en cut it down?" asked Paul.

"They can't," said Jack. "The tree is so hard that it blunts the edge
of every axe; and whenever one of its branches is cut off, two bigger
ones spring out in place of it. The King has offered three bags of
gold to anyone who will cut the tree down."

"How did you learn all this?" asked Peter.

"Oh, a little bird told me," said Jack. "You see, I can read and you
cannot. I am going to the King's palace to see if I can't earn those
bags of gold."

"Not till I try it," cried Paul; "for I am older than you."

"I should have the first trial," said Peter; "for I am older than
either of you. Come along, boys, let's all go down and take a look at
the big oak."

And so all three took the road that led to the King's palace.

_Their Adventures by the Way_

Peter and Paul went jogging along with their hands in their pockets.
They did not look either to the right or to the left.

But little Jack skipped this way and that, noticing everything by the
roadside. He watched the bees buzzing among the flowers, the
butterflies fluttering in the sunlight and the birds building their
nests in the trees.

He asked questions about everything. "What is this? Why is this? How
is this?"

But his brothers only growled and answered, "We don't know."

By-and-by they came to a mountain and a great forest of pine-trees.
Far up the side of the mountain they could hear the sound of an axe
and the noise of falling branches.

"I wonder who is chopping wood up there," said Jack. "Do you know,
Paul?"

"Of course I don't know," growled Paul. "Hold your tongue."

"Oh, he is always wondering," said Peter. "You would think he'd never
heard an axe before."

"Well, wonder or no wonder," said Jack, "I mean to go up and see who
is chopping wood."

"Go, then," said Paul. "You will tire yourself out and be left behind.
But it will be a good lesson to you."

Jack did not stop to listen to these words. For he was already
climbing up the mountain toward the place where the chopping was
heard.

When he came to the top, what do you think he saw?

He saw a bright steel axe working all alone and cutting down a big
pine-tree. No man was near it.

"Good-morning, Mr Axe," he said. "I think you must be tired chopping
at that old tree all by yourself."

"Ah, master," said the axe. "I have been waiting for you a long time."

"Well, here I am," said Jack; and he took the axe and put it into his
pocket.

Then he ran