the
crumbs of bread which I have scattered about; they will show us our way
home again."

When the moon came they set out, but they found no crumbs, for the many
thousands of birds which fly about in the woods and fields had picked
them all up.

Hansel said to Grethel, "We shall soon find the way."

But they did not find it. They walked the whole night and all the next
day, too, from morning till evening, but they did not get out of the
forest; they were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but two or
three berries which grew on the ground. And as they were so tired that
their legs would carry them no longer, they lay down under a tree and
fell asleep.

It was now three mornings since they had left their father's house. They
began to walk again, but they always got deeper into the forest, and if
help did not come soon, they must die of hunger and weariness. When it
was midday, they saw a beautiful snow-white bird sitting on a bough. It
sang so sweetly that they stood still and listened to it. And when
it had done, it spread its wings and flew away before them, and they
followed it until they reached a little house, on the roof of which it
perched; and when they came quite up to the little house, they saw it
was built of bread and covered with cakes, but that the windows were of
clear sugar.

"We will set to work on that," said Hansel, "and have a good meal.
I will eat a bit of the roof, and you, Grethel, can eat some of the
window, it will taste sweet."

Hansel reached up, and broke off a little of the roof to try how it
tasted, and Grethel leaned against the window and nibbled at the panes.

Then a soft voice cried from the room,--

"Nibble, nibble, gnaw,
Who is nibbling at my little house?"

The children answered:--

"The wind, the wind,
The wind from heaven";

and went on eating. Hansel, who thought the roof tasted very nice, tore
down a great piece of it; and Grethel pushed out the whole of one round
window-pane, sat down, and went to eating it.

All at once the door opened, and a very, very old woman, who leaned on
crutches, came creeping out. Hansel and Grethel were so scared that they
let fall what they had in their hands.

The old woman, however, nodded her head, and said, "Oh, you dear
children, who has brought you here? Do come in, and stay with me. No
harm shall happen to you."

She took them both by the hand, and led them into her little house. Then