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“No, no; it would grow spongy there,” said he.

“Well, what will you do with it?”

“I will leave it a month longer where it is, and then I will give it to the Queen of the Kangaroos, and she will carry it in her pouch for me. It is best to change its place, you know, lest my enemies should scent it out. But, dear Doodlem, it’s a fretting care to have a heart of one’s own to look after. The responsibility is too much for me. If it were not for a bite of a radish now and then, I never could bear it.”

Here the giant looked lovingly towards the row of little boys by the fire, all of whom were nodding, or asleep on the floor.

“Why don’t you trust it to me, dear Thunderthump?” said his wife. “I would take the best possible care of it.”

“I don’t doubt it, my love. But the responsibility would be too much for you. You would no longer be my darling, light-hearted, airy, laughing Doodlem. It would transform you into a heavy, oppressed woman, weary of life–as I am.”

The giant closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep. His wife got his stockings, and went on with her darning. Soon the giant’s pretence became reality, and the giantess began to nod over her work.

“Now, Buffy,” whispered Tricksey-Wee, “now’s our time. I think it’s moonlight, and we had better be off. There’s a door with a hole for the cat just behind us.”

“All right,” said Bob; “I’m ready.”

So they got out of the broom-brake and crept to the door. But to their great disappointment, when they got through it, they found themselves in a sort of shed. It was full of tubs and things, and, though it was built of wood only, they could not find a crack.

“Let us try this hole,” said Tricksey; for the giant and giantess were sleeping behind them, and they dared not go back.

“All right,” said Bob.

He seldom said anything else than All right.

Now this hole was in a mound that came in through the wall of the shed, and went along the floor for some distance. They crawled into it, and found it very dark. But groping their way along, they soon came to a small crack, through which they saw grass, pale in the moonshine. As they crept on, they found the hole began to get wider and lead upwards.

“What is that noise of rushing?” said Buffy-Bob.

“I can’t tell,” replied Tricksey; “for, you see, I don’t know what we are in.”

The fact was, they were creeping along a channel in the heart of a giant tree; and the noise they heard was the noise of the sap rushing along in its wooden pipes. When they laid their ears to the wall, they heard it gurgling along with a pleasant noise.

“It sounds kind and good,” said Tricksey. “It is water running. Now it must be running from somewhere to somewhere. I think we had better go on, and we shall come somewhere.”

It was now rather difficult to go on, for they had to climb as if they were climbing a hill; and now the passage was wide. Nearly worn out, they saw light overhead at last, and creeping through a crack into the open air, found themselves on the fork of a huge tree. A great, broad, uneven space lay around them, out of which spread boughs in every direction, the smallest of them as big as the biggest tree in the country of common people. Overhead were leaves enough to supply all the trees they had ever seen. Not much moonlight could come through, but the leaves would glimmer white in the wind at times. The tree was full of giant birds. Every now and then, one would sweep through, with a great noise. But, except an occasional chirp, sounding like a shrill pipe in a great organ, they made no noise. All at once an owl began to hoot. He thought he was singing. As soon as he began, other birds replied, making rare game of him. To their astonishment, the children found they could understand every word they sang. And what they sang was something like this:–