Hansel and Gretel

								
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

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