Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with
his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel.
He had little to bite and to break, and once when great dearth fell on the
land, he could no longer procure even daily bread. Now when he thought over
this by night in his bed, and tossed about in his anxiety, he groaned and said
to his wife: ‘What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children,
when we no longer have anything even for ourselves?’ ‘I’ll tell you what,
husband,’ answered the woman, ‘early tomorrow morning we will take the children
out into the forest to where it is the thickest; there we will light a fire for
them, and give each of them one more piece of bread, and then we will go to our
work and leave them alone. They will not find the way home again, and we shall
be rid of them.’ ‘No, wife,’ said the man, ‘I will not do that; how can I bear
to leave my children alone in the forest?—the wild animals would soon come and
tear them to pieces.’ ‘O, you fool!’ said she, ‘then we must all four die of
hunger, you may as well plane the planks for our coffins,’ and she left him no
peace until he consented. ‘But I feel very sorry for the poor children, all the
same,’ said the man.
The two children had also not been able to sleep for
hunger, and had heard what their stepmother had said to their father. Gretel
wept bitter tears, and said to Hansel: ‘Now all is over with us.’ ‘Be quiet,
Gretel,’ said Hansel, ‘do not distress yourself, I will soon find a way to help
us.’ And when the old folks had fallen asleep, he got up, put on his little
coat, opened the door below, and crept outside. The moon shone brightly, and
the white pebbles which lay in front of the house glittered like real silver
pennies. Hansel stooped and stuffed the little pocket of his coat with as many
as he could get in. Then he went back and said to Gretel: ‘Be comforted, dear
little sister, and sleep in peace, God will not forsake us,’ and he lay down
again in his bed. When day dawned, but before the sun had risen, the woman came
and awoke the two children, saying: ‘Get up, you sluggards! we are going into
the forest to fetch wood.’ She gave each a little piece of bread, and said:
‘There is something for your dinner, but do not eat it up before then, for you
will get nothing else.’ Gretel took the bread under her apron, as Hansel had
the pebbles in his pocket. Then they all set out together on the way to the
forest. When they had walked a short time, Hansel stood still and peeped back
at the house, and did so again and again. His father said: ‘Hansel, what are
you looking at there and staying behind for? Pay attention, and do not forget
how to use your legs.’ ‘Ah, father,’ said Hansel, ‘I am looking at my little
white cat, which is sitting up on the roof, and wants to say goodbye to me.’
The wife said: ‘Fool, that is not your little cat, that is the morning sun
which is shining on the chimneys.’ Hansel, however, had not been looking back
at the cat, but had been constantly throwing one of the white pebble-stones out
of his pocket on the road.
When they had reached the middle of the forest, the
father said: ‘Now, children, pile up some wood, and I will light a fire that
you may not be cold.’ Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood together, as high as
a little hill. The brushwood was lighted, and when the flames were burning very
high, the woman said: ‘Now, children, lay yourselves down by the fire and rest,
we will go into the forest and cut some wood. When we have done, we will come
back and fetch you away.’
Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when noon came,
each ate a little piece of bread, and as they heard the strokes of the wood-axe
they believed that their father was near. It was not the axe, however, but a
branch which he had fastened to a withered tree which the wind was blowing
backwards and forwards. And as they had been sitting such a long time, their
eyes closed with fatigue, and they fell fast asleep. When at last they awoke,
it was already dark night. Gretel began to cry and said: ‘How are we to get out
of the forest now?’ But Hansel comforted her and said: ‘Just wait a little,
until the moon has risen, and then we will 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-coined silver pieces, and showed them the
way.
They walked the whole night long, and by break of day
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 naughty
children, why have you slept so long in the forest?—we thought you were never
coming back at all!’ The father, however, rejoiced, for it had cut him to the
heart to leave them behind alone.
Not long afterwards, there was once more great dearth
throughout the land, and the children heard their mother saying at night to
their father: ‘Everything is eaten again, we have one half loaf left, and that
is the end. The children must go, we will take them farther into the wood, so
that they will not find their way out again; there is no other means of saving
ourselves!’ The man’s heart was heavy, and he thought: ‘It would be better for
you to share the last mouthful with your children.’ The woman, however, would
listen to nothing that he had to say, but scolded and reproached him. He who
says A must say B, likewise, and as he had yielded the first time, he had to do
so a second time also.
The children, however, were still awake and had heard
the conversation. When the old folks were asleep, Hansel again got up, and
wanted to go out and pick up pebbles as he had done before, but the woman had
locked the door, and Hansel could not get out. Nevertheless he comforted his
little sister, and said: ‘Do not cry, Gretel, go to sleep quietly, the good God
will help us.’
Early in the morning came the woman, and took the
children out of their beds. Their piece of bread was given to them, but it was
still smaller than the time before. On the way into the forest Hansel crumbled
his in his pocket, and often stood still and threw a morsel on the ground.
‘Hansel, why do you stop and look round?’ said the father, ‘go on.’ ‘I am
looking back at my little pigeon which is sitting on the roof, and wants to say
goodbye to me,’ answered Hansel. ‘Fool!’ said the woman, ‘that is not your
little pigeon, that is the morning sun that is shining on the chimney.’ Hansel,
however little by little, threw all the crumbs on the path.
The woman led the children still deeper into the
forest, where they had never in their lives been before. Then a great fire was
again made, and the mother said: ‘Just sit there, you children, and when you
are tired you may sleep a little; we are going into the forest to cut wood, and
in the evening when we are done, we will come and fetch you away.’ When it was
noon, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hansel, who had scattered his by
the way. Then they fell asleep and evening passed, but no one came to the poor
children. They did not awake until it was dark night, and Hansel comforted his
little sister and said: ‘Just wait, Gretel, until the moon rises, and then we
shall see the crumbs of bread which I have strewn about, they will show us our
way home again.’ When the moon came they set out, but they found no crumbs, for
the many thousands of birds which fly about in the woods and fields had picked
them all up. Hansel said to Gretel: ‘We shall soon find the way,’ but they did
not find it. They walked the whole night and all the next day too from morning
till evening, but they did not get out of the forest, and were very hungry, for
they had nothing to eat but two or three berries, which grew on the ground. And
as they were so weary that their legs would carry them no longer, they lay down
beneath a tree and fell asleep.
It was now three mornings since they had left their
father’s house. They began to walk again, but they always came deeper into the
forest, and if help did not come soon, they must die of hunger and weariness.
When it was mid-day, they saw a beautiful snow-white bird sitting on a bough, which
sang so delightfully that they stood still and listened to it. And when its
song was over, it spread its wings and flew away before them, and they followed
it until they reached a little house, on the roof of which it alighted; and
when they approached the little house they saw that it was built of bread and
covered with cakes, but that the windows were of clear sugar. ‘We will set to
work on that,’ said Hansel, ‘and have a good meal. I will eat a bit of the
roof, and you Gretel, can eat some of the window, it will taste sweet.’ Hansel
reached up above, and broke off a little of the roof to try how it tasted, and
Gretel leant against the window and nibbled at the panes. Then a soft voice
cried from the parlour:
'Nibble, nibble, gnaw, Who is nibbling at my
little house?'
The children answered:
'The wind, the wind, The heaven-born wind,'
and went on eating without disturbing themselves. Hansel, who liked the taste
of the roof, tore down a great piece of it, and Gretel pushed out the whole of
one round window-pane, sat down, and enjoyed herself with it. Suddenly the door
opened, and a woman as old as the hills, who supported herself on crutches,
came creeping out. Hansel and Gretel were so terribly frightened that they let
fall what they had in their hands. The old woman, however, nodded her head, and
said: ‘Oh, you dear children, who has brought you here? do come in, and stay
with me. No harm shall happen to you.’ She took them both by the hand, and led
them into her little house. Then good food was set before them, milk and
pancakes, with sugar, apples, and nuts. Afterwards two pretty little beds were
covered with clean white linen, and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them, and
thought they were in heaven.
The old woman had only pretended to be so kind; she was
in reality a wicked witch, who lay in wait for children, and had only built the
little house of bread in order to entice them there. When a child fell into her
power, she killed it, cooked and ate it, and that was a feast day with her.
Witches have red eyes, and cannot see far, but they have a keen scent like the
beasts, and are aware when human beings draw near. When Hansel and Gretel came
into her neighbourhood, she laughed with malice, and said mockingly: ‘I have
them, they shall not escape me again!’ Early in the morning before the children
were awake, she was already up, and when she saw both of them sleeping and
looking so pretty, with their plump and rosy cheeks she muttered to herself:
‘That will be a dainty mouthful!’ Then she seized Hansel with her shrivelled
hand, carried him into a little stable, and locked him in behind a grated door.
Scream as he might, it would not help him. Then she went to Gretel, shook her
till she awoke, and cried: ‘Get up, lazy thing, fetch some water, and cook
something good for your brother, he is in the stable outside, and is to be made
fat. When he is fat, I will eat him.’ Gretel began to weep bitterly, but it was
all in vain, for she was forced to do what the wicked witch commanded.
And now the best food was cooked for poor Hansel, but
Gretel got nothing but crab-shells. Every morning the woman crept to the little
stable, and cried: ‘Hansel, stretch out your finger that I may feel if you will
soon be fat.’ Hansel, however, stretched out a little bone to her, and the old
woman, who had dim eyes, could not see it, and thought it was Hansel’s finger,
and was astonished that there was no way of fattening him. When four weeks had
gone by, and Hansel still remained thin, she was seized with impatience and
would not wait any longer. ‘Now, then, Gretel,’ she cried to the girl, ‘stir
yourself, and bring some water. Let Hansel be fat or lean, tomorrow I will kill
him, and cook him.’ Ah, how the poor little sister did lament when she had to
fetch the water, and how her tears did flow down her cheeks! ‘Dear God, do help
us,’ she cried. ‘If the wild beasts in the forest had but devoured us, we
should at any rate have died together.’ ‘Just keep your noise to yourself,’
said the old woman, ‘it won’t help you at all.’
Early in the morning, Gretel had to go out and hang up
the cauldron with the water, and light the fire. ‘We will bake first,’ said the
old woman, ‘I have already heated the oven, and kneaded the dough.’ She pushed
poor Gretel out to the oven, from which flames of fire were already darting.
‘Creep in,’ said the witch, ‘and see if it is properly heated, so that we can
put the bread in.’ And once
Gretel was inside, she intended to shut the oven and let her bake in it, and
then she would eat her, too. But Gretel saw what she had in mind, and
said: ‘I do not know how I am to do it; how do I get in?’ ‘Silly goose,’ said
the old woman. ‘The door is big enough; just look, I can get in myself!’ and
she crept up and thrust her head into the oven. Then Gretel gave her a push
that drove her far into it, and shut the iron door, and fastened the bolt. Oh!
then she began to howl quite horribly, but Gretel ran away and the godless
witch was miserably burnt to death.
Gretel, however, ran like lightning to Hansel, opened
his little stable, and cried: ‘Hansel, we are saved! The old witch is dead!’
Then Hansel sprang like a bird from its cage when the door is opened. How they
did rejoice and embrace each other, and dance about and kiss each other! And as
they had no longer any need to fear her, they went into the witch’s house, and
in every corner there stood chests full of pearls and jewels. ‘These are far
better than pebbles!’ said Hansel, and thrust into his pockets whatever could
be got in, and Gretel said: ‘I, too, will take something home with me,’ and
filled her pinafore full. ‘But now we must be off,’ said Hansel, ‘that we may
get out of the witch’s forest.’
When they had walked for two hours, they came to a
great stretch of water. ‘We cannot cross,’ said Hansel, ‘I see no foot-plank,
and no bridge.’ ‘And there is also no ferry,’ answered Gretel, ‘but a white
duck is swimming there: if I ask her, she will help us over.’ Then she cried:
'Little duck, little duck, dost thou see, Hansel
and Gretel are waiting for thee? There's never a plank, or bridge in
sight, Take us across on thy back so white.'
The duck came to them, and Hansel seated himself on its back, and told his
sister to sit by him. ‘No,’ replied Gretel, ‘that will be too heavy for the
little duck; she shall take us across, one after the other.’ The good little
duck did so, and when they were once safely across and had walked for a short
time, the forest seemed to be more and more familiar to them, and at length
they saw from afar their father’s house. Then they began to run, rushed into
the parlour, and threw themselves round their father’s neck. The man had not
known one happy hour since he had left the children in the forest; the woman,
however, was dead. Gretel emptied her pinafore until pearls and precious stones
ran about the room, and Hansel threw one handful after another out of his
pocket to add to them. Then all anxiety was at an end, and they lived together
in perfect happiness. My tale is done, there runs a mouse; whosoever catches
it, may make himself a big fur cap out of it.