When the day was breaking, and before the sun had risen, the wife came and awakened the two children, saying, »Get up, you lazy bones; we are going into the forest to cut wood.« Then she gave each of them a piece of bread, and said, »That is for dinner, and you must not eat it before then, for you will get no more.« Gretel carried the bread under her apron, for Hänsel had his pockets full of the pebbles. Then they set off all together on their way to the forest.
When they had gone a little way Hänsel stood still and dropped one of the pebbles from his pocket down on the road. And this he did again and again, every hundred steps, until they reached the middle of the forest.
There was a large fire made, and the mother said, »Sit still there, you children, and when you are tired you can go to sleep; we are going into the forest to cut wood, and in the evening, when we are ready to go home we will come and fetch you.«
So Hänsel and Gretel sat by the fire, and at noon they each ate their pieces of bread. Then they went to sleep, and the evening passed, and no one came for the poor children.