A method, system, and/or computer program product parse a plurality of data elements arranged in a structured tree within a document, where the elements are arranged with a root element at a root level branching to remaining elements at lower levels within branches of the structured tree. An external request to provide one or more elements from a structured tree is received. The one or more elements being requested are from a group consisting of a next sibling element and a next child element in the structured tree. A next sibling element is provided by fetching next and subsequent elements in the document until a specified sibling level in the structured tree is reached, and then returned to a requester. A next child element is provided by fetching and returning a next element in response to the next element being a child element, and then returned to the requester.