So the Duck came to them, and Hansel sat himself on her back, and bade his sister sit behind him.
"No," answered Gretel, "that will be too much for the Duck; she shall take us over one at a time."
This the good little bird did, and when both were happily arrived on the other side, and had gone a little way, they came to a wood, which they knew the better every step they went, and at last they saw their father's house. Then they began to run, and, bursting into the house, they fell on their father's neck.
He had not had one happy hour since he had left the children in the forest; and his wife was dead. Gretel shook her apron, and the pearls and precious stones rolled out on the floor, and Hansel threw down one handful after another out of his pocket. Then all their sorrows were ended, and they lived together in great happiness.
[THE GOOSE GIRL]
ONCE upon a time there lived an old Queen, whose husband had been dead some years, and left her with one child, a beautiful daughter. When this daughter grew up she was to be married to a King's son, who lived far away.
Now when the time came for her to leave, the mother gave her daughter a lock of hair, saying, "Dear child, preserve this well, and it will help you out of trouble."
Afterwards the mother and daughter took a sorrowful leave of each other, and the princess placed the lock of hair in her bosom, mounted her horse Falada, and rode away to her intended bridegroom. Now this horse could speak. After she had ridden for about an hour she became very thirsty, and said to her servant, "Dismount, and bring me some water from yonder stream in the cup which you carry with you, for I am very thirsty."