Story Hour Readers, book 3 | Page 3

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."
But Gretel guessed that the witch meant to shut the door upon her, so she said, "I am afraid to creep into the oven."
"Silly child!" said the witch. "The door is wide enough. Why, even I could pass through!"
As she spoke, she popped her head into the oven.
Gretel sprang toward her and shut the oven door. That was the end of the old witch!
Then Gretel ran and unfastened the door of the cage.
"We are saved, Hansel!" she exclaimed. Then she danced about, singing merrily,
"First your foot you tap, tap, tap, Then your hands you clap, clap, clap; Right foot first, left foot then, Round about and back again."
Then, taking the Elder Bush, Gretel waved it above her head as the witch had done.
Instantly the candy house became a log cabin. Sunflowers and morning-glories were growing in the front yard, where the witch's cage and the oven had stood.
Soon voices were heard. The sounds came nearer, and the father and mother clasped their children in their arms.
Peter and Gertrude lived with the two children in the log cabin in the forest, for many happy years. And the fairies always took good care of both Hansel and Gretel.

THE EAGLE AND THE FOX
One morning the fox said to his children, "I will find some eggs for breakfast."
Then he went to the woods.
The fox saw an eagle's nest in the top branch of a tree. "How can I reach those eggs?" thought he. "Ha, ha! Now I have a plan."
He put some grass stalks into his ears and knocked on the tree with them.
"Throw an egg to me," cried the fox. "If you do not throw an egg to me, I will knock this great tree over with these grass stalks."
The eagle was terribly frightened, and she threw an egg down to the fox.
"Throw another egg down to me at once," demanded the fox, when he saw that he had frightened the eagle.
"One egg is enough," said the eagle. "I shall not throw down any more eggs."
"Throw another egg to me, or I shall knock the tree over with these grass stalks, and take all your eggs," said the fox.
The eagle was still more frightened, and she threw down another egg.
Then the fox laughed and said, "How could I knock down a great tree with these small grass stalks?"
The eagle became very angry. She flew down from her nest and grasped the fox with her talons.
Then she lifted the fox up and flew with him far out to sea. She dropped him upon a lonely island.
The fox was left on the lonely island. One day he said to himself, "Am I going to die on this island?"
Then the fox began to sing softly. Seals, walruses, porpoises, and whales swam near the island.
"What are you singing about?" asked the sea people.
"This is what I am singing about," said the fox. "Are there more large animals in the waters of the sea, or on dry land?"
"Certainly there are more animals in the waters of the sea than on dry land," replied the sea people.
"Well, then, prove it to me!" said the fox. "Come up to the surface of the water and form a raft that will reach from this island to the mainland. Then I can walk over all of you, and I shall be able to count you."
So the large sea people--seals, walruses, porpoises, and whales--came up to the surface of the water.
The sea people formed a great raft, that reached from the island across to the mainland.
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