Hänsel und Gretel

Brothers Grimm

Next to a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter who had come upon such hard
times that he could scarcely provide daily bread for his wife and his two children,
Hansel and Gretel. Finally he could no longer even manage this, and he did not know
where to turn for help.

One evening as he was lying in bed worrying about his problems, his wife said to him,
"Listen, man, early tomorrow take the two children, give each of them a little piece of
bread, then lead them into the middle of thickest part of the woods, make a fire for
them, and leave them there, for we can no longer feed them."

"No, woman," said the man, "I cannot bring myself to abandon my own children to wild
animals that would quickly tear them to pieces."

"If you don't do it," said the woman, "all of us will starve together," and she gave him no
peace until he said yes.

The two children were still awake from hunger and heard everything that the mother
had said to the father.

Gretel thought that she was doomed and began to cry pitifully, but Hansel said, "Be
quiet, Gretel, and don't worry. I know what to do."

With that he got up, pulled on his jacket, opened the lower door, and crept outside.

The moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles were glistening like silver coins.
Hansel bent over and filled his jacket pockets with them, as many as would fit.

Then he went back into the house and said, "Don't worry, Gretel. Sleep well." Then he
went back to bed, and fell asleep.

The next morning the mother came and woke them both before sunrise, "Get up, you
children. We are going into the woods. Here is a little piece of bread. Take care and
save it until midday."

Gretel put the bread under her apron, because Hansel's pockets were full of stones,
and they set forth into the woods.

After they had walked a little way, Hansel began stopping again and again and looking
back toward the house.

The father said, "Hansel, why are you stopping and looking back? Pay attention now,
and keep up with us."

However, Hansel had been dropping the shiny pebbles from his pocket onto the path.

When they arrived in the middle of the woods, the father said, "You children gather
some wood, and I will make a fire so we won't freeze."

Hansel and Gretel gathered together some twigs, a pile as high as a small mountain.
They set it afire, and when the flames were burning well, the mother said, "Lie down by
the fire and sleep. We will go into the woods to cut down trees. Wait until we come back
and get you."

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire until midday, and then ate their bread.

They sat on until evening, but the mother and father did not return, and no one came to
get them.

When it became dark, Gretel began to cry, but Hansel said, "Wait a little until the moon
comes up."

After the moon had come up, he took Gretel by the hand.

The pebbles were lying there like newly minted coins. Glistening, they showed them the
way.

They walked throughout the entire night, and as morning was breaking, they arrived at
the father's house.

The father was overjoyed when he saw his children once more, for he had not wanted
to leave them alone. The mother pretended that she too was happy, but secretly she
was angry.

Not long afterward there was once again no bread in the house, and one evening
Hansel and Gretel heard the mother say to the father, "The children found their way
back once, and I let it be, but again we have only a half loaf of bread in the house.
Tomorrow you must take them deeper into the woods, so they cannot find their way
home. Otherwise there will be no help for us."

The man was very disheartened, and he thought it would be better to share the last bit
with the children, but because he had done it once, he could not say no.

Hansel and Gretel heard the parents' conversation.

Hansel got up and wanted to gather pebbles once again, but when he came to the
door, he found that the mother had locked it.

Still, he comforted Gretel and said, "Just go to sleep, Gretel dear. God will help us."

Early the next morning they received their little pieces of bread, even less than the last
time.

On the way, Hansel crumbled his piece in his pocket, then often stood still, and threw
crumbs onto the ground.

"Why are you always stopping and looking around?" said his father. "Keep walking
straight ahead."

But Hansel crumbled all of his bread and dropped the crumbs onto the path.

The mother took them deeper into the woods than they had ever been in their whole
lifetime.

There they were told to sleep by a large fire, and that the parents would come and get
them in the evening.
At midday Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, because he had scattered all of his
along the path.

Midday passed, and evening passed, but no one came to get the poor children.

Hansel comforted Gretel and said, "Wait, when the moon comes up I will be able to see
the crumbs of bread that I scattered, and they will show us the way back home."

The moon came up, but when Hansel looked for the crumbs, they were gone. The
many thousands of birds in the woods had found them and picked them up.

Hansel thought that he would still be able to find the way home, and he and Gretel set
forth, but they soon became totally lost in the great wilderness.

They walked through the night and the entire next day, and then, exhausted, they fell
asleep. They walked another day, but they could not find their way out of the woods.

They were terribly hungry, for they had eaten only a few small berries that were growing
on the ground.

On the third day they walked until midday when they came to a little house built entirely
from bread with a roof made of cake, and the windows were made of clear sugar.

"Let's sit down and eat our fill," said Hansel. "I'll eat from the roof, and Gretel, you eat
from the window. That will be nice and sweet for you."

Hansel had already eaten a piece from the roof and Gretel had eaten a few round
windowpanes, and she had just broken out another one when she heard a gentle voice
calling out from inside:

Nibble, nibble, little mouse, Who

is nibbling at my house?

Hansel and Gretel were so frightened that they dropped what they were holding in their
hands, and immediately they saw a little woman, as old as the hills, creeping out the
door.

She shook her head and said, "Oh, you dear children, where did you come from? Come
inside with me, and you will be just fine."

She took them by the hand and led them into her house.

Then she served them a good meal: pancakes with sugar, apples, and nuts; and made
two nice beds for them.

Hansel and Gretel went to bed, thinking it was though they were in heaven.

But the old woman was a wicked witch who was lying in wait there for children.
She had built her house of bread in order to lure them to her, and if she captured one,
she would kill him, cook him, and eat him; and for her that was a day to celebrate.

So she was overjoyed that Hansel and Gretel had found their way to her.

Early the next morning, before they awoke, she got up, went to their beds, and looked
at the two of them lying there so peacefully.

"They will be a good mouthful," she thought.

She grabbed Hansel and put him in a little stall, and when he awoke, he found himself
in a cage, locked up like a young dog, and he could walk only a few steps.

Then she shook Gretel and cried, "Get up, lazybones! Fetch water. Go into the kitchen
and cook something to eat. Your brother is locked in that stall there. I want to fatten him
up, and when he is fat I am going to eat him. For now, you have to feed him."

Gretel was frightened and cried, but she had to do what the witch demanded.

Now Hansel was given the best things to eat every day, so he would get fat, but Gretel
received nothing but crayfish shells.

Every day the old woman came and said, "Hansel, stick out your finger, so I can feel if
you are fat enough yet."

But Hansel always stuck out a little bone, and she wondered why he didn't get any
fatter.

After four weeks, one evening she said to Gretel, "Hurry up and fetch some water.
Whether your brother is fat enough now or not, tomorrow I am going to slaughter him
and boil him. In the meantime I want to start the dough that we will bake to go with
him."

With a sad heart Gretel fetched the water in which Hansel was to be boiled.

The next morning Gretel had to get up early, make a fire, and hang up the kettle with
water.

"Watch it until it boils," said the witch. "I am going to make a fire in the oven and put the
bread into it."

Gretel stood in the kitchen and cried tears of blood and thought that it would have been
better if wild animals had devoured them in the woods, for then they would at least
have died together and would not now be suffering so, and she herself would not have
to be boiling the water that would kill her dear brother; and she prayed, "Dear God,
save us poor children."

Then the old woman called, "Gretel, come here right now to the oven."

And when Gretel came, she said, "Look inside and see if the bread is nicely brown and
done, for my eyes are weak, and I can't see that far. If you can't see that far either, then
sit on the board, and I'll push you inside, then you can walk around inside and take a
look."

But once Gretel was inside, the witch intended to close the door, and bake her in the
hot oven, and eat her as well. That is what the wicked witch was thinking, and that is
why she called Gretel.

However, God let Gretel know this, so she said, "I don't know how to do that. First show
me. You sit on the board, and I will push you inside."

So the old woman sat on the board, and since she was light, Gretel pushed her all the
way inside, then quickly closed the door and secured it with an iron bar.

Gretel ran to Hansel and unlocked his door.

He jumped out, and they kissed each other and were overjoyed.

The whole house was filled with precious stones and pearls.

They filled their pockets, then ran away and found their way back home.

The father rejoiced when he saw them once more, for he had not had a happy day
since they had been gone. Meanwhile the coldhearted stepmother had died and the
father lived happily with his children.

The poets: Wilhelm und Jacob Grimm

The Brothers Grimm (or Die Gebrüder Grimm), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859),
were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, lexicographers and authors who together
collected and published folklore. They are among the best-known storytellers of folk tales, popularizing
stories such as "Cinderella" "(Aschenputtel)", "The Frog Prince" ("Der Froschkönig"), "Hansel and
Gretel" ("Hänsel und Gretel"), "Rapunzel", "Rumpelstiltskin" ("Rumpelstilzchen"), and "Snow White"
("Schneewittchen"). Their first collection of folk tales, Children's and Household Tales (Kinder- und
Hausmärchen), was published in 1812.

That`s what we`ve done for our “Hänsel and Gretel” performance which you can see on our blog:

http://legendtale.tumblr.com