On the morrow, Snickchoo built a mold from a hollowed rivercane reed, for extruding strings of licorice (like stiff black shoestrings) from a liquid paste extract of sweetroot or licorice root. The mold was measured to the length of the golden cord. And the cord was the equivalent of the Miser's standard length.

Patiently Snickchoo forced the paste into one end of the mold until a reed's length of formed licorice lace squeezed from the other end. He wrapped the round of it, exactly the extension of one length, with a white sugar ring (so characteristic of Hollow laces), taking care not to cut or otherwise sever this length from the paste remaining in the mold.

Then, feeding paste into the other end of the mold, he extruded another unit length of licorice lace. He marked it with a white sugar ring, and the two links of lace were folded over the first sugar ring. This continued until he had achieved the characteristic "four fingers" pattern uniquely (in all the world) characterizing Hollow-brand licorice lace.

And, as he worked, Snickchoo sang the traditional Hollow licorice-lace-making song:

                                 "Licorice laces,
                                 Lissomly long,
                                 Ringed with white sugar,
                                 I hymn you with song!
                                 Licorice laces,
                                 Each succulent thong:
                                 Bunched fingers to lick
                                 With my proffered red tongue."

To visualize the licorice lace pattern, hold out four fingers of your left hand, treating them as equal in length. Imagine wrapping a licorice string (like a stiff black shoestring) from the base of your outside finger on the left, running it up to the tip of your finger, following the finger's slope down the other side, turning at the base of finger to follow the outline of the next finger. And so on, until the string reaches the base of the outside fourth finger.

Next, imagine your thumb (equal to a finger's length) is the extruding end of licorice reed-mold and the string at the base on the outside of the fourth finger passes into the tube (represented by your thumb), still connecting to the paste within this mold.

With his first "four fingers" of licorice laces protruding from the mold, Snickoo paused to survey his creation with satisfaction. Just three more steps would complete a bundle of Hollow-brand licorice laces.

Quickly, Snickchoo gathered the folds at this sugar ring (represented by the tops of your fingers, or the curl of skin between your fingers) like four points of a circle (at one end, four points also at the other end), gathering together also the strings extruding down from the rings.

Then, taking a pastry brush, Snickchoo dipped its strands into a black sugary liquid in a bowl beside him. He spread a sweet glaze over the tightly bunched "fingers", fusing them together. When they were sealed together (like a looped bundle of black shoelaces, but each link longer than in a fold of shoelaces), Snickchoo extruded just a little more threading from the reed-mold -- but such that the licorice leading toward the tube tapered off into smaller and smaller threading, until it snapped like a faint spider webbing.

Gently blowing, Snickchoo snapped off the tiny webbing from the tube.

Now, scarcely daring to breathe, Snickchoo began the last and most delicate of the operations for creating Hollow-brand licorice laces.

Curving the tapered end round with a pastry knife, he carefully spliced it to the end of the licorice threading that extruding first from the tubing. The splicing was achieved by deft alternations of gentle puffs of breath and light kisses by knife blade.

Thus Snickchoo joined the two ends in a miracle of looping that erased all traces of joining.

Inspired, Snickchoo burst into song:

                                   "Licorice laces,
                                   Looped in the round,
                                   Glazed with sweet sugar,
                                   No joint to be found.
                                   Licorice laces,
                                   Each succulent thong:
                                   Bunched fingers to lick
                                   With my proffered red tongue!"

Carefully Snickchoo checked the length of the bundle against the stretch of the golden cord. Just right!

Although certain that eight of these would match the Miser's standard, he was so inspired by his craft that he made a basketful of licorice laces and hid it away for the coming trial.

(Ready for Chapter 6?)