ves. And again there was a large fire made, and
the mother said,

"Sit still there, you children, and when you are tired you can go to
sleep; we are going into the forest to cut wood, and in the evening,
when we are ready to go home we will come and fetch you."

So when noon came Grethel shared her bread with Hansel, who had strewed
his along the road. Then they went to sleep, and the evening passed, and
no one came for the poor children. When they awoke it was dark night,
and Hansel comforted his little sister, and said,

"Wait a little, Grethel, until the moon gets up, then we shall be able
to see the way home by the crumbs of bread that I have scattered along
it."

So when the moon rose they got up, but they could find no crumbs of
bread, for the birds of the woods and of the fields had come and picked
them up. Hansel thought they might find the way all the same, but they
could not. They went on all that night, and the next day from the
morning until the evening, but they could not find the way out of the
wood, and they were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but the
few berries they could pick up. And when they were so tired that they
could no longer drag themselves along, they lay down under a tree and
fell asleep.

It was now the third morning since they had left their father's house.
They were always trying to get back to it, but instead of that they only
found themselves farther in the wood, and if help had not soon come they
would have been starved. About noon they saw a pretty snow-white bird
sitting on a bough, and singing so sweetly that they stopped to listen.
And when he had finished the bird spread his wings and flew before them,
and they followed after him until they came to a little house, and the
bird perched on the roof, and when they came nearer they saw that the
house was built of bread, and roofed with cakes; and the window was of
transparent sugar.

"We will have some of this," said Hansel, "and make a fine meal. I will
eat a piece of the roof, Grethel, and you can have some of the
window--that will taste sweet."

So Hansel reached up and broke off a bit of the roof, just to see how it
tasted, and Grethel stood by the window and gnawed at it. Then they
heard a thin voice call out from inside,

"Nibble, nibble, like a mouse,
Who is nibbling at my house?"

And the children answered,

"Never mind,
It is the wind."

And they went on eating, never disturbing themse