''
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.
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