"Hansel and Grethel" - The Fairy Tales of The Brothers Grimm

Close to a large forest there lived a Woodcutter with his Wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel, and the girl Grethel. They were always very poor, and had very little to live on ; and at one time, when there was famine in the land, he could no longer procure daily bread.

One night he lay in bed worrying over his troubles, and he sighed and said to his Wife : ' What is to become of us ? How are we to feed our poor children when we have nothing for ourselves ? '

' I'll tell you what. Husband,' answered the Woman, ' to-morrow morning we will take the children out quite early into the thickest part of the forest. We will light a fire, and give each of them a piece of bread ; then we will go to our work and leave them alone. They won't be able to find their way back, and so we shall be rid of them.'

' Nay, Wife,' said the Man ; ' we won't do that. I could never find it in my heart to leave my children alone in the forest ; the wild animals would soon tear them to pieces.'

' What a fool you are ! ' she said. ' Then we must all four die of hunger. You may as well plane the boards for our coffins at once.'

She gave him no peace till he consented. ' But I grieve over the poor children all the same,' said the Man.

The two children could not go to sleep for hunger either, and they heard what their Stepmother said to their Father.

Grethel wept bitterly, and said : ' All is over with us now ! '

' Be quiet, Grethel ! ' said Hansel. ' Don't cry ; I will find some way out of it.'

When the old people had gone to sleep, he got up, put on his little coat, opened the door, and slipped out. The moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles round the house shone like newly-minted coins. Hansel stooped down and put as many into his pockets as they would hold.

Then he went back to Grethel, and said : ' Take comfort, little sister, and go to sleep. God won't forsake us.' And then he went to bed again.

When the day broke, before the sun had risen, the Woman came and said : ' Get up, you lazybones ; we are going into the forest to fetch wood.'

Then she gave them each a piece of bread, and said : ' Here is something for your dinner, but mind you don't eat it before, for you'll get no more.'

Grethel put the bread under her apron, for Hansel had the stones in his pockets. Then they all started for the forest.

When they had gone a little way. Hansel stopped and looked back at the cottage, and he did the same thing again and again.

His Father said : ' Hansel, what are you stopping to look back at ? Take care, and put your best foot foremost.'

' O Father ! ' said Hansel, ' I am looking at my white cat, it is sitting on the roof, wanting to say good-bye to me.'

' Little fool ! that's no cat, it's the morning sun shining on the chimney.'

But Hansel had not been looking at the cat, he had been dropping a pebble on to the ground each time he stopped. When they reached the middle of the forest, their Father said:

' Now, children, pick up some wood, I want to make a fire to warm you.'

Hansel and Grethel gathered the twigs together and soon made a huge pile. Then the pile was lighted, and when it blazed up, the Woman said : ' Now lie down by the fire and rest yourselves while we go and cut wood ; when we have finished we will come back to fetch you.'

Hansel and Grethel sat by the fire, and when dinner-time came they each ate their little bit of bread, and they thought their Father was quite near because they could hear the sound of an axe. It was no axe, however, but a branch which the Man had tied to a dead tree, and which blew backwards and forwards against it. They sat there such a long time that they got tired, their eyes began to close, and they were soon fast asleep.

When they woke it was dark night. Grethel began to cry : ' How shall we ever get out of the wood ! '

But Hansel comforted her, and said : ' Wait a little till the moon rises, then we will soon find our way.'

When the full moon rose, Hansel took his little sister's hand, and they walked on, guided by the pebbles, which glittered like newly-coined money. They walked the whole night, and at daybreak they found themselves back at their Father's cottage.

They knocked at the door, and when the Woman opened it and saw Hansel and Grethel, she said : ' You bad children, why did you sleep so long in the wood ? We thought you did not mean to come back any more.'

But their Father was delighted, for it had gone to his heart to leave them behind alone.