to put such a tune into the mouth of the Witch at a moment of terror in the play.  By it he publishes his intention not to be too utterly gruesome in his treatment of the hag.  This intention, moreover, he fulfils in the succeeding scene.  The Witch appears weird and wicked enough in appearance, in her discordant laugh, and the instrumental delineation of her, but when she sings to the children, she is almost ingratiating.  Of course, she is seeking to lure them to a horrible fate, but though she does not deceive them for even a moment, her musical manner is much like theirs, except when she is whirling through the air on a broomstick.

When the curtain opens on the third act the scene is the same as at the close of the second, except that morning is breaking and the background is filled with mist, which is slowly dissipated during the song of the Dewman (Dawn Fairy), who sprinkles dew on the sleeping children as he sings.  The beginning of his song is like that of the Sandman, but its second part consists of the melody of “Fulfilment” instead of that of “Promise.”  Gretel is the first to awake, and she wakes Hansel by imitating the song of the lark.  He springs up with the cry of chanticleer, and lark’s trill and cock’s crow are mingled in a most winsome duet, which runs out into a description of the dream.  They look about them to point out the spot where the angels had been.  By this time the last veil of mist has withdrawn from the background, and in the place of the forest of firs the gingerbread house stands glistening with barley sugar in the sunshine.  To the left is the Witch’s oven, to the right a cage, all inside a fence of gingerbread children.  A duet of admiration and amazement follows in a new, undulatory melody.  Hansel wants to enter the house, but Gretel holds him back.  Finally they decide to venture so far as to nibble a bit.  Hansel stealthily breaks a piece of gingerbread off the corner, and at once the voice of the Witch is heard in the phrase already quoted:—­

  Nibble, nibble, mousekin,
  Who’s nibbling at my housekin?

After a moment of alarm Gretel picks up a bit of the gingerbread which had fallen from Hansel’s hand at the sound of the Witch’s voice, and the duet of enjoyment is resumed in a higher key.  Then a second piece of gingerbread is stolen and munched, and the weird voice is heard again; but this time without alarm.  The Witch stealthily approaches and throws a noose about Hansel’s neck.  They have fallen into her clutches, and in a luring song she tells of the sweetmeats which she keeps in the house for children of whom she is fond.  Hansel and Gretel are not won over, however, by her blandishments, and try to run away.  The Witch extends her magic wand and chants the charm which deprives her victims of the power of motion, beginning:—­

[Musical excerpt—­“Hocus pocus witches’ charm”]

This phrase stands in the score as the antithesis of the “Counter-Charm” mentioned in the analysis of the prelude.  It illustrates an ingenious constructive device.  Desiring to send Gretel on an errand a moment later, the Witch disenchants her with the formula,