Well, they hadn't gone far before they came to a fir-wood, and up along one side of it rose a steep hillside, and as they went, they heard something hewing and hacking away up on the hill among the trees.
"I wonder, now, what it is that is hewing away up yonder," said Jack.
"You're always so clever with your wonderings," said Peter and Paul both at once. "What wonder is it, pray, that a woodcutter should stand and hack up on a hillside?"
"Still, I'd like to see what it is, after all," said Jack; and up he went.
"Oh, if you're such a child, 'twill do you good to go and take a lesson," bawled out his brothers after him.
But Jack didn't care for what they said; he climbed the steep hillside towards where the noise came, and when he reached the place, what do you think he saw? Why, an axe that stood there hacking and hewing, all of itself, at the trunk of a fir.
"Good-day!" said Jack. "So you stand here all alone and hew, do you?"
"Yes; here I've stood and hewed and hacked a long, long time, waiting for you," said the Axe.
"Well, here I am at last," said Jack, as he took the axe, pulled it off its handle, and stuffed both head and handle into his wallet.
So when he got down again to his brothers, they began to jeer and laugh at him.
"And now, what funny thing was it you saw up yonder on the hillside?" they said.
"Oh, it was only an axe we heard," said Jack.
So when they had gone a bit farther, they came under a steep spur of rock, and up there they heard something digging and shoveling.
"I wonder now," said Jack, "what it is digging and shoveling up yonder at the top of the rock."
"Ah, you're always so clever with your wonderings," said Peter and Paul again; "as if you'd never heard a woodpecker hacking and pecking at a hollow tree."
"Well, well," said Jack, "I think it would be a piece of fun just to see what it really is."
And so off he set to climb the rock, while the others laughed and made game of him. But he didn't care a bit for that; up he climbed, and when he got near the top, what do you think he saw? Why, a spade that stood there digging and delving.
"Good-day!" said Jack. "So you stand here all alone, and dig and delve!"
"Yes, that's what I do," said the Spade, "and that's what I've done this many a long day, waiting for you."