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Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and

his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel.

He had little to bite and to break, and once when great dearth

fell on the land, he could no longer procure even daily bread.

Now when he thought over this by night in his bed, and tossed

about in his anxiety, he groaned and said to his wife: 'What is

to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children, when we no

longer have anything even for ourselves?' 'I'll tell you what,

husband,' answered the woman, 'early tomorrow morning we will

take the children out into the forest to where it is the

thickest; there we will light a fire for them, and give each of

them one more piece of bread, and then we will go to our work and

leave them alone.