They filled a large basket with food, stuffed the precious stones and coins in their pockets, and set off into the forest to search for the way home. This time, luck was with them. A little white duck came to their aid as they tried to cross a wide lake. The little white duck carried them, one by one, safely, to the other side. Pretty soon they came to a wood that kept looking more and more familiar, and at last in the distance they saw their father's house. Then they started to run, burst into the living room, and threw themselves on their father's neck. Since he had left the children in the forest, he had not had a single happy hour. Their father said, weeping, "Your stepmother is dead. You are with me now, my dear children!" The two children hugged the woodcutter. Gretel shook out her apron, and pearls and precious stones rolled all over the room, and Hansel threw down out of his pocket one handful after another.
"Look, Father! We're rich now . . . You'll never have to chop wood again and we'll never be hungry again." And they all lived happily together ever after.