“Whee!” cried the children. “We can go ahead!”
The travelers had lost a lot of valuable time, so they hastened across the fields where the bog had been.
“You see!” said the Princess, “Johnny was right! The Old Woman’s magic was as contrary as herself, for when the molasses candy bog thought we did not care whether we crossed it or not, it disappeared.”
As the travelers walked along, they saw numbers of small animals running about.
“I wonder where these little animals were when the great molasses bog was here!” Janey said looking at them curiously.
“I’ll ask one of them,” said the Soft-Voiced Cow, and she talked to the strange little beast in animal talk.
When the little animal answered, the Soft-Voiced Cow rolled over on the ground with laughter and when at last she could speak she said, “I asked the animal where it was when the bog was here, and it said there never had been a bog here. Said it had lived here for years and the ground had always been as it is now, except after a hard rain, so you see the Old Woman only made us believe we saw a bog here, when in reality there was none at all.”
“It’s queer,” exclaimed Gran’pa, “but I certainly tasted molasses candy on my cane! In fact,” he said, looking at the cane, “there is still some on it now!”
“Let me taste it!” Gran’ma cried. “Yes,” she said, “it is molasses candy!”