Ahe?

ILSE
I thought I had a dream.

PIPER
Again?

ILSE
. . . It was some lady, calling me.

HANSEL
Yes, and a fat man called us to come quick;
A fat man, he was crying--about me!
That same fat man I dreamt of, yesterday.

PIPER
Come, did you ever see a fat man cry,
About a little Boy?

[The Strollers are convulsed with hoarse mirth.

HANSEL
No,--Never.

ILSE
Never!
Oh, what a funny dream!

[They giggle together.]
[The PIPER silences the Strollers, with a gesture of warning
towards the rocky door.

PIPER
[to himself]
'T is Hans the Butcher.
[To the Children]
Well, what did he say?

HANSEL
'_Come home, come home, come home_!' But I didn't go.
I don't know where. . . Oh, what a funny dream!

ILSE
Mine was a bad dream!--Mine was a lovely lady
And she was by the river, staring in.

PIPER
You were the little gold-fish, none could catch.
Oh, what a funny dream! . . .
[Apart, anxiously]
No Michael yet.
[Aloud]
Come, bread and broth! Here--not all, three at a time;
'T is simpler. Here, you kittens. Eat awhile;
Then--

[RUDI wakes.]

RUDI
Oh! I had a dream,--an awful dream!

[The PIPER takes JAN on his knee and feeds him, after ladling out
a big bowl of broth from the kettle for the Children, and giving
them bread.

PIPER
Oh! oh! I had a dream!

CHILDREN
Oh, tell it to us!

PIPER
I dreamed. . . a Stork. . . had nested in my hat.

CHILDREN
Oh!

PIPER
And when I woke--

CHILDREN
You had--

PIPER
_One hundred children_!

CHILDREN
Oh, it came true! Oh, oh; it all came true!

THE STROLLERS
Ah, ho, ho, ho!
[The dumb one rises, stretches, and steals toward the entrance, stopping
to slip a blind-patch over one eye. The PIPER goes to him with one stride,
seizing him by the shoulder.

PIPER
[to him, and the others, apart]
Look you.--No Michael _yet_!--And he is gone
Full three days now,--three days. If he be caught,
Why then,--the little ravens shall be fed!
[Groans from the three]
Enough that Cheat-the-Devil leaked out too;--
No foot but mine shall quit this fox-hole now!
And you,--think praise for once, you have no tongue,
And keep these magpies quiet. [Turns away.
[To himself]
Ah, that girl.
The Burgomeister's Barbara! But for her,
And moon-struck Michael with his 'one more look'!
Where is he now?--And where are we?
[Turning back to the Children] So, so.

[The Strollers huddle together, with looks of renewed anxiety and
wretchedness