“We will go in here,” said Hansel, “and have a glorious feast.  I will eat a piece of the roof, and you can eat the window.  Will they not be sweet?” So Hansel reached up and broke a piece off the roof, in order to see how it tasted; while Grethel stepped up to the window and began to bite it.  Then a sweet voice called out in the room, “Tip-tap, tip-tap, who knocks at my door?” and the children answered, “The wind, the wind, the child of heaven;” and they went on eating without interruption.  Hansel thought the roof tasted very nice, and so he tore off a great piece; while Grethel broke a large round pane out of the window, and sat down quite contentedly.  Just then the door opened, and a very old woman, walking upon crutches, came out.  Hansel and Grethel were so much frightened that they let fall what they had in their hands; but the old woman nodding her head, said, “Ah, you dear children, what has brought you here?  Come in and stop with me, and no harm shall come to you;” and so saying she took them both by the hand, and led them into her cottage.  A good meal of milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples and nuts, was spread on the table, and in the back room were two nice little beds, covered with white, where Hansel and Grethel laid themselves down, and were happy as could be.  The old woman behaved very kindly to them, but in reality she was a wicked old witch who way-laid children, and built the breadhouse in order to entice them in; but as soon as they were in her power she killed them, cooked and ate them, and made a great festival of the day.  Witches have red eyes, and cannot see very far; but they have a fine sense of smelling, like wild beasts, so that they know when children approach them.  When Hansel and Grethel came near the witch’s house she laughed wickedly, saying, “Here come two who shall not escape me.”  And early in the morning, before they awoke, she went up to them, and saw how lovingly they lay sleeping, with their chubby red cheeks; and she mumbled to herself, “That will be a good bite.”  Then she took up Hansel with her rough hand, and shut him up in a little cage with a lattice-door; and although he screamed loudly it was of no use.  Grethel came next, and shaking her till she awoke, she said, “Get up, you lazy brat, and fetch some water to cook something good for your brother, who must remain in that stall and get fat; and when he is fat enough I shall eat him.”  Grethel began to cry, but it was all useless, for the old witch made her do as she wanted.  So a nice meal was cooked for Hansel, but Grethel got nothing else but a crab’s claw.

Every morning the old witch came to the cage and said, “Hansel, stretch out your finger that I may feel whether you are getting fat.”  But Hansel used to stretch out a bone, and the old woman, having very bad sight, thought it was his finger, and wondered very much why he did not get fat.  When four weeks had passed, and Hansel still kept quite lean, she lost all her patience, and would not