Once upon a time a
very poor woodcutter lived in a tiny cottage in the forest with his two
children, Hansel and Gretel. His second wife often ill-treated the children
and was forever nagging the woodcutter.
"There is not enough food in the house for us all. There
are too many mouths to feed! We must get rid of the two brats," she
declared. And she kept on trying to persuade her husband to abandon his
children in the forest.
"Take them miles from home, so far that they can never find
their way back! Maybe someone will find them and give them a home." The
downcast woodcutter didn't know what to do. Hansel who, one evening, had
overheard his parents' conversation, comforted Gretel.
"Don't worry! If they do leave us in the forest, we'll find
the way home," he said. And slipping out of the house he filled his
pockets with little white pebbles, then went back to bed.
All night long, the woodcutter's wife harped on and on at her
husband till, at dawn, he led Hansel and Gretel away into the forest. But as
they went into the depths of the trees, Hansel dropped a little white pebble
here and there on the mossy green ground. At a certain point, the two
children found they really were alone: the woodcutter had plucked up enough
courage to desert
them, had mumbled an excuse and was gone.
Night fell but the woodcutter did not return. Gretel began to
sob bitterly. Hansel too felt scared but he tried to hide his feelings and
comfort his sister.
"Don't cry, trust me! I swear I'll take you home even if
Father doesn't come back for us!" Luckily the moon was full that night
and Hansel waited till its cold light filtered through the trees.
"Now give me your hand!" he said. "We'll get home
safely, you'll see!" The tiny white pebbles gleamed in the moonlight,
and the children found their way home. They crept through a half open window,
without wakening their parents. Cold, tired but thankful to be home again,
they slipped into bed.
Next day, when their stepmother discovered that Hansel and
Gretel had returned, she went into a rage. Stifling her anger in front of the
children, she locked her bedroom door, reproaching her husband for failing to
carry out her orders. The weak woodcutter protested, torn as he was between
shame and fear of disobeying his cruel wife. The wicked stepmother kept
Hansel and Gretel under lock and key all day with nothing for supper but a
sip of water and some hard bread. All night, husband and wife quarreled, and
when dawn came, the woodcutter led the children out into the forest.
Hansel, however, had not eaten his bread, and as he walked
through the trees, he left a trail of crumbs behind him to mark the way. But
the little boy had forgotten about the hungry birds that lived in the forest.
When they saw him, they flew along behind and in no time at all, had eaten
all the crumbs. Again, with a lame excuse, the woodcutter left his two
children by
themselves.
"I've left a trail, like last time!" Hansel whispered
to Gretel, consolingly. But when night fell, they saw to their horror, that
all the crumbs had gone.
"I'm frightened!" wept Gretel bitterly. "I'm cold
and hungry and I want to go home!"
"Don't be afraid. I'm here to look after you!" Hansel
tried to encourage his sister, but he too shivered when he glimpsed
frightening shadows and evil eyes around them in the darkness. All night the
two children huddled together for warmth at the foot of a large tree.
When dawn broke, they started to wander about the forest, seeking
a path, but all hope soon faded. They were well and truly lost. On they
walked and walked, till suddenly they came upon a strange cottage in the
middle of a glade.
"This is chocolate!" gasped Hansel as he broke a lump
of plaster from the wall.
"And this is icing!" exclaimed Gretel, putting another
piece of wall in her mouth. Starving but delighted, the children began to eat
pieces of candy broken off the cottage.
"Isn't this delicious?" said Gretel, with her mouth
full. She had never tasted anything so nice.
"We'll stay here," Hansel declared, munching a bit of
nougat. They were just about to try a piece of the biscuit door when it
quietly swung open.
"Well, well!" said an old woman, peering out with a
crafty look. "And haven't you children a sweet tooth?"
"Come in! Come in, you've nothing to fear!" went on
the old woman. Unluckily for Hansel and Gretel, however, the sugar candy
cottage belonged to an old witch, her trap for catching unwary victims. The
two children had come to a really nasty place.
"You're nothing but skin and bones!" said the witch,
locking Hansel into a cage. I shall fatten you up and eat you!"
"You can do the housework," she told Gretel grimly,
"then I'll make a meal of you too!" As luck would have it, the
witch had very bad eyesight, an when Gretel smeared butter on her glasses,
she could see even less.
"Let me feel your finger!" said the witch to Hansel
every day to check if he was getting any fatter. Now, Gretel had brought her
brother a chicken bone, and when the witch went to touch his finger, Hansel
held out the bone.
"You're still much too thin!" she complained. When
will you become plump?" One day the witch grew tired of waiting.
"Light the oven," she told Gretel. "We're going
to have a tasty roasted boy today!" A little later, hungry and
impatient, she went on: "Run and see if the oven is hot enough."
Gretel returned, whimpering: "I can't tell if it is hot enough or
not." Angrily, the witch screamed at the little girl: "Useless
child! All right, I'll see for myself." But when the witch bent down to
peer inside the oven and check the heat, Gretel gave her a tremendous push
and slammed the oven door shut. The witch had come to a fit and proper end.
Gretel ran to set her brother free and they made quite sure that the oven
door was tightly shut behind the witch. Indeed, just to be on the safe side,
they fastened it firmly with a large padlock. Then they stayed for several
days to
eat some more of the house, till they discovered amongst the witch's
belongings, a huge chocolate egg. Inside lay a casket of gold coins.
"The witch is now burnt to a cinder," said Hansel,
"so we'll take this treasure with us." They filled a large basket
with food and set off into the forest to search for the way home. This time,
luck was with them, and on the second day, they saw their father come out of
the house towards them, weeping.
"Your stepmother is dead. Come home with me now, my dear
children!" The two children hugged the woodcutter.
"Promise you'll never ever desert us again," said
Gretel, throwing her arms round her father's neck. Hansel opened the
casket.
"Look, Father! We're rich now . . . You'll never have to
chop wood again."
And they all lived happily together ever after.
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