Hansel had the stones
in his pocket. Then they all set out together on the way to the forest.
After they had walked for a little, Hansel stood still and looked back
at the house, and this maneuver he repeated again and again. His father
observed him, and said: "Hansel, what are you gazing at there, and why
do you always remain behind? Take care, and don't lose your footing."
"Oh! father," said Hansel, "I am looking back at my white kitten, which
is sitting on the roof, waving me a farewell." The woman exclaimed:
"What a donkey you are! that isn't your kitten, that's the morning sun
shining on the chimney." But Hansel had not looked back at his kitten,
but had always dropped one of the white pebbles out of his pocket on to
the path.

When they had reached the middle of the forest the father said: "Now,
children, go and fetch a lot of wood, and I'll light a fire that you
may not feel cold." Hansel and Grettel heaped up brushwood till they had
made a pile nearly the size of a small hill. The brushwood was set fire
to, and when the flames leaped high the woman said: "Now lie down at the
fire, children, and rest yourselves: we are going into the forest to cut
down wood; when we've finished we'll come back and fetch you." Hansel
and Grettel sat down beside the fire, and at midday ate their little
bits of bread. They heard the strokes of the axe, so they thought their
father was quite near. But it was no axe they heard, but a bough he had
tied on a dead tree, and that was blown about by the wind. And when they
had sat for a long time their eyes closed with fatigue, and they fell
fast asleep. When they awoke at last it was pitch dark. Grettel began
to cry, and said: "How are we ever to get out of the wood?" But Hansel
comforted her. "Wait a bit," he said, "till the moon is up, and then
we'll find our way sure enough." And when the full moon had risen he
took his sister by the hand and followed the pebbles, which shone like
new threepenny bits, and showed them the path. They walked on through
the night, and at daybreak reached their father's house again. They
knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it she exclaimed: "You
naughty children, what a time you've slept in the wood! we thought
you were never going to come back." But the father rejoiced, for
his conscience had reproached him for leaving his children behind by
themselves.

Not long afterward there was again great dearth in the land, and the
children heard their