“No one could live inside a rock,” said Lisbeth, creeping closer and standing on a stone that she, too, might sniff at the curling smoke. Lisbeth became curious when she discovered it was the smoke from a pipe. “You could boost me, Hans,” she said, “and I could peep in and see if some one is inside.” Hans told her he did not think it was nice[Pg 93] to peek, but Lisbeth told him it was very different from peeking into a house, and so Hans boosted her, for he was just as curious as his sister. [Pg 93] Lisbeth grasped the edge of the opening in the big rock with both her little hands, when, to the surprise of both children, it crumbled and Lisbeth lost her balance. Over went both of them on the soft moss, and when they sat up Lisbeth held something in both her little hands. “It’s cake!” she said, with wide open eyes. “No; it is gingerbread!” she corrected, as she tasted it. And, sure enough, it was gingerbread; the rock, instead of being stone, was all gingerbread. Hans and Lisbeth forgot the smoke and their curiosity in the joy of their discovery, and soon both of them were eating as fast as they could big pieces of the Gingerbread Rock. Hans and Lisbeth were not greedy children. So when they had satisfied their hunger they ran off home without taking even a piece of the gingerbread with them to eat the next day. They were soon in bed and asleep, and if each had not told to the other the same story[Pg 94] the next morning they would have been sure they had dreamed it all. [Pg 94] The next night they were hungry, as usual, and when the moon was well up in the sky out they crept again and ran into the woods. But this time there was no curling smoke to guide them, and they tried several rocks before they found the gingerbread. For, strange to say, the place they had broken away did not show at all and there were so many rocks the children could not find it. But at last Hans cried out with joy, “Here it is, Lisbeth!” and held up a big piece of gingerbread he had broken off. Lisbeth, in her hurry to get a piece, broke off much more than she intended,
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