Once upon a time there dwelt on the outskirts of a large forest a poor
woodcutter with his wife and two children; the boy was called Hansel and
the girl Grettel. He had always little enough to live on, and once, when
there was a great famine in the land, he couldn’t even provide them with
daily bread. One night, as he was tossing about in bed, full of cares
and worry, he sighed and said to his wife: “What’s to become of us? how
are we to support our poor children, now that we have nothing more for
ourselves?” “I’ll tell you what, husband,” answered the woman; “early
to-morrow morning we’ll take the children out into the thickest part
of the wood; there we shall light a fire for them and give them each a
piece of bread; then we’ll go on to our work and leave them alone. They
won’t be able to find their way home, and we shall thus be rid of them.”
“No, wife,” said her husband, “that I won’t do; how could I find it in
my heart to leave my children alone in the wood? The wild beasts would
soon come and tear them to pieces.” “Oh! you fool,” said she, “then we
must all four die of hunger, and you may just as well go and plane the
boards for our coffins”; and she left him no peace till he consented.
“But I can’t help feeling sorry for the poor children,” added the
husband.
The children, too, had not been able to sleep for hunger, and had heard
what their step-mother had said to their father. Grettel wept bitterly
and spoke to Hansel: “Now it’s all up with us.” “No, no, Grettel,” said
Hansel, “don’t fret yourself; I’ll be able to find a way to escape, no
fear.” And when the old people had fallen asleep he got up, slipped
on his little coat, opened the back door and stole out. The moon was
shining clearly, and the white pebbles which lay in front of the house
glittered like bits of silver. Hansel bent down and filled his pocket
with as many of them as he could cram in. Then he went back and said to
Grettel: “Be comforted, my dear little sister, and go to sleep: God will
not desert us”; and he lay down in bed again.
At daybreak, even before the sun was up, the woman came and woke the two
children: “Get up, you lie-abeds, we’re all going to the forest to fetch
wood.” She gave them each a bit of bread and said: “There’s something
for your luncheon, but don’t you eat it up before, for it’s all you’ll
get.” Grettel 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.
After they had walked for a little, Hansel stood still and looked back
at the house, and this maneuver he repeated again and again. His father
observed him, and said: “Hansel, what are you gazing at there, and why
do you always remain behind? Take care, and don’t lose your footing.”
“Oh! father,” said Hansel, “I am looking back at my white kitten, which
is sitting on the roof, waving me a farewell.” The woman exclaimed:
“What a donkey you are! that isn’t your kitten, that’s the morning sun
shining on the chimney.” But Hansel had not looked back at his kitten,
but had always dropped one of the white pebbles out of his pocket on to
the path.
When they had reached the middle of the forest the father said: “Now,
children, go and fetch a lot of wood, and I’ll light a fire that you
may not feel cold.” Hansel and Grettel heaped up brushwood till they had
made a pile nearly the size of a small hill. The brushwood was set fire
to, and when the flames leaped high the woman said: “Now lie down at the
fire, children, and rest yourselves: we are going into the forest to cut
down wood; when we’ve finished we’ll come back and fetch you.” Hansel
and Grettel sat down beside the fire, and at midday ate their little
bits of bread. They heard the strokes of the axe, so they thought their
father was quite near. But it was no axe they heard, but a bough he had
tied on a dead tree, and that was blown about by the wind. And when they
had sat for a long time their eyes closed with fatigue, and they fell
fast asleep. When they awoke at last it was pitch dark. Grettel began
to cry, and said: “How are we ever to get out of the wood?” But Hansel
comforted her. “Wait a bit,” he said, “till the moon is up, and then
we’ll find our way sure enough.” And when the full moon had risen he
took his sister by the hand and followed the pebbles, which shone like
new threepenny bits, and showed them the path. They walked on through
the night, and at daybreak reached their father’s house again. They
knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it she exclaimed: “You
naughty children, what a time you’ve slept in the wood! we thought
you were never going to come back.” But the father rejoiced, for
his conscience had reproached him for leaving his children behind by
themselves.
Not long afterward there was again great dearth in the land, and the
children heard their mother address their father thus in bed one night:
“Everything is eaten up once more; we have only half a loaf in the
house, and when that’s done it’s all up with us. The children must be
got rid of; we’ll lead them deeper into the wood this time, so that
they won’t be able to find their way out again. There is no other way
of saving ourselves.” The man’s heart smote him heavily, and he thought:
“Surely it would be better to share the last bite with one’s children!”
But his wife wouldn’t listen to his arguments, and did nothing but scold
and reproach him. If a man yields once he’s done for, and so, because he
had given in the first time, he was forced to do so the second.
But the children were awake, and had heard the conversation. When the
old people were asleep Hansel got up, and wanted to go out and pick up
pebbles again, as he had done the first time; but the woman had barred
the door, and Hansel couldn’t get out. But he consoled his little
sister, and said: “Don’t cry, Grettel, and sleep peacefully, for God is
sure to help us.”
At early dawn the woman came and made the children get up. They received
their bit of bread, but it was even smaller than the time before. On the
way to the wood Hansel crumbled it in his pocket, and every few minutes
he stood still and dropped a crumb on the ground. “Hansel, what are you
stopping and looking about you for?” said the father. “I’m looking back
at my little pigeon, which is sitting on the roof waving me a farewell,”
answered Hansel. “Fool!” said the wife; “that isn’t your pigeon, it’s
the morning sun glittering on the chimney.” But Hansel gradually threw
all his crumbs on the path. The woman led the children still deeper into
the forest farther than they had ever been in their lives before. Then
a big fire was lit again, and the mother said: “Just sit down there,
children, and if you’re tired you can sleep a bit; we’re going into the
forest to cut down wood, and in the evening when we’re finished we’ll
come back to fetch you.” At midday Grettel divided her bread with
Hansel, for he had strewn his all along their path. Then they fell
asleep, and evening passed away, but nobody came to the poor children.
They didn’t awake till it was pitch dark, and Hansel comforted his
sister, saying: “Only wait, Grettel, till the moon rises, then we shall
see the bread-crumbs I scattered along the path; they will show us the
way back to the house.” When the moon appeared they got up, but they
found no crumbs, for the thousands of birds that fly about the woods
and fields had picked them all up. “Never mind,” said Hansel to Grettel;
“you’ll see we’ll find a way out”; but all the same they did not. They
wandered about the whole night, and the next day, from morning till
evening, but they could not find a path out of the wood. They were very
hungry, too, for they had nothing to eat but a few berries they found
growing on the ground. And at last they were so tired that their legs
refused to carry them any longer, so they lay down under a tree and fell
fast asleep.
On the third morning after they had left their father’s house they set
about their wandering again, but only got deeper and deeper into the
wood, and now they felt that if help did not come to them soon they must
perish. At midday they saw a beautiful little snow-white bird sitting on
a branch, which sang so sweetly that they stopped still and listened to
it. And when its song was finished it flapped its wings and flew on in
front of them. They followed it and came to a little house, on the roof
of which it perched; and when they came quite near they saw that the
cottage was made of bread and roofed with cakes, while the window was
made of transparent sugar. “Now we’ll set to,” said Hansel, “and have a
regular blow-out.(1) I’ll eat a bit of the roof, and you, Grettel,
can eat some of the window, which you’ll find a sweet morsel.” Hansel
stretched up his hand and broke off a little bit of the roof to see what
it was like, and Grettel went to the casement and began to nibble at it.
Thereupon a shrill voice called out from the room inside:
“Nibble, nibble, little mouse,
Who’s nibbling my house?”
The children answered:
“Tis Heaven’s own child,
The tempest wild,”
and went on eating, without putting themselves about. Hansel, who
thoroughly appreciated the roof, tore down a big bit of it, while
Grettel pushed out a whole round window-pane, and sat down the better
to enjoy it. Suddenly the door opened, and an ancient dame leaning on
a staff hobbled out. Hansel and Grettel were so terrified that they let
what they had in their hands fall. But the old woman shook her head and
said: “Oh, ho! you dear children, who led you here? Just come in and
stay with me, no ill shall befall you.” She took them both by the hand
and let them into the house, and laid a most sumptuous dinner before
them–milk and sugared pancakes, with apples and nuts. After they had
finished, two beautiful little white beds were prepared for them, and
when Hansel and Grettel lay down in them they felt as if they had got
into heaven.
(1) He was a vulgar boy!
The old woman had appeared to be most friendly, but she was really an
old witch who had waylaid the children, and had only built the little
bread house in order to lure them in. When anyone came into her power
she killed, cooked, and ate him, and held a regular feast-day for the
occasion. Now witches have red eyes, and cannot see far, but, like
beasts, they have a keen sense of smell, and know when human beings pass
by. When Hansel and Grettel fell into her hands she laughed maliciously,
and said jeeringly: “I’ve got them now; they sha’n't escape me.” Early
in the morning, before the children were awake, she rose up, and when
she saw them both sleeping so peacefully, with their round rosy cheeks,
she muttered to herself: “That’ll be a dainty bite.” Then she seized
Hansel with her bony hand and carried him into a little stable, and
barred the door on him; he might scream as much as he liked, it did him
no good. Then she went to Grettel, shook her till she awoke, and
cried: “Get up, you lazy-bones, fetch water and cook something for your
brother. When he’s fat I’ll eat him up.” Grettel began to cry bitterly,
but it was of no use; she had to do what the wicked witch bade her.
So the best food was cooked for poor Hansel, but Grettel got nothing but
crab-shells. Every morning the old woman hobbled out to the stable and
cried: “Hansel, put out your finger, that I may feel if you are getting
fat.” But Hansel always stretched out a bone, and the old dame, whose
eyes were dim, couldn’t see it, and thinking always it was Hansel’s
finger, wondered why he fattened so slowly. When four weeks had passed
and Hansel still remained thin, she lost patience and determined to wait
no longer. “Hi, Grettel,” she called to the girl, “be quick and get some
water. Hansel may be fat or thin, I’m going to kill him to-morrow and
cook him.” Oh! how the poor little sister sobbed as she carried the
water, and how the tears rolled down her cheeks! “Kind heaven help us
now!” she cried; “if only the wild beasts in the wood had eaten us, then
at least we should have died together.” “Just hold your peace,” said the
old hag; “it won’t help you.”
Early in the morning Grettel had to go out and hang up the kettle full
of water, and light the fire. “First we’ll bake,” said the old dame;
“I’ve heated the oven already and kneaded the dough.” She pushed Grettel
out to the oven, from which fiery flames were already issuing. “Creep
in,” said the witch, “and see if it’s properly heated, so that we can
shove in the bread.” For when she had got Grettel in she meant to close
the oven and let the girl bake, that she might eat her up too. But
Grettel perceived her intention, and said: “I don’t know how I’m to do
it; how do I get in?” “You silly goose!” said the hag, “the opening is
big enough; see, I could get in myself,” and she crawled toward it, and
poked her head into the oven. Then Grettel gave her a shove that sent
her right in, shut the iron door, and drew the bolt. Gracious! how she
yelled, it was quite horrible; but Grettel fled, and the wretched old
woman was left to perish miserably.
Grettel flew straight to Hansel, opened the little stable-door, and
cried: “Hansel, we are free; the old witch is dead.” Then Hansel sprang
like a bird out of a cage when the door is opened. How they rejoiced,
and fell on each other’s necks, and jumped for joy, and kissed one
another! And as they had no longer any cause for fear, they went in the
old hag’s house, and here they found, in every corner of the room, boxes
with pearls and precious stones. “These are even better than pebbles,”
said Hansel, and crammed his pockets full of them; and Grettel said:
“I too will bring something home,” and she filled her apron full. “But
now,” said Hansel, “let’s go and get well away from the witch’s wood.”
When they had wandered about for some hours they came to a big lake.
“We can’t get over,” said Hansel; “I see no bridge of any sort or kind.”
“Yes, and there’s no ferry-boat either,” answered Grettel; “but look,
there swims a white duck; if I ask her she’ll help us over,” and she
called out:
“Here are two children, mournful very,
Seeing neither bridge nor ferry;
Take us upon your white back,
And row us over, quack, quack!”
The duck swam toward them, and Hansel got on her back and bade his
little sister sit beside him. “No,” answered Grettel, “we should be too
heavy a load for the duck: she shall carry us across separately.” The
good bird did this, and when they were landed safely on the other side,
and had gone for a while, the wood became more and more familiar to
them, and at length they saw their father’s house in the distance. Then
they set off to run, and bounding into the room fell on their father’s
neck. The man had not passed a happy hour since he left them in the
wood, but the woman had died. Grettel shook out her apron so that the
pearls and precious stones rolled about the room, and Hansel threw down
one handful after the other out of his pocket. Thus all their troubles
were ended, and they lived happily ever afterward.
My story is done. See! there runs a little mouse; anyone who catches it
may make himself a large fur cap out of it.(1)
(1) Grimm.
