Hansel and Gretel sat down by the fire, and when midday came they ate
their bread and sat listening to the strokes of their father's axe,
thinking all the time that he was near to them. But what they heard
was only a dry branch which the man had bound to a tree, so that the
wind swung it hither and thither, and the noise it made deceived the
children. At last the poor, tired, little eyelids closed, and, side by
side, brother and sister fell asleep.
When they awoke, the night was very dark, and Gretel was frightened,
and began to cry. Hansel put his arms around her and whispered. "Wait,
dearie, till the moon rises; we shall soon find our way home then."
As soon as the bright moon rose, Hansel took his little sister by the
hand, and all night long they followed the track of the little white
pebbles, until at daybreak they came to their father's house.
They knocked at the door, and no sooner did the stepmother open it
than she began to scold them for having stayed out so long in the
wood; but the father greeted them kindly, for he had grieved sorely
for his little ones.
In a short time they were as badly off as ever, and one night they
again heard their mother trying to persuade her husband to take them
out into the wood and lose them.
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