Hansel and Gretel

Close by a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little enough to eat at the best of times, and once, when a great famine fell upon the land, he could no longer even manage to put bread on the table. As he lay in bed one night, turning things over in his mind and tossing about with worry, he sighed and said to his wife, "What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children when we have nothing left even for ourselves?"

"I'll tell you what, husband," answered the woman. "Early tomorrow morning we'll take the children out into the forest, to the very thickest part. There we'll light them a fire and give each of them one last piece of bread, and then we'll go off to our work and leave them alone. They won't find their way home again, and we'll be rid of them."

"No, wife," said the man, "I won't do that. How could I bring myself to leave my own children alone in the forest? The wild animals would soon come and tear them to pieces."

"Oh, you fool," she said, "then all four of us will starve to death. You may as well start planing the boards for our coffins." And she gave him no peace until he agreed. "But I feel very sorry for the poor children all the same," said the man.

The two children had also been unable to sleep for hunger, and they had heard what their stepmother said to their father. Gretel wept bitter tears and said to Hansel, "Now it's all over with us."

"Hush, Gretel," said Hansel. "Don't fret. I'll soon find a way to help us." And when the old folk had fallen asleep, he got up, put on his little coat, opened the bottom half of the door, and crept outside. The moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles that lay in front of the house glittered like so many silver coins. Hansel bent down and stuffed as many of them into his coat pocket as it would hold. Then he went back inside and said to Gretel, "Take heart, dear little sister, and sleep in peace. God will not forsake us." And he lay down again in his bed.

When day broke, before the sun had even risen, the woman came and woke the two children. "Get up, you lazybones! We're going into the forest to fetch wood." Then she gave each of them a little piece of bread and said, "Here is something for your midday meal, but don't eat it before then, for you'll get nothing more." Gretel carried the bread under her apron, since Hansel had the stones in his pocket. Then they all set out together on the way into the forest.

When they had walked a little while, Hansel stood still and looked back at the house, and he did so again and again. His father said, "Hansel, what are you looking at back there, and why are you falling behind? Pay attention and keep your legs moving."

"Oh, father," said Hansel, "I'm looking at my little white cat, which is sitting up on the roof, wanting to say goodbye to me."

The woman said, "Fool, that's not your cat. That's the morning sun shining on the chimney." But Hansel had not been looking at the cat at all. Each time he had been dropping one of the shining pebbles from his pocket onto the path.

When they had reached the middle of the forest, the father said, "Now, children, gather some wood, and I'll light a fire so you won't be cold." Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood together into a little hill. The brushwood was lit, and when the flames were burning high, the woman said, "Now lie down by the fire, children, and rest. We're going into the forest to cut wood. When we're finished, we'll come back and fetch you."

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when midday came, each ate a little piece of bread. And because they could hear the strokes of an axe, they believed their father was near. But it was not an axe. It was a branch he had tied to a withered tree, and the wind was knocking it back and forth. And since they had been sitting so long, their eyes closed with weariness, and they fell fast asleep. When at last they awoke, it was already dark night. Gretel began to cry and said, "How are we ever to get out of the forest now?"

But Hansel comforted her. "Just wait a little while, until the moon has risen, and then we'll soon find the way." And when the full moon had risen, Hansel took his little sister by the hand and followed the pebbles, which shone like newly minted silver coins and showed them the way. They walked the whole night through, and as day was breaking they came once more to their father's house. They knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel, she said, "You wicked children, why did you sleep so long in the forest? We thought you were never coming back at all." But the father rejoiced, for it had cut him to the heart to leave them alone.

Not long afterward there was hunger in every corner once more, and the children heard their mother speaking to their father in bed at night. "Everything is eaten up again. We have half a loaf of bread left, and after that the song is over. The children must go. We'll lead them deeper into the wood, so that they won't find their way out again. There is no other way to save ourselves."

The man's heart grew heavy, and he thought, "It would be better to share the last mouthful with the children." But the woman would listen to nothing he said. She scolded him and reproached him. He who says A must also say B, and since he had given in the first time, he had to do so the second time too.

But the children had still been awake and had heard the whole conversation. When the old folk were asleep, Hansel got up again, meaning to go out and gather pebbles as before, but the woman had locked the door, and Hansel could not get out. Still, he comforted his little sister and said, "Don't cry, Gretel. Sleep in peace. The good Lord will surely help us."

Early in the morning the woman came and took the children out of their beds. They were each given their bit of bread, but it was even smaller than before. On the way into the forest Hansel crumbled his in his pocket, often standing still to drop a morsel on the ground. "Hansel, why do you keep stopping and looking around?" said the father. "Go on your way."

"I'm looking at my little pigeon, which is sitting on the roof, wanting to say goodbye to me," answered Hansel.

"Simpleton," said the woman, "that's not your pigeon. That's the morning sun shining on the chimney." But little by little Hansel threw all his crumbs onto the path.

The woman led the children still deeper into the forest, where they had never in all their lives been before. Once again a great fire was lit, and the mother said, "Just sit there, children, and when you're tired you may sleep a little. We're going into the forest to cut wood, and in the evening, when we're finished, we'll come and fetch you." When it was midday, Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, who had scattered his piece along the way. Then they fell asleep, and evening came and went, but no one came for the poor children. They did not wake until the dark of night, and Hansel comforted his little sister and said, "Just wait, Gretel, until the moon rises. Then we'll see the crumbs of bread that I scattered, and they'll show us the way home."

When the moon came up, they set out, but they found not a single crumb, for the many thousands of birds that fly about in the woods and fields had pecked them all up. Hansel said to Gretel, "We'll surely find the way," but they did not find it. They walked the whole night and all the next day too, from morning until evening, but they could not get out of the forest, and they were terribly hungry, for they had nothing to eat but the few berries that grew on the ground. And because they were so tired that their legs would carry them no farther, they lay down under a tree and fell asleep.

It was now the third morning since they had left their father's house. They began to walk again, but they only wandered deeper and deeper into the forest, and if help did not come soon they would surely waste away. When it was midday, they saw a beautiful snow-white bird sitting on a branch, singing so sweetly that they stood still to listen. And when it had finished its song, it spread its wings and flew off ahead of them, and they followed until they came to a little house, on whose roof the bird settled. And when they came quite close, they saw that the little house was built of bread and roofed with cake, and its windows were made of clear sugar.

"Let's set to work on this," said Hansel, "and have ourselves a fine meal. I'll eat a piece of the roof, and you, Gretel, can eat some of the window — it will taste sweet." Hansel reached up and broke off a bit of the roof to see how it tasted, and Gretel leaned against the panes and nibbled at them. Then a soft voice called out from within the room:

"Nibble, nibble, little mouse, Who is nibbling at my house?"

The children answered:

"The wind so mild, the heaven's child,"

and they went on eating without letting themselves be disturbed. Hansel, who found the roof very much to his liking, tore off a great piece of it, and Gretel pushed out a whole round windowpane, sat herself down, and enjoyed it. Suddenly the door opened, and a woman as old as the hills, leaning on a crutch, came creeping out. Hansel and Gretel were so terribly frightened that they dropped what they were holding. But the old woman nodded her head and said, "Oh, you dear children, who has brought you here? Do come in and stay with me. No harm shall come to you." She took them both by the hand and led them into her little house. There good food was set before them — milk and pancakes with sugar, apples and nuts. Afterward two pretty little beds were made up with clean white linen, and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them and thought they were in heaven.

But the old woman had only pretended to be kind. In truth she was a wicked witch who lay in wait for children, and she had built the little house of bread only to lure them to her. Whenever a child fell into her power, she killed it, cooked it, and ate it, and that was a feast day for her. Witches have red eyes and cannot see far, but they have a keen sense of smell like the animals, and they know when human beings are drawing near. When Hansel and Gretel had come into her neighborhood, she laughed spitefully and said with a sneer, "I have them now. They won't escape me again." Early in the morning, before the children were awake, she was already up, and when she saw the two of them resting so sweetly, with their full red cheeks, she muttered to herself, "That will make a dainty mouthful." Then she seized Hansel with her withered hand, carried him off to a little stable, and shut him in behind a barred door. He could scream all he liked; it did him no good. Then she went to Gretel, shook her awake, and cried, "Get up, lazybones! Fetch water and cook something good for your brother. He's out in the stable, and he's to be fattened up. When he's fat, I'll eat him." Gretel began to weep bitterly, but it was all in vain. She had to do what the wicked witch demanded.

So now the finest food was cooked for poor Hansel, while Gretel got nothing but crab shells. Every morning the old woman crept out to the little stable and cried, "Hansel, stick out your finger, so I can feel whether you're getting fat yet." But Hansel would hold out a little bone, and the old woman, whose eyes were dim, could not see it and thought it was Hansel's finger, and she wondered why he would not grow fat. When four weeks had gone by and Hansel still stayed thin, impatience got the better of her, and she would wait no longer. "Now then, Gretel," she called to the girl, "be quick and fetch water. Fat or lean, tomorrow I'm going to slaughter Hansel and cook him." Oh, how the poor little sister wailed as she had to carry the water, and how the tears streamed down her cheeks! "Dear God, please help us," she cried. "If only the wild beasts in the forest had devoured us, at least we would have died together."

"Save your howling," said the old woman. "None of it will help you at all."

Early in the morning Gretel had to go out, hang up the cauldron of water, and light the fire. "First we'll bake," said the old woman. "I've already heated the oven and kneaded the dough." She shoved poor Gretel toward the oven, from which the flames were already leaping. "Crawl in," said the witch, "and see whether it's properly heated, so we can slide the bread in." For once Gretel was inside, she meant to shut the oven and let her roast in it, and then she would eat her too. But Gretel saw what she had in mind and said, "I don't know how to do it. How am I supposed to get in?"

"Silly goose," said the old woman, "the opening is big enough. Look, I could get in myself." And she hobbled up and stuck her head into the oven. Then Gretel gave her such a shove that she tumbled far inside, and Gretel slammed the iron door and shot the bolt. Ugh! Then the witch began to howl most horribly, but Gretel ran away, and the godless witch was left to burn miserably to death.

Gretel ran straight to Hansel, opened his little stable, and cried, "Hansel, we're free! The old witch is dead!" Then Hansel sprang out like a bird from its cage when the door is opened. How they rejoiced, and threw their arms around each other, and danced about, and kissed each other! And since they no longer had anything to fear, they went into the witch's house, and in every corner stood chests full of pearls and jewels. "These are far better than pebbles," said Hansel, and he stuffed into his pockets as much as they would hold, and Gretel said, "I'll take something home too," and filled her little apron full. "But now let's be off," said Hansel, "so that we can get out of the witch's forest."

When they had walked a couple of hours, they came to a great stretch of water. "We can't get across," said Hansel. "I see no footbridge and no bridge at all."

"And there's no boat either," answered Gretel, "but there's a white duck swimming. If I ask her, she'll help us across." Then she called:

"Little duck, little duck, here we stand, Gretel and Hansel, upon the sand. There's never a bridge or plank in sight, Take us across on your back so white."

The duck came swimming up, and Hansel seated himself on its back and told his sister to sit beside him. "No," answered Gretel, "that will be too heavy for the little duck. She shall carry us across one after the other." The good little creature did so, and once they were safely on the other side and had walked a little way, the forest grew more and more familiar to them, until at last they caught sight of their father's house in the distance. Then they began to run, burst into the room, and threw themselves into their father's arms. The man had not had one happy hour since he left the children in the forest, and the woman, meanwhile, had died. Gretel emptied out her apron, so that the pearls and precious stones went bouncing about the room, and Hansel added handful after handful from his pockets. Then all their troubles were at an end, and they lived together in perfect happiness. My tale is done. There runs a mouse — whoever catches it may make himself a great big fur cap out of it.