Here it was dark, but far away was shining a great, hot fire on the hearth. Little Tom did not know what this meant. He went through the darkness towards the red light, wading through the dust until he came to the hearth, where, in the mortar, he discovered a little hole. Not minding how the rough mortar cut his hands, he crawled up the broad fireplace under the chimney and stood astonished.
Before him was a black plain covered with soot and in the middle was a tripod holding a huge pot, from under which flames darted forth. The fire itself crackled and hissed; sparks were flying through the darkness as big as Tom's head, while clouds of steam rose to the chimney. From under the cover of the pot, came a great noise of sputtering and bubbling, like the quarreling of many angry voices.
Tom felt attracted by the fierce light. He could not turn his eyes away from it and great fear pressed upon his heart. After all, he could not escape the wicked spirits and he would be punished for having deceived his Godmother. Perhaps a devil would come to catch him. Soon, he thought the devil actually did appear. A terrible being, twice as big as himself, all in shining armor and with great whiskers, came quickly from out of the darkness and stood directly in front of him, looking at him, till his heart grew faint. Tom thought he was lost, but determined to defend himself with all his might.
Drawing his cutlass, he waited. The cockroach raised his feelers and ran towards him. Little Tom stood firm and when the cockroach drew near, he thrust his sharp cutlass under his chin up to the very hilt. The cockroach fell dead on Little Tom, throwing him down by his weight.
When the Godmother returned for lunch, she looked for Tom in the room in vain. Calling him, she hunted in all of the corners, through the wood by the hearth, and even in the clock, but all to no purpose. Tom was nowhere to be seen.
Very sadly, she went back into the black kitchen for the potatoes and spied a cockroach by the oven. She was about to sweep it across the floor, when something sparkled under it. It was Little Tom's golden cap. She placed the poor little fellow in her palm and carried him tenderly into the great room, calling him by his name until he wakened; but even then he did not recognize her. He had a fever and would only say, »Go away from me, you ugly devil«. He kept waving his hands and reaching for his sword screaming as if defending himself.
It was some time before he came to himself and recognized his Godmother, so that he could tell her what he had experienced. She thought that he was still in fever and did not know what he was saying. She forgot what she had been telling him about Paradise and the place of the wicked spirits. Only when he had quite recovered and could walk about in his garden by Castle Easter Egg did she learn what had happened to him.
She then realized that she could not keep Little Tom at home all the time and that the room could not satisfy his brave, curious little soul. So she decided that she would take him out and show the world to him, in order that he might have pleasure under the great sky and gain some experience of life.
