Hansel and Gretel

Near a great forest lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little to eat, and once, when a great famine fell on the land, he could no longer get even daily bread. Lying awake at night, tossing in his anxiety, he groaned and said to his wife: “What will 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 into the forest, to the thickest part; there we will light a fire for them, give each of them one more piece of bread, and then we will go to our work and leave them alone. They won’t 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.” “Oh, you fool!” she said. “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 also could not 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. “Don’t worry; 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, and sneaked outside. The moon shone brightly, and the white pebbles that lay in front of the house glittered like real silver pennies. Hansel bent down and stuffed the little pocket of his coat with as many as he could fit in. Then he went back and said to Gretel: “Take heart, dear little sister, and sleep in peace; God will not abandon us,” and he lay down again in his bed. When day dawned, but before the sun had risen, the stepmother came and woke the two children, saying: “Get up, you lazy ones! 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 don’t eat it 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 kept looking back at the house, and did so again and again. His father said: “Hansel, what are you looking at and staying behind for? Pay attention, and don’t 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 shining on the chimneys.” Hansel, however, had not been looking back at a cat; he had been constantly throwing one of the white pebbles out of his pocket onto the road.