Presently a little man with a long white beard stood before them. He was dressed in gray clothes, and he carried a gray sack upon his back.
Hansel and Gretel were not afraid of the little man, for he seemed very friendly.
The little man sang softly,
"Golden slumbers close your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise.
Sleep, pretty darlings, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Lullaby, lullaby, the Sandman am I."
Then the Sandman threw into their tired eyes the sand of sleep. Soon the children had gone safely to Slumberland.
At midnight a little elf, whose home was deep in the heart of an oak tree, came forth and rang a fairy bell. He sang,
"Twelve small strokes on my tinkling bell--
'Twas made of the white snail's pearly shell;--
Midnight comes, and all is well!
Hither, hither, wing your way,
'Tis the dawn of the fairy day!"
At the last stroke of twelve, a troop of fairies and wood nymphs appeared. They danced merrily to the tune of the flower bells, forming a ring around the children.
When the sun's rays began to shine through the branches of the trees, the fairies tripped away. Only the Dew Fairy remained. She sprinkled dew upon the children's faces with her magic wand.
The Dew Fairy sang,