“Come back, come back!” On and on ran the children, and every now and then a slice of pudding struck them on the back as they ran.
Down the long garden, through winding paths, over hedges the children fled from the funny pudding and the kingdom of the greedy.
At last they reached a gate and when they were outside the very first person they met was the little old woman with the white cap and blue apron. “What!” she exclaimed, “you are not running away from all the good things in the castle, are you?”
“Yes, we are,” cried Ray, “we want to go home.”
“But think of all the pies and tarts and puddings in there!” cried the little woman.
“I would rather have my nice bread and milk than all the tarts in the world,” said Dorothy.
“But you said you could live on sweets and eat pudding all day long,” said the old woman.
“We didn’t mean it,” replied Ray. “We don’t want any more pudding and we do want to get away from the kingdom of the greedy and this terrible giant.”
“Well, well!” said the old woman; “I don’t blame you for that; he is certainly a very ugly giant, and little boys and girls ought not to belong to his kingdom.”
“Never,” said Ray.