Ogre. Because it was good.
Sanja. You couldn’t eat me for that reason. Tee-hee-hee!
Ogre. No, I shall not eat you. You shall come home with me and be my cook. As long as you cook your dumplings for me I will not harm you. [Sanja goes with the ogre.]
Scene II—Ogre’s Kitchen
Ogre. You are a good cook; but you use more rice than you need. You should put but one grain into the pot.
Sanja. One grain? Tee-hee-hee. How could any one live on one grain of rice?
Ogre. I will show you. Put one grain of rice into the pot. Then take this paddle in your hand. If you want rice for ten persons, stir ten times, in this way. [Stirs paddle about in the water.] See the grain of rice burst into ten pieces. If you want rice for one hundred persons, stir one hundred times. The grain of rice will burst into one hundred pieces.
Sanja. Tee-hee-hee! Tee-hee-hee!
Ogre. This is a magic paddle.
Sanja. Tee-hee-hee! Tee-hee-hee!