en he finds that they are out in the
wood alone, he terrifies his wife with the story of the witch of
Schornstein, who is given to eating little children, and they both hurry
off to bring Haensel and Gretel home. Meanwhile, out in the forest the
children amuse themselves with picking strawberries and making flower
garlands, until the approach of night, when they find to their horror
that they have lost their way. They search for it in vain, and at last,
completely tired out, they sink down upon the moss beneath a spreading
tree. The Dustman--the German sleep-fairy--appears and throws dust in
their weary eyes. Together they sing their little evening hymn, and drop
off to sleep locked in each other's arms. Then the heavens open, and
down a shining staircase come the bright forms of angels, who group
themselves round the sleeping children, and watch over their innocent
slumbers until the break of day. Haensel and Gretel are aroused by the
Dew-fairy, who sprinkles his magic branch over them and drives the sleep
from their eyes. They tell each other of the wonderful dream which came
to both of them, and then, looking round for the first time, discover a
beautiful gingerbread house, close to where they were sleeping. This is
where the witch of the forest lives, who bakes little children into
gingerbread in her great oven, and eats them up. She catches Haensel and
Gretel, and nearly succeeds in her wicked schemes, but the children,
with great presence of mind, defeat her malice by pushing her into her
own oven. Then they free the other children who have been turned into
gingerbread through her magic spells, and the father and mother
opportunely appearing, all join in a hymn of thanksgiving for their
deliverance.

Humperdinck's music reproduces, with infinite art, the tender and
childlike charm of the delightful old fairy tale. His score is amazingly
elaborate, and his treatment of the guiding themes which compose it is
kaleidoscopic in its variety, yet the whole thing flows on as naturally
as a ballad. The voice-parts are always suave and melodious, and the
orchestral score, however complicated, never loses touch of consummate
musical beauty. Humperdinck's melody is founded upon the Volkslied, and
he uses at least one nursery tune with charming effect. The framework of
'Haensel und Gretel' is that bequeathed by Wagner, but the spirit which
animates and informs the work is so different from that of the Bayreuth
master, that the