ot the
axe; it was a branch which he had fastened to a withered tree which
the wind was blowing backward and forward; and, as they had been
sitting such a long time, their eyes shut with fatigue and they
fell fast asleep. When at last they awoke it was already dark night.
Grethel began to cry and said, "How are we to get out of the forest
now?" But Haensel 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, Haensel 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 Haensel and Grethel, 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 afterward, there was once more great scarcity in all parts,
and the children heard their mother saying at night to their father,
"Everything is eaten again; we have one-half loaf left, and after that
there is an end. The children must go. We will take them farther into
the wood, so that they will not find their way out again; there is no
other means of saving ourselves!" The man's heart was heavy, and he
thought, "It would be better for thee to share the last mouthful with
thy children." The woman, however, would listen to nothing that he
had to say, but scolded and reproached him. He who says A must say
B likewise, and, as he had yielded the first time, he had to do so a
second time also.

The children were, however, still awake and had heard the
conversation. When the old folks were asleep, Haensel again got up,
and wanted to go out and pick up pebbles; but the woman had locked
the door, and Haensel could not get out. Nevertheless he comforted his
little sister, and said, "Do not cry, Grethel, go to sleep quietly.
The good God will help us."

Early in the morning came the woman, and took the children out of
their beds. Their bit of bread was given to them, but it was still
smaller than the time before. On the way into the forest Haensel
crumbled his in his pocket, and often stood still and threw a morsel
on the ground. "Haensel, why dost thou stop and look around?" asked
the fath