List vats = session.createQuery("from VATCode").list();
            for (Iterator iter = vats.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
                VATCode element = (VATCode) iter.next();
                logger.info(element.getName());
                element = (VATCode)session.get(VATCode.class,new Integer(element.getVatId()));
                element.getCurrentVATRate();
                if (element.getVatRate().isEmpty())
                    {
                    logger.warn("Empty");
                    }
            }

   <class name="net.sf.accounting.setup.VATCode" table="vat_code">
      <id name="vatId" unsaved-value="null">
         <column name="id"/>
         <generator class="native"/>
      </id>
      <property name="active" column="active" not-null="true" update="true" insert="true"/>
      <property name="name" column="name" not-null="true" update="true" insert="true" unique="true"/>
      <set name="vatRate" inverse="true" cascade="all,delete-orphan">
         <key column="vat_code_id"/>
         <one-to-many class="net.sf.accounting.setup.VATRate"/>
      </set>
   </class>
   <class name="net.sf.accounting.setup.VATRate" table="vat_rate">
      <id name="vatRateId" unsaved-value="null">
         <column name="id"/>
         <generator class="native"/>
      </id>
      <property name="rate" column="rate" not-null="true" insert="true" update="true"/>
      <property name="validFrom" column="valid_from" not-null="true" insert="true" update="true"/>
      <property name="validTo" column="valid_to" not-null="false" insert="true" update="true"/>
      <property name="vatCodeId" column="vat_code_id" not-null="false" insert="false" update="false"/>
      <many-to-one name="vatCode" column="vat_code_id" not-null="false"/>
   </class>

element = (VATCode)session.get(VATCode.class,new Integer(element.getVatId()));

<hibernate-mapping>
   <class name="com.abich.hibernate.Event" table="EVENTS">
      <id name="id" column="EVENT_ID">
         <generator class="increment"/>
      </id>
      <property name="date" type="timestamp" column="EVENT_DATE"/>
      <property name="title" column="title"/>
      <set name="nextEvents" inverse="true" cascade="all" >
         <key column="parent_id" on-delete="cascade"/>
         <one-to-many class="com.abich.hibernate.Event" not-found="exception" embed-xml="true"/>
      </set>
      <many-to-one column="parent_id" name="parentEvent" not-null="true"/>
   </class>
</hibernate-mapping>

package com.abich.hibernate;

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

import java.util.Date;

import org.hibernate.Session;
import org.hibernate.Transaction;


public class EventManager {
   /**
    * Logger for this class
    */
   private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(EventManager.class);

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
         logger.debug("main(String[]) - start"); //$NON-NLS-1$
      }

      EventManager mgr = new EventManager();

      if (args.length == 0 || args[0].equals("store")) {
         Event eve1 = mgr.createAndStoreEvent("My Event", new Date());
         Event eve2 = mgr.createAndStoreEvent("t2 Event",new Date());
         relate(eve1, eve2);
      }

      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
         logger.debug("main(String[]) - end"); //$NON-NLS-1$
      }
   }

   private static void relate(Event eve1, Event eve2) {
      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
         logger.debug("relate(Event, Event) - start"); //$NON-NLS-1$
      }

      Session session = HibernateUtil.currentSession();
      Transaction tx = session.beginTransaction();
      eve2.getNextEvents().add(eve1);
      Event eve = new Event();
      eve.setTitle("kdbndn");
      eve.setDate(new Date());
      eve2.getNextEvents().add(eve);
      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
         logger.debug("relate(Event, Event) - Event eve2=" + eve2); //$NON-NLS-1$
      }

      tx.commit();

      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
         logger.debug("relate(Event, Event) - end"); //$NON-NLS-1$
      }
   }

   private Event createAndStoreEvent(String title, Date theDate) {
      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
         logger.debug("createAndStoreEvent(String, Date) - start"); //$NON-NLS-1$
      }

      Session session = HibernateUtil.currentSession();
      Transaction tx = session.beginTransaction();

      Event theEvent = new Event();
      theEvent.setTitle(title);
      theEvent.setDate(theDate);

      session.save(theEvent);

      tx.commit();

      if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
         logger.debug("createAndStoreEvent(String, Date) - end"); //$NON-NLS-1$
      }
      return theEvent;
   }
}