HANSEL AND GRETEL.
NEAR a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter
and his wife and his two children; the boy’s
name was Hansel and the girl’s Gretel.
They had very little to bite or to sup, and
once, when there was great dearth in the land,
the man could not even gain the daily bread.
As he lay in bed one night thinking of this,
and turning and tossing, he sighed heavily,
and said to his wife, “What will become
of us?
We cannot even feed our children; there is
nothing left for ourselves.”
“I will tell you what, husband,” answered
the wife; “we will take the children early
in the morning into the forest, where it is
thickest; we will make them a fire, and we
will give each of them a piece of bread, then
we will go to our work and leave them alone;
they will never find the way home again, and
we shall be quit of them.”
“No, wife,” said the man, “I cannot
do that; I cannot find in my heart to take
my children into the forest and to leave them
there alone; the wild animals would soon come
and devour them.”
“O you fool,” said she, “then we will
all four starve; you had better get the coffins
ready”- and she left him no peace until
he consented.
“But I really pity the poor children,”
said the man.
The two children had not been able to sleep
for hunger, and had heard what their step-mother
had said to their father.
Gretel wept bitterly, and said to Hansel,
“It is all over with us.”
“Do be quiet, Gretel,” said Hansel, “and
do not fret.
I will manage something.”
And when the parents had gone to sleep he
got up, put on his little coat, opened the
back door, and slipped out.
The moon was shining brightly, and the white
flints that lay in front of the house glistened
like pieces of silver.
Hansel stooped and filled the little pocket
of his coat as full as it would hold.
Then he went back again, and said to Gretel,
“Be easy, dear little sister, and go to
sleep quietly; God will not forsake us,”
and laid himself down again in his bed.
When the day was breaking, and before the
sun had risen, the wife came and awakened
the two children, saying, “Get up, you lazy
bones; we are going into the forest to cut
wood.”
Then she gave each of them a piece of bread,
and said, “That is for dinner, and you must
not eat it before then, for you will get no
more.”
Gretel carried the bread under her apron,
for Hansel had his pockets full of the flints.
Then they set off all together on their way
to the forest.
When they had gone a little way Hansel stood
still and looked back towards the house, and
this he did again and again, till his father
said to him, “Hansel, what are you looking
at?
Take care not to forget your legs.”
“O father,” said Hansel, “I am looking
at my little white kitten, who is sitting
up on the roof to bid me good-bye.”
“You young fool,” said the woman, “that
is not your kitten, but the sunshine on the
chimney pot.”
Of course Hansel had not been looking at his
kitten, but had been taking every now and
then a flint from his pocket and dropping
it on the road.
When they reached the middle of the forest
the father told the children to collect wood
to make a fire to keep them warm; and Hansel
and Gretel gathered brushwood enough for a
little mountain; and it was set on fire, and
when the flame was burning quite high the
wife said, “Now lie down by the fire and
rest yourselves, you children, and we will
go and cut wood; and when we are ready we
will come and fetch you.”
So Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and
at noon they each ate their pieces of bread.
They thought their father was in the wood
all the time, as they seemed to hear the strokes
of the axe, but really it was only a dry branch
hanging to a withered tree that the wind moved
to and fro.
So when they had stayed there a long time
their eyelids closed with weariness, and they
fell fast asleep.
When at last they woke it was night, and Gretel
began to cry, and said, “How shall we ever
get out of this wood?”
But Hansel comforted her, saying, “Wait
a little while longer, until the moon rises,
and then we can easily find the way home.”
And when the full moon got up Hansel took
his little sister by the hand, and followed
the way where the flint stones shone like
silver, and showed them the road.
They walked on the whole night through, and
at the break of day they came to their father’s
house.
They knocked at the door, and when the wife
opened it and saw it was Hansel and Gretel
she said, “You naughty children, why did
you sleep so long in the wood?
We thought you were never coming home again!”
But the father was glad, for it had gone to
his heart to leave them both in the woods
alone.
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 be 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, Gretel, and go to sleep quietly,
and God will help us.”
Early the next morning the wife came and pulled
the children out of bed.
She gave them each a little piece of bread-
less than before; and on the way to the wood
Hansel crumbled the bread in his pocket, and
often stopped to throw a crumb on the ground.
“Hansel, what are you stopping behind and
staring for?” said the father.
“I am looking at my little pigeon sitting
on the roof, to say goodbye to me,” answered
Hansel.
“You fool,” said the wife, “that is
no pigeon, but the morning sun shining on
the chimney pots.”
Hansel went on as before, and strewed bread
crumbs all along the road.
The woman led the children far into the wood,
where they had never been before in all their
lives.
And again there was a large fire made, and
the mother said, “Sit still there, you children,
and when you are tired you can go to sleep;
we are going into the forest to cut wood,
and in the evening, when we are ready to go
home we will come and fetch you.”
So when noon came Gretel shared her bread
with Hansel, who had strewed his along the
road.
Then they went to sleep, and the evening passed,
and no one came for the poor children.
When they awoke it was dark night, and Hansel
comforted his little sister, and said, “Wait
a little, Gretel, until the moon gets up,
then we shall be able to see the way home
by the crumbs of bread that I have scattered
along it.”
So when the moon rose they got up, but they
could find no crumbs of bread, for the birds
of the woods and of the fields had come and
picked them up.
Hansel thought they might find the way all
the same, but they could not.
They went on all that night, and the next
day from the morning until the evening, but
they could not find the way out of the wood,
and they were very hungry, for they had nothing
to eat but the few berries they could pick
up.
And when they were so tired that they could
no longer drag themselves along, they lay
down under a tree and fell asleep.
It was now the third morning since they had
left their father’s house.
They were always trying to get back to it,
but instead of that they only found themselves
farther in the wood, and if help had not soon
come they would have starved.
About noon they saw a pretty snow-white bird
sitting on a bough, and singing so sweetly
that they stopped to listen.
And when he had finished the bird spread his
wings and flew before them, and they followed
after him until they came to a little house,
and the bird perched on the roof, and when
they came nearer they saw that the house was
built of bread, and roofed with cakes, and
the window was of transparent sugar.
“We will have some of this,” said Hansel,
“and make a fine meal.
I will eat a piece of the roof, Gretel, and
you can have some of the window- that will
taste sweet.”
So Hansel reached up and broke off a bit of
the roof, just to see how it tasted, and Gretel
stood by the window and gnawed at it.
Then they heard a thin voice call out from
inside, “Nibble, nibble, like a mouse, Who
is nibbling at my house?”
And the children answered, “Never mind,
It is the wind.”
And they went on eating, never disturbing
themselves.
Hansel, who found that the roof tasted very
nice, took down a great piece of it, and Gretel
pulled out a large round window-pane, and
sat her down and began upon it.
Then the door opened, and an aged woman came
out, leaning upon a crutch.
Hansel and Gretel felt very frightened, and
let fall what they had in their hands.
The old woman, however, nodded her head, and
said, “Ah, my dear children, how come you
here?
You must come indoors and stay with me, you
will be no trouble.”
So she took them each by the hand, and led
them into her little house.
And there they found a good meal laid out,
of milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples,
and nuts.
After that she showed them two little white
beds, and Hansel and Gretel laid themselves
down on them, and thought they were in heaven.
The old woman, although her behavior was so
kind, was a wicked witch, who lay in wait
for children, and had built the little house
on purpose to entice them.
When they were once inside she used to kill
them, cook them, and eat them, and then it
was a feast-day with her.
The witch’s eyes were red, and she could
not see very far, but she had a keen scent,
like the beasts, and knew very well when human
creatures were near.
When she knew that Hansel and Gretel were
coming, she gave a spiteful laugh, and said
triumphantly, “I have them, and they shall
not escape me!”
Early in the morning, before the children
were awake, she got up to look at them, and
as they lay sleeping so peacefully with round
rosy cheeks, she said to herself, “What
a fine feast I shall have!”
Then she grasped Hansel with her withered
hand, and led him into a little stable, and
shut him up behind a grating; and call and
scream as he might, it was no good.
Then she went back to Gretel and shook her,
crying, “Get up, lazy bones; fetch water,
and cook something nice for your brother;
he is outside in the stable, and must be fattened
up.
And when he is fat enough I will eat him.”
Gretel began to weep bitterly, but it was
no use, she had to do what the wicked witch
bade her.
And so the best kind of victuals was cooked
for poor Hansel, while Gretel got nothing
but crab-shells.
Each morning the old woman visited the little
stable, and cried, “Hansel, stretch out
your finger, that I may tell if you will soon
be fat enough.”
Hansel, however, used to hold out a little
bone, and the old woman, who had weak eyes,
could not see what it was, and supposing it
to be Hansel’s finger, wondered very much
that it was not getting fatter.
When four weeks had passed and Hansel seemed
to remain so thin, she lost patience and could
wait no longer.
“Now then, Gretel,” cried she to the little
girl; “be quick and draw water; be Hansel
fat or be he lean, tomorrow I must kill and
cook him.”
Oh what a grief for the poor little sister
to have to fetch water, and how the tears
flowed down over her cheeks!
“Dear God, pray help us!” cried she; “if
we had been devoured by wild beasts in the
wood at least we should have died together.”
“Spare me your lamentations,” said the
old woman; “they are of no avail.”
Early next morning Gretel had to get up, make
the fire, and fill the kettle.
“First we will do the baking,” said the
old woman; “I have heated the oven already,
and kneaded the dough.”
She pushed poor Gretel towards the oven, out
of which the flames were already shining.
“Creep in,” said the witch, “and see
if it is properly hot, so that the bread may
be baked.”
And Gretel once in, she meant to shut the
door upon her and let her be baked, and then
she would have eaten her.
But Gretel perceived her intention, and said,
“I don’t know how to do it; how shall
I get in?”
“Stupid goose,” said the old woman, “the
opening is big enough, do you see?
I could get in myself!” and she stooped
down and put her head in the oven’s mouth.
Then Gretel gave her a push, so that she went
in farther, and she shut the iron door upon
her, and put up the bar.
Oh how frightfully she howled!
But Gretel ran away, and left the wicked witch
to burn miserably.
Gretel went straight to Hansel, opened the
stable-door, and cried, “Hansel, we are
free! the old witch is dead!”
Then out flew Hansel like a bird from its
cage as soon as the door is opened.
How rejoiced they both were!
How they fell each on the other’s neck and
danced about, and kissed each other!
And as they had nothing more to fear they
went over all the old witch’s house, and
in every corner there stood chests of pearls
and precious stones.
“This is something better than flint stones,”
said Hansel, as he filled his pockets; and
Gretel, thinking she also would like to carry
something home with her, filled her apron
full.
“Now, away we go,” said Hansel- “if
we only can get out of the witch’s wood.”
When they had journeyed a few hours they came
to a great piece of water.
“We can never get across this,” said Hansel,
“I see no steppingstones and no bridge.”
“And there is no boat either,” said Gretel;
“but here comes a white duck; if I ask her
she will help us over.”
So she cried, - “Duck, duck, here we stand,
Hansel and Gretel, on the land, Stepping-stones
and bridge we lack, Carry us over on your
nice white back.”
And the duck came accordingly, and Hansel
got upon her and told his sister to come too.
“No,” answered Gretel, “that would be
too hard upon the duck; we can go separately,
one after the other.”
And that was how it was managed, and after
that they went on happily, until they came
to the wood, and the way grew more and more
familiar, till at last they saw in the distance
their father’s house.
Then they ran till they came up to it, rushed
in at the door, and fell on their father’s
neck.
The man had not had a quiet hour since he
left his children in the wood; but the wife
was dead.
And when Gretel opened her apron the pearls
and precious stones were scattered all over
the room, and Hansel took one handful after
another out of his pocket.
Then was all care at an end, and they lived
in great joy together.
Sing every one, My story is done.
And look! round the house There runs a little
mouse.
He that can catch her before she scampers
in May make himself a fur-cap out of her skin.
The end.
