are creeping into the dark forest while Hansel and Gretel are still asleep. The Dawn Fairy comes and sprinkles them with drops of dew from a blue, bell-shaped plant. They wake delighted and gleefully mimic the twittering of the birds. Gretel tells the dream she had of the angels; but the heavenly ladder has vanished with the angels, and now the brother and sister discover some-thing new they had never seen before. It is a strange little house made of gingerbread, surrounded and adorned by a fence of candy cakes.

Hansel steps forward shyly and timidly and pulls a piece of cake from the wall. From within a shrill voice is heard saying: "Nibble, nibble, little mouse — who is nibbling at my house?" The little ones are frightened at the first moment, but they are hungry, so they go on nibbling, and they do not see the old witch stealing up behind them and throwing a rope around Hansel's neck.

They try to flee, but she halts them with her magic wand. She pushes Hansel into a small cage at the side of the garden and bolts the door, saying to herself: "I shall eat Gretel first, for she is plump and delicious. As for Hansel, he is scrawny, and I intend that he should fatten."

The witch is a creature dreadful to behold: her chin sharp, her nose like a bird's beak, her hair thick, gray, and disheveled. She kindles the fire under the oven near the cage, then mounts a broomstick and soars on it through the air amid the pitch darkness that envelops the forest,

to the strains of the music. Within a few moments she returns to earth, and the light comes back with her return as strangely as it had faded away.

Gretel is sent into the house to bring some raisins and almonds to feed Hansel. And as she comes out of the house carrying the sweets, her eye falls on a juniper branch resembling the old woman's magic wand. She realizes that she can work the magic herself. She murmurs the words of sorcery while waving the branch — and behold, Hansel is free; he crawls out of the cage and hides behind his sister.

The witch calls Gretel to the oven, saying: "Come, my little one, and see whether the ginger-bread cakes are done. Stand on the tips of your toes and look inside the oven." Gretel pretends she has not understood what she is meant to do, saying slyly: "Will you not show me what you mean?" And as the witch opens the door and peers into the oven, the two little ones pounce on her

from behind and push her into the oven and bolt the door, shout-ing in the fullness of their joy: "The wicked witch is dead!" — and they dance for delight. Soon a tremendous explosion is heard. The oven has burst and shattered to pieces; the house made of gingerbread cakes has tumbled down; the fence made of cake has vanished, and in its place stand a number of children who had been under a spell. Gretel waves her magic wand and restores them to life. They fly with joy, form a ring, and dance around Hansel and Gretel, singing: "The witch's power is broken."

Presently Peter and Gertrude appear and embrace their chil-dren with joy and gladness. Two boys go to the wreckage of the oven and come back with a huge cake they have picked up from among the sands. It is the old witch herself. The opera closes with the "Song of Thanksgiving," repeated by all: "When hardships descend upon us, God stretches out to us a helping hand!"