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Farewell, Kitty, and have no fear; I am well protected," and mingling in the crowd, he passed out of the market door and was gone. With what courage she could summon, Kitty sped on to Fran Hansel's stand.
Grethel took the bread under her charge, for Hansel's pockets were full of pebbles. Then the stepmother led them a long way into the forest. They had gone but a very short distance when Hansel looked back at the house, and this he did again and again. At last his stepmother said, "Why do you keep staying behind and looking back so?"
"Well, one day after I'd had dinner with Blunderbore I boasted that I could do something he couldn't do. He laughed and I knew I had him. Says I, 'Very well, I'll show you. I'm going to rip my stomach open without feeling it. We'd been eating ginger-bread, and I'd slipped a piece into my pouch." A strange light had come into Hansel's eyes, and he sighed with ecstacy "Ginger-bread!"
There was one brief interruption when Hansel's voice could be heard in an impatient whisper bidding Grettel refrain from moving her head so that he could not see. But silence was immediately restored. Again Aladdin rubbed his lamp, and smiled upon his audience almost tauntingly. A third time he rubbed his lamp, this time with a stern, expectant expression in his eyes.
I give you god-den, my lord. I think not altogether so harshly as my speech may have spoken. If I can help that is, if I saw my way clearly through this labyrinth but it avails not talking now. I give your lordship god-den. Here, warder! Permit us to pass to the Lady Hansel's apartment."
Every morning the woman crept to the little stable, and cried: 'Hansel, stretch out your finger that I may feel if you will soon be fat. Hansel, however, stretched out a little bone to her, and the old woman, who had dim eyes, could not see it, and thought it was Hansel's finger, and was astonished that there was no way of fattening him.
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.
"I will carry some home too," said Grethel, and she held out her apron, which held quite as much as Hansel's pockets. "We will go now," he said, "and get away as soon as we can from this enchanted forest." They had been walking for nearly two hours when they came to a large sheet of water. "What shall we do now?" said the boy. "We cannot get across, and there is no bridge of any sort."
Hansel, however, stretched out a little bone to her, and the old woman, who had dim eyes, could not see it; she thought it was Hansel's finger, and wondered why he grew no fatter. When four weeks had gone by, and Hansel still was thin, she could wait no longer. "Come, Grethel," she cried to the girl, "fly round and bring some water.
For poor Hansel's breakfast the best of everything was cooked; but Grethel had nothing for herself but a crab's claw. Every morning the old woman would go out to the little cage, and say: "Hansel, stick out your finger, that I may feel if you are fat enough for eating."
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