“Right through that door you will find the kitchen,” said the old man. “Run along, if you like, and bake it.”
And such a kitchen as Hans and Lisbeth found, for Hans went along, you may be sure, to fix the fire for his sister!
The shelves and cupboards were filled with flour and butter and eggs and milk and cream and meat and pies, cookies, puddings, but no gingerbread.
“We will get breakfast first for the man,” said Lisbeth, “for I am sure he must be hungry and it is growing light. Look out the window.”
To Hans’s surprise there was a window. Then he saw a door, and when he looked out he found they were in a pretty white house with green blinds and not a rock, as he had supposed.
Hans and Lisbeth became so interested in cooking they quite forgot their own home or the unkind uncle who almost starved them, and when the breakfast was ready they put it on the table beside the old man.
“I thought you would like your breakfast,” explained Lisbeth, “and now we will make the gingerbread and repair your house.”
“After breakfast you may, if you like,” said the old man, “but first both of you must eat with me.”
My, how Hans and Lisbeth did eat, for while Lisbeth had cooked only ham and eggs enough for the old man’s breakfast, there seemed to be quite enough for them all.
And while they are eating we will see what the miser uncle was doing, for he had called the children at break of day and they were not to be found.