he end of their lives.(1)

(1) Arabian Nights.

HANSEL AND GRETTEL

Once upon a time there dwelt on the outskirts of a large forest a poor
woodcutter with his wife and two children; the boy was called Hansel and
the girl Grettel. He had always little enough to live on, and once, when
there was a great famine in the land, he couldn't even provide them with
daily bread. One night, as he was tossing about in bed, full of cares
and worry, he sighed and said to his wife: "What's to become of us? how
are we to support our poor children, now that we have nothing more for
ourselves?" "I'll tell you what, husband," answered the woman; "early
to-morrow morning we'll take the children out into the thickest part
of the wood; there we shall light a fire for them and give them each a
piece of bread; then we'll go on to our work and leave them alone. They
won't be able to find their way home, and we shall thus be rid of them."
"No, wife," said her husband, "that I won't do; how could I find it in
my heart to leave my children alone in the wood? The wild beasts would
soon come and tear them to pieces." "Oh! you fool," said she, "then we
must all four die of hunger, and you may just as well go and plane the
boards for our coffins"; and she left him no peace till he consented.
"But I can't help feeling sorry for the poor children," added the
husband.

The children, too, had not been able to sleep for hunger, and had heard
what their step-mother had said to their father. Grettel wept bitterly
and spoke to Hansel: "Now it's all up with us." "No, no, Grettel," said
Hansel, "don't fret yourself; I'll be able to find a way to escape, no
fear." And when the old people had fallen asleep he got up, slipped
on his little coat, opened the back door and stole out. The moon was
shining clearly, and the white pebbles which lay in front of the house
glittered like bits of silver. Hansel bent down and filled his pocket
with as many of them as he could cram in. Then he went back and said to
Grettel: "Be comforted, my dear little sister, and go to sleep: God will
not desert us"; and he lay down in bed again.

At daybreak, even before the sun was up, the woman came and woke the two
children: "Get up, you lie-abeds, we're all going to the forest to fetch
wood." She gave them each a bit of bread and said: "There's something
for your luncheon, but don't you eat it up before, for it's all you'll
get." Grettel took the bread under her apron, as