up for it. She neglected her children, and in
consequence they died. "Light come, light go!" said folk, and
laughed. Now only the twins remained: there they lay in the big
wooden cradle, screaming day and night, with a crust of bread as a
comforter. The mother was never at home. Ditte looked after them, or
they would have perished.

A short distance away on the downs, was a little house, quite
different from the others. It was the most beautiful house the
little ones had ever seen: the door and the window-panes were
painted blue; the beams were not tarred as in the other huts, but
painted brown; the bricks were red with a blue stripe. The ground
round the house was neat: the sand was raked, and by the well it was
dry and clean. A big elder--the only tree in the whole hamlet--grew
beside the well. On the window-sill were plants, with red and blue
flowers, and behind them sat an old woman peeping out. She wore a
white cap, and the old man had snow-white hair. When the weather was
fine he was always pottering round the house. And occasionally the
old woman appeared at the door, admiring his handiwork. "How nice
you've made everything look, little father!" said she. "Ay, it's all
for you, little mother," he answered, and they laughed at each
other. Then he took hold of her hand, and they tripped towards the
elder tree and sat down in the shade; they were like a couple of
children, but she soon wanted to go back to her window, and it was
said that she had not gone beyond the well for many a year.

The old people kept to themselves, and did not mix with the other
inhabitants of the hamlet, but when Lars Peter's children passed,
the old woman always looked out and nodded and smiled. They made
some excuse to pass the house several times a day: there was
something in the pretty little place and the two old people which
attracted them. The same cleanness and order that ruled their house
was apparent in their lives; no-one in the hamlet had anything but
good to say of them.

Amongst themselves, the children called it Gingerbread House, and
imagined wonderful things inside it. One day, hand in hand, the
three went up and knocked on the door. The old man opened it. "What
do you want, children?" he asked kindly, but blocking the door. Yes,
what did they want--none of them knew. And there they stood
open-mouthed.

"Let them come inside, father," a voice said. "Come in then,
children." They entered a room that smelt of flowers a