Kitabı oku: «Scary Fairy Tales. A1 / Страшные сказки», sayfa 4

Early the next morning the woman came and got the children from their beds. Theyreceived their little pieces of bread, even less than the last time. On the way to the woods, Hansel crumbled his piece in his pocket, then often stood still, and threw crumbs onto the ground.

“Hansel, why are you always stopping and looking around?” said his father. “Keep walking.”

“I can see mypigeon sitting on the roof. It wants to say good-bye to me.”

“Fool,” said the woman, “that isn't your pigeon. That's the morning sun shining on the roof.”

But little by little Hansel dropped all the crumbs onto the path. The woman took them very deep into the woods, so they could not come back.

Once again, the parents made a large fire, and the mother said, “Sit here, children. If you get tired you can sleep a little. We are going into the forest to cut wood. We will come and get you in the evening when we are finished.”

When it was noon Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, who had nothing to eat, because crumbs of his piece now were lying along the road. Then they fell asleep, and evening passed, but no one came to get the poor children.

It was dark at night when they awoke, and Hansel calmed Gretel and said, “Wait, when the moon comes up I will be able to see the crumbs of bread that I left on the road, and they will show us the way back home.”

When the moon appeared they got up, but they could not find any crumbs. The crumbs were eaten by the many thousands of birds that flew about in the woods and in the fields.

Hansel said to Gretel, “We will find our way,” but they did not find it.

They walked through the entire night and the next day from morning until evening, but they did not find their way out of the woods. They ate only a few small berries that were growing on the ground. They were terribly hungry.