Array The Brothers Grimm - Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm - A New English Version

Early next morning the woman came and woke the children as she’d done before, and gave them each a piece of bread, though it was even smaller this time. As they went into the forest, Hansel crumbled his bread up and dropped the crumbs on the path, stopping every so often to make sure he could see them.

‘Hansel, keep going,’ said his father. ‘Stop looking back all the time.’

‘I was looking at my pigeon sitting on the roof,’ said Hansel. ‘She wants to say goodbye to me.’

‘That’s not your pigeon, you fool,’ said the woman, ‘it’s the sun shining on the chimney. Stop dawdling.’

Hansel didn’t look back again, but he kept crumbling up the bread in his pocket and dropping it on the path. The woman made them all walk fast, and they went deeper into the forest than they’d ever gone in all their lives.

Finally she said, ‘This’ll do,’ and once again they made a fire for the children to sit by.

‘Now don’t you move,’ the woman told them. ‘Sit here and don’t budge till we come and get you. We’ve got enough to worry about without you wandering off. We’ll be back in the evening.’

The children sat there until they felt it must be midday, and then they shared Gretel’s little piece of bread, because Hansel had used all his up. Then they fell asleep, and the whole day went by, but no one came for them.

It was dark when they woke up. ‘Hush, don’t cry,’ Hansel said to Gretel. ‘When the moon comes up, we’ll see the crumbs and find our way home.’

The moon came up, and they began to look for the crumbs, but they couldn’t find any. The thousands of birds that fly about in the woods and the fields had pecked them all up.

‘We’ll find our way,’ said Hansel.

But no matter which way they went, they couldn’t find the way home. They walked all through the night and then all through the following day, and still they were lost. They were hungry, too, terribly hungry, because all they’d had to eat was a few berries that they’d found. They were so tired by this time that they lay down under a tree and fell asleep at once. And when they awoke on the third morning, and struggled to their feet, they were still lost, and with every step they seemed to be going deeper and deeper into the forest. If they didn’t find help soon, they’d die.

But at midday, they saw a little snow-white bird sitting on a branch nearby. It sang so beautifully that they stopped to listen, and when it stretched its wings and flew a little way ahead, they followed it. It perched and sang again, and again flew a little way ahead, moving no faster than they could walk, so that it really seemed to be guiding them.

And all of a sudden they found themselves in front of a little house. The bird perched on the roof, and there was something strange about the look of that roof. In fact—

‘It’s made of cake!’ said Hansel.

And as for the walls—

‘They’re made of bread!’ said Gretel.

And as for the windows, they were made of sugar.

The poor children were so hungry that they didn’t even think of knocking at the door and asking permission. Hansel broke off a piece of roof, and Gretel knocked through a window, and they sat down right where they were and started to eat at once.

After a good few mouthfuls, they heard a soft voice from inside:

The children answered:

And then they went on eating, they were so ravenous. Hansel liked the taste of the roof so much that he pulled off a piece as long as his arm, and Gretel carefully pushed out another windowpane and started crunching her way through it.

Suddenly the door opened and an old, old woman came hobbling out. Hansel and Gretel were so surprised that they stopped eating and stared at her with their mouths full.

But the old woman shook her head said, ‘Don’t be frightened, my little dears! Who brought you here? Just come inside, my darlings, come and rest your poor selves in my little box of treats. It’s as safe as houses!’

She pinched their cheeks fondly, and took each of them by the hand and led them into the cottage. As if she’d known they were coming, there was a table laid with two places, and she served them a delicious meal of milk and pancakes with sugar and spices, and apples and nuts.

After that she showed them into a little bedroom where two beds were made up ready, with snow-white sheets. Hansel and Gretel went to bed, thinking they were in heaven, and fell asleep at once.

But the old woman had only pretended to be friendly. In fact she was a wicked witch, and she had built her delicious house in order to lure children to her. Once she’d captured a child, whether a boy or a girl, she killed them, cooked them, and ate them. It was a feast day for her when that happened. Like other witches, she had red eyes and couldn’t see very far, but she had a keen sense of smell, and she knew at once when humans were nearby. Once Hansel and Gretel were tucked up in bed, she laughed and rubbed her knobbly hands together.

‘I’ve got ’em now!’ she cackled. ‘They won’t get away from me!’

Early next morning she got up and went to their room, and looked at the two of them lying there asleep. She could barely keep her hands from their full red cheeks.

‘Nice mouthfuls!’ she thought.

Then she seized Hansel and before he could utter a cry she dragged him out of the cottage and into a little shed, where she shut him in a cage. He cried then all right, but there was no one to hear.

Then the witch shook Gretel awake saying, ‘Get up, you lump! Go and fetch some water from the well and cook something for your brother. He’s in the shed, and I want him fattened up. When he’s fat enough, I’m going to eat him.’

Gretel began to cry, but it was no good: she had to do everything the witch ordered. Hansel was given delicious food every day, while she had to live on crayfish shells.

Every morning the witch limped down to the shed, leaning on her stick, and said to Hansel: ‘Boy! Stick your finger out! I want to see if you’re fat yet.’

But Hansel was too clever for that: he stuck a little bone through the bars, and the witch, peering through her red eyes, thought it was his finger. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t fat.

Four weeks went by, and she thought Hansel was still thin. But then she thought of his nice red cheeks, and she shouted to Gretel: ‘Hey! Girl! Go and fetch lots of water. Fill the cauldron and set it on to boil. Fat or thin, skinny or plump, I’m going to slaughter that brother of yours tomorrow and boil him up for a stew.’

Poor Gretel! She wept and wept, but she had to fetch the water as the witch ordered. ‘Please, God, help us!’ she sobbed. ‘If only the wolves had eaten us in the forest, at least we’d have died together.’

‘Stop your snivelling,’ said the witch. ‘It won’t do you any good.’

In the morning Gretel had to light a fire under the oven.

‘We’ll do the baking first,’ said the witch. ‘I’ve kneaded the dough already. Is that fire hot enough yet?’

She dragged Gretel to the oven door. Flames were spitting and flaring under the iron floor.

‘Climb in and see if it’s hot enough,’ said the witch. ‘Go on, in you go.’

Of course, the witch intended to shut the door when Gretel was inside, and cook her as well. But Gretel saw what she was up to, so she said, ‘I don’t quite understand. You want me to get inside? How can I do that?’

‘Stupid goose,’ said the witch. ‘Get out of the way, I’ll show you. It’s easy enough.’

And she bent down and put her head inside the oven. As soon as she did, Gretel shoved her so hard that she overbalanced and fell in. Gretel closed the door at once and secured it with an iron bar. Horrible shrieks and screams and howls came from the oven, but Gretel closed her ears and ran outside. The witch burned to death.