The goblin leader is displeased and demands to know what the children want. When they ask about the Seeing Glass, he explains that a great beast took it from the goblins long ago and that none has ever lived to retrieve it. Jack and Jill will likely die, too, and Jack tells Jill, “You know that deal we made with the old lady? […] I don’t think it was a good one” (207).

The goblins take Jack and Jill to the entrance to the creature’s underground lair and lower them deep into the ground. The children can hear the goblins discussing how they will take the glass and kill them when they return. Once at the bottom of the drop, the children make their way to the monster’s lair, the heat and smell of the tunnels growing more and more oppressive until they can barely stand it.

This chapter is named for the great beast that the children find deep in the caves. Jack and Jill run, but the frog understands the monster because it’s a huge salamander who speaks the amphibian language.