When they reached the house the old woman said, “I’ll tell you what, first let me give the children a good supper, that they may be all the fatter; and meanwhile do you run about till evening to get up a better appetite.”
So Petz went away and ran about in the woods all the rest of the day, and at evening he came back to the hut.
“Here I am, little mother!” he cried; “now bring out Janko and Mirko, and see me polish them off. I am starving to death!”
“Oho!” answered the little old woman from within, “Janko has made the door fast with bolts, and I have just put Mirko to sleep. I couldn’t think of waking him. And little mother is so old and weak that she can’t unbolt the door alone. Come some other day.”
Then Master Petz perceived that he had been fooled, and he walked reluctantly away, with drooping snout and an empty stomach.
“I’m glad he didn’t get Janko and Mirko,” said the little boy.