Not very long after that there was again great scarcity in those parts, and the children heard their mother say at night in bed to their father, "Everything is finished up; we have only half a loaf, and after that the tale comes to an end. The children must be off; we will take them farther into the wood this time, so that they shall not be able to find the way back again; there is no other way to manage." The man felt sad at heart, and he thought, "It would better to share one's last morsel with one's children." But the wife would listen to nothing that he said, but scolded and reproached him. He who says A must say B too, and when a man has given in once he has to do it a second time.

But the children were not asleep, and had heard all the talk. When the parents had gone to sleep Hansel got up to go out and get more flint stones, as he did before, but the wife had locked the door, and Hansel could not get out; but he comforted his little sister, and said, "Don't cry, Grethel, and go to sleep quietly, and God will help us." 

他们一家又在一起艰难地生活了。 但时隔不久，又发生了全国性的饥荒。 一天夜里，两个孩子又听见继母对他们的父亲说："哎呀！能吃的都吃光了，就剩这半个面包，你看以后可怎么办啊？咱们还是得减轻负担，必须把两个孩子给扔了！这次咱们可以把他们带进更深、更远的森林中去，叫他们再也找不到路回来。只有这样才能挽救我们自己。"
听见妻子又说要抛弃孩子，樵夫心里十分难过。他心想，大家同甘共苦，共同分享最后一块面包不是更好吗？但是像天下所有的男人一样，对一个女人说个"不"字那是太难太难了，樵夫也毫不例外。就像是"谁套上了笼头，谁就必须得拉车"的道理一样，樵夫既然对妻子作过第一次让步，当然就必然有第二次让步了，他也就不再反对妻子的建议了。
然而，孩子们听到了他们的全部谈话。等父母都睡着后，汉赛尔又从床上爬了起来，想溜出门去，像上次那样，到外边去捡些小石子，但是这次他发现门让继母给锁死了。但他心里又有了新的主意，他又安慰他的小妹妹说："别哭，格莱特，不用担心，好好睡觉。上帝会帮助咱们的。"