"Oh, ho!" cried the witch. "You dear children, who led you here? Come in, and I will give you candies, cakes, apples, and nuts--all that you wish to eat!"
Hansel and Gretel were frightened. They started to run away, but the old witch waved her Elder Bush above her head. It cast a spell over the children. They could not move.
Then the witch put Hansel into a cage. She brought from the cottage a basket of sugar plums, candies, and nuts. She gave him the sweets to eat.
"You will soon be fat enough to cook," she muttered. "I will bake the girl first."
Grasping the little girl's arm, she shook her roughly, saying, "Go into the house and set the table while I build a fire."
The old witch gathered some wood. As she threw it upon the fire, she said, "Now for a ride through the air on my broom, while the oven is heating!"
Astride her big broom, the witch rode high above the cottage. She circled around like a huge bird, over the trees and back again, while she sang a strange song.
Hansel, shut up in the cage, watched her in terror.
At last the witch flew down to the ground, on her broom. She alighted close beside the oven, which stood in the front yard.
Calling the little girl out of the house she said, "Open the oven door. Then creep inside and see if it is hot enough to bake the bread."