With this, the evil witch unlocked the steel and/ or gingerbread door and ran outside in search of the supposed dragon.
Hansel quickly motioned Gretel to hand him one of the bones
lying in the scrap pile. Gretel held up a large bone, but Hansel shook his head; she held up a thick bone, but Hansel shook his head; and then, from the bottom of the pile, Gretel found the
thinnest bone of all and brought it over to Hansel's cage for she knew what he would be using it for.
He told her his plan just in time for them to hear the evil witch hustling back.
Just as Gretel sat down at the large metal table, the evil witch stormed in the house looking puzzled.
"Well, no dragon in sight! Not even the tip of a tail or the smell of smoke!" she
exclaimed.
"Perhaps he smelled you coming," Gretel replied frankly, continuing to slice the chops. "Dragons have a sharp sense of smell, you know," she said curtly.
"Hmph... Chop
larger! The larger the better, little pretty!" the evil witch demanded, closing the steel door but forgetting to lock it.