But when they came to the King's chamber, where he sate surrounded by all manner of birds, tomtits, wrens, cormorants, turtle-doves, and the like, the King said he was sorry, but he had no news of the missing Castle. And though he summoned all the birds of all the world to a Grand Assembly next morning, not one of them had seen or heard tell of it.
So Jack was quite disconsolate till the King said, "But where is the eagle? I don't see my eagle."
Then the Chamberlain—he was a tomtit—stepped forward with a bow and said:
"May it please your Majesty he is late."
"Late?" says the King in a fume. "Summon him at once."
So two larks flew up into the sky till they couldn't be seen and sang ever so loud, till at last the eagle appeared all in a perspiration from having flown so fast.
Then the King said, "Sirrah! Have you seen a missing Castle that stands upon twelve pillars of gold?"
And the eagle blinked its eyes and said, "May it please your Majesty that is where I've been."
Then everybody rejoiced exceedingly, and when the eagle had eaten a whole calf so as to be strong enough for the journey, he spread his wide wings, on which Jack stood, with the mouse in one pocket and the frog in the other, and started to obey the King's order to take the owner back to his missing Castle as quickly as possible.
And they flew over land and they flew over sea, until at last in the far distance they saw the Castle standing on its twelve golden pillars. But all the doors and windows were fast shut and barred, for, see you, the servant-master who had run away with it had gone out for the day a-hunting, and he always bolted doors and windows while he was absent lest some one else should run away with it.