t together
on the way to the forest. When they had walked a short time, Hansel
stood still and peeped back at the house, and did so again and again.
His father said: 'Hansel, what are you looking at there and staying
behind for? Pay attention, and do not forget how to use your legs.' 'Ah,
father,' said Hansel, 'I am looking at my little white cat, which is
sitting up on the roof, and wants to say goodbye to me.' The wife said:
'Fool, that is not your little cat, that is the morning sun which is
shining on the chimneys.' Hansel, however, had not been looking back at
the cat, but had been constantly throwing one of the white pebble-stones
out of his pocket on the road.

When they had reached the middle of the forest, the father said: 'Now,
children, pile up some wood, and I will light a fire that you may not
be cold.' Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood together, as high as a
little hill. The brushwood was lighted, and when the flames were burning
very high, the woman said: 'Now, children, lay yourselves down by the
fire and rest, we will go into the forest and cut some wood. When we
have done, we will come back and fetch you away.'

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when noon came, each ate a little
piece of bread, and as they heard the strokes of the wood-axe they
believed that their father was near. It was not the axe, however, but
a branch which he had fastened to a withered tree which the wind was
blowing backwards and forwards. And as they had been sitting such a long
time, their eyes closed with fatigue, and they fell fast asleep. When
at last they awoke, it was already dark night. Gretel began to cry and
said: 'How are we to get out of the forest now?' But Hansel comforted
her and said: 'Just wait a little, until the moon has risen, and then we
will soon find the way.' And when the full moon had risen, Hansel took
his little sister by the hand, and followed the pebbles which shone like
newly-coined silver pieces, and showed them the way.

They walked the whole night long, and by break of day came once more
to their father's house. They knocked at the door, and when the woman
opened it and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel, she said: 'You naughty
children, why have you slept so long in the forest?--we thought you were
never coming back at all!' The father, however, rejoiced, for it had cut
him to the heart to leave them behind alone.

Not long afterwards, there was once more great dearth throughout the
la