The children's next visit took them to the crooked cottage of Ho-Ho the Wizard. Ho-Ho was not at all what Peter had been expecting. Peter had imagined a tall, terrifying figure in dark robes. Instead, Ho-Ho turned out to be a small, jolly old man with a silver beard, twinkling eyes, and a habit of offering biscuits to anyone who visited. His cottage, however, was full of magic. A great black cauldron bubbled on the fire. Candles flickered blue whenever he added a new ingredient to his brew. A broomstick swept the floor by itself, and a clock on the wall called out the time in a polite little voice. Ho-Ho was busy brewing a potion that would let him understand the language of any animal he met. Halfway through his work, the wizard noticed the wishing-chair on his lawn. His eyes began to sparkle. "Might I possibly borrow it, just for one afternoon?" he asked, most kindly. "I need to fetch a rare herb from the far side of the mountains, and no ordinary journey will get me there before sunset." Chinky was suspicious at first, but the wizard promised — three times over — to return the chair before nightfall. Peter and Mollie agreed, and Ho-Ho set off on the chair with a cheerful wave, leaving the three friends with a plate of star-shaped biscuits to keep them company while they waited.