouthed giant Lumpkin. “Folk that never use their heads ought not to mind losing them,” said the cat, as she yawned comfortably and stretched herself out to take a nap. Meanwhile, several events had taken place in the castle of the three giants. Humpkin had more than once gone to the top of the tower and listened first with one ear, then with another, and then with all three; but not a sound could he hear of either Mumpkin or Lumpkin. “I rather think they are killed,” he said, “and I’m glad of it, for now I’ll eat that boy all by myself. I don’t care anything about salt, whatever it may be, and I’ll go straight to the dungeon and get him.” Now several events had been happening in the dungeon also. At first it was a very white-faced and badly frightened boy who lay there on the damp floor; but as hour after hour passed and no one came to harm him, he began to recover from his fright a little and to look about him to see if there was any way of making his escape. The walls were of stone, the window was far above his head, and the door was evidently locked and bolted. What could he do? While he sat pondering, he thought he heard a sound on the other side of the wall as if some one was speaking. He could see a tiny crack in the wall, so he lay down on the floor and put his ear to the crack. Then he heard a voice that asked:-- “Who are you?” “I’m a boy, and my name is Hansel. I came out to seek my fortune. The cock and the cat and the bees wouldn’t let me go on the other roads, and so I came here, and the giants caught me. They say they mean to eat me. Who are you?” “I am a magician,” the voice replied.