Hansel And Grethel
:
HALLOWEEN
:
Good Stories For Great Holidays
BY THE BROTHERS GRIMM (ADAPTED)
Hard-by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his two children
and his wife who was their stepmother. The boy was called Hansel and the
girl Grethel. The wood-cutter had little to bite and to break, and once
when a great famine fell on the land he could no longer get daily bread.
Now when he thought over this by night in his bed, and tossed about in
his trouble, he g
oaned, 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 to-morrow
morning we will take the children out into the woods where it is the
thickest; there we will light a fire for them, and give each of them
one piece of bread more, 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 woods?--the wild beasts would soon come and
tear them to pieces."
"Oh, 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 said he would do as she wished.
"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 father's wife had said to their father.
Grethel wept bitter tears, and said to Hansel, "Now all is over with
us."
"Be quiet, Grethel," said Hansel, "do not be troubled; 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 shone like real
silver pennies. Hansel stooped and put as many of them in the little
pocket of his coat as he could make room for. Then he went back, and
said to Grethel, "Be at ease, dear little sister, and sleep in peace;
God will not forsake us." And he lay down again in his bed.
When the day dawned, but before the sun had risen, the woman came and
awoke the two children, saying:--
"Get up, you lazy things! 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."
Grethel took the bread under her apron, as Hansel had the stones in his
pocket. Then they all set out together on the way to the forest, and
Hansel threw one after another 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 Grethel drew brushwood together till it was as high as a
little hill.
The brushwood was lighted, and when the flames were burning very high
the woman said:--
"Now, children, lie 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 Grethel 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 were sure their father was near. But it was not the axe, it was
a branch which he had tied to a dry tree, and the wind was blowing it
backward and forward. As they had been sitting such a long time they
were tired, their eyes shut, and they fell fast asleep. When at last
they awoke, it was dark night.
Grethel began to cry, and said, "How are we to get out of the forest
now?"
But Hansel comforted her, saying, "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 bright 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 Grethel, 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, was glad, for it had cut him to the heart to leave
them behind alone.
Not long after, there was once more a great lack of food in all parts,
and the children heard the woman saying at night to their father:--
"Everything is eaten again; we have one half-loaf left, and after that
there is an 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 to share
our last mouthful with the children."
The woman, however, would listen to nothing he had to say, but scolded
him. He who says A must say B, too, and as he had given way the first
time, he had to do so a second time also.
The children were still awake and had heard the talk. When the old folks
were asleep, Hansel again got up, and wanted to go and pick up pebbles,
but the woman had locked the door, and he could not get out.
So he comforted his little sister, and said:--
"Do not cry, Grethel; 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 bit 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 threw a morsel on the ground until little by
little, he had thrown 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
she 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, Grethel shared her piece of bread with Hansel, who had
scattered his by the way. Then they fell asleep, and evening came and
went, 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, Grethel, until the moon rises, and then we shall see the
crumbs of bread which I have scattered 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 Grethel, "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; they were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but two or
three berries which grew on the ground. And as they were so tired that
their legs would carry them no longer, they lay down under 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 got deeper into the forest, and if
help did not come soon, they must die of hunger and weariness. When it
was midday, they saw a beautiful snow-white bird sitting on a bough. It
sang so sweetly that they stood still and listened to it. And when
it had done, 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
perched; and when they came quite up to the little house, they saw 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, Grethel, can eat some of the
window, it will taste sweet."
Hansel reached up, and broke off a little of the roof to try how it
tasted, and Grethel leaned against the window and nibbled at the panes.
Then a soft voice cried from the room,--
"Nibble, nibble, gnaw,
Who is nibbling at my little house?"
The children answered:--
"The wind, the wind,
The wind from heaven";
and went on eating. Hansel, who thought the roof tasted very nice, tore
down a great piece of it; and Grethel pushed out the whole of one round
window-pane, sat down, and went to eating it.
All at once the door opened, and a very, very old woman, who leaned on
crutches, came creeping out. Hansel and Grethel were so scared 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 Grethel 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 built the little
bread house in order to coax them there.
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 red cheeks, she muttered to herself, "That will be a dainty
mouthful!"
Then she seized Hansel, carried him into a little stable, and shut him
in behind a grated door. He might scream as he liked,--it was of no use.
Then she went to Grethel, 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."
Grethel began to weep, but it was all in vain; she was forced to do what
the wicked witch told her.
And now the best food was cooked for poor Hansel, but Grethel 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; she thought it was Hansel's finger,
and wondered why he grew no fatter. When four weeks had gone by, and
Hansel still was thin, she could wait no longer.
"Come, Grethel," she cried to the girl, "fly round and bring some water.
Let Hansel be fat or lean, to-morrow I will kill him, and cook him."
Ah, how sad was the poor little sister when she had to fetch the water,
and how her tears did flow down over her cheeks!
"Dear God, do help us," she cried. "If the wild beasts in the forest had
but eaten us, we should at any rate have died together."
"Just keep your noise to yourself," said the old woman; "all that won't
help you at all."
Early in the morning, Grethel had to go out and hang up the kettle with
the water, and light the fire.
"We will bake first," said the old woman. "I have already heated the
oven, and got the dough ready."
She pushed poor Grethel out to the oven, from which the flames of fire
were already darting.
"Creep in," said the witch, "and see if it is heated, so that we can
shut the bread in." And when once Grethel was inside, she meant to shut
the oven and let her bake in it, and then she would eat her, too.
But Grethel saw what she had in her mind, and said, "I do not know how I
am to do it; how do you 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 Grethel gave her a push that drove her far into it, and shut the
iron door, tight.
Grethel ran as quick as lightning to Hansel, opened his little stable,
and cried, "Hansel, we are saved! The old witch is dead!"
Then Hansel sprang out like a bird from its cage when the door is opened
for it. How they did 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 filled his
pockets, and Grethel said, "I, too, will take something home with me,"
and filled her pinafore.
"But now we will go away," said Hansel, "that we may get out of the
witch's forest." When they had walked for two hours, they came to a
great piece of water. "We cannot get over," said Hansel; "I see no
foot-plank and no bridge."
"And no boat crosses, either," answered Grethel, "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 Grethel 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 sat on its back, and told his sister
to sit by him.
"No," replied Grethel, "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, they knew where they were, and at last they
saw from afar their father's house.
Then they began to run, rushed in, and threw themselves into their
father's arms. The man had not known one happy hour since he had left
the children in the forest; the woman, however, was dead. Grethel
emptied her pinafore until pearls and precious stones rolled about the
floor, and Hansel threw one handful after another out of his pocket
to add to them. Then all care was at an end, and they lived happily
together ever after.
My tale is done; there runs a mouse; whosoever catches it may make
himself a big fur cap out of it.