They go to sleep in the woods. The cockerel crows, claiming to see dawn, and Jack realises that it's a candle in a house. They spy a look inside, and discover it to be a robbers' den. With the donkey placing its fore-hoofs on the window-sill, the animals stack one on top of another and make noise, then, at Jack's deceptive call to raise the pistols and fire, the beasts smash all the window panes, frightening the robbers into bolting the house and riding far out into the woods. Jack and the animals enter the house, enjoy a meal, and go to sleep. After a while, the captain of the robbers sorely misses the loot he left behind. So he sneaks back inside the house in the dark, only to receive scratches from the cat, a bite from the dog, pecking from the cockerel, and finally a great kick from the donkey at the stable outside. The captain (who could see nothing in the dark) weaves a fancifully horrid account of what happened, adding that not all the plaster in Enniscorthy would heal the cuts and wounds he received, and the other robbers lose all craving of trying to retrieve their loot.