And when they came nearer they saw that the house was built of bread and roofed with cakes; and the window was of transparent sugar. »We will have some of this,« said Hänsel, »and make a fine meal. I will eat a piece of the roof, Gretel, and you can have some of the window—that will taste sweet.« So Hänsel reached up and broke off a bit of the roof, just to see how it tasted, and Gretel stood by the window and gnawed at it. Then they heard a thin voice call out from inside,
»Nibble, nibble, like a mouse,
Who is nibbling at my house?«And the children answered,
»The wind, the wind,
The heaven-borne wind.«And they went on eating, never disturbing themselves. Hänsel, who found that the roof tasted very nice, took down a great piece of it, and Gretel pulled out a large round windowpane, sat down, and enjoyed herself with it.