15. Hansel and Gretel (Haensel und Gretel)
Once upon a time there dwelt on the outskirts of a large forest a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children; the boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had always little enough to live on, and once, when there was a great famine in the land, he couldn’t even provide them with daily bread. One night, as he was tossing about in bed, full of cares and worry, he sighed and said to his wife: “What’s to become of us? how are we to support our poor children, now that we have nothing more for ourselves?” “I’ll tell you what, husband,” answered the woman; “early to-morrow morning we’ll take the children out into the thickest part of the wood; there we shall light a fire for them and give them each a piece of bread; then we’ll go on to our work and leave them alone. They won’t be able to find their way home, and we shall thus be rid of them.” “No, wife,” said her husband, “that I won’t do; how could I find it in my heart to leave my children alone in the wood? The wild beasts would soon come and tear them to pieces.” “Oh! you fool,” said she, “then we must all four die of hunger, and you may just as well go and plane the boards for our coffins”; and she left him no peace till he consented. “But I can’t help feeling sorry for the poor children,” added the husband.
The children, too, had not been able to sleep for hunger, and had heard what their step-mother had said to their father. Gretel wept bitterly and spoke to Hansel: “Now it’s all up with us.” “No, no, Gretel,” said Hansel, “don’t fret yourself; I’ll be able to find a way to escape, no fear.” And when the old people had fallen asleep he got up, slipped on his little coat, opened the back door and stole out. The moon was shining clearly, and the white pebbles which lay in front of the house glittered like bits of silver. Hansel bent down and filled his pocket with as many of them as he could cram in. Then he went back and said to Gretel: “Be comforted, my dear little sister, and go to sleep: God will not desert us”; and he lay down in bed again.
At daybreak, even before the sun was up, the woman came and woke the two children: “Get up, you lie-abeds, we’re all going to the forest to fetch wood.” She gave them each a bit of bread and said: “There’s something for your luncheon, but don’t you eat it up before, for it’s all you’ll get.” Gretel took the bread under her apron, as Hansel had the stones in his pocket. Then they all set out together on the way to the forest. After they had walked for a little, Hansel stood still and looked back at the house, and this maneuver he repeated again and again. His father observed him, and said: “Hansel, what are you gazing at there, and why do you always remain behind? Take care, and don’t lose your footing.” “Oh! father,” said Hansel, “I am looking back at my white kitten, which is sitting on the roof, waving me a farewell.” The woman exclaimed: “What a donkey you are! that isn’t your kitten, that’s the morning sun shining on the chimney.” But Hansel had not looked back at his kitten, but had always dropped one of the white pebbles out of his pocket on to the path.
When they had reached the middle of the forest the father said: “Now, children, go and fetch a lot of wood, and I’ll light a fire that you may not feel cold.” Hansel and Gretel heaped up brushwood till they had made a pile nearly the size of a small hill. The brushwood was set fire to, and when the flames leaped high the woman said: “Now lie down at the fire, children, and rest yourselves: we are going into the forest to cut down wood; when we’ve finished we’ll come back and fetch you.” Hansel and Gretel sat down beside the fire, and at midday ate their little bits of bread. They heard the strokes of the axe, so they thought their father was quite near. But it was no axe they heard, but a bough he had tied on a dead tree, and that was blown about by the wind. And when they had sat for a long time their eyes closed with fatigue, and they fell fast asleep. When they awoke at last it was pitch dark. Gretel began to cry, and said: “How are we ever to get out of the wood?” But Hansel comforted her. “Wait a bit,” he said, “till the moon is up, and then we’ll find our way sure enough.” And when the full moon had risen he took his sister by the hand and followed the pebbles, which shone like new threepenny bits, and showed them the path. They walked on through the night, and at daybreak reached their father’s house again. They knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it she exclaimed: “You naughty children, what a time you’ve slept in the wood! we thought you were never going to come back.” But the father rejoiced, for his conscience had reproached him for leaving his children behind by themselves.
Not long afterward there was again great dearth in the land, and the children heard their mother address their father thus in bed one night: “Everything is eaten up once more; we have only half a loaf in the house, and when that’s done it’s all up with us. The children must be got rid of; we’ll lead them deeper into the wood this time, so that they won’t be able to find their way out again. There is no other way of saving ourselves.” The man’s heart smote him heavily, and he thought: “Surely it would be better to share the last bite with one’s children!” But his wife wouldn’t listen to his arguments, and did nothing but scold and reproach him. If a man yields once he’s done for, and so, because he had given in the first time, he was forced to do so the second.
But the children were awake, and had heard the conversation. When the old people were asleep Hansel got up, and wanted to go out and pick up pebbles again, as he had done the first time; but the woman had barred the door, and Hansel couldn’t get out. But he consoled his little sister, and said: “Don’t cry, Gretel, and sleep peacefully, for God is sure to help us.”
At early dawn the woman came and made the children get up. They received their bit of bread, but it was even smaller than the time before. On the way to the wood Hansel crumbled it in his pocket, and every few minutes he stood still and dropped a crumb on the ground. “Hansel, what are you stopping and looking about you for?” said the father. “I’m looking back at my little pigeon, which is sitting on the roof waving me a farewell,” answered Hansel. “Fool!” said the wife; “that isn’t your pigeon, it’s the morning sun glittering on the chimney.” But Hansel gradually threw all his crumbs on the path. The woman led the children still deeper into the forest farther than they had ever been in their lives before. Then a big fire was lit again, and the mother said: “Just sit down there, children, and if you’re tired you can sleep a bit; we’re going into the forest to cut down wood, and in the evening when we’re finished we’ll come back to fetch you.” At midday Gretel divided her bread with Hansel, for he had strewn his all along their path. Then they fell asleep, and evening passed away, but nobody came to the poor children. They didn’t awake till it was pitch dark, and Hansel comforted his sister, saying: “Only wait, Gretel, till the moon rises, then we shall see the bread-crumbs I scattered along the path; they will show us the way back to the house.” When the moon appeared they got up, but they found no crumbs, for the thousands of birds that fly about the woods and fields had picked them all up. “Never mind,” said Hansel to Gretel; “you’ll see we’ll find a way out”; but all the same they did not. They wandered about the whole night, and the next day, from morning till evening, but they could not find a path out of the wood. They were very hungry, too, for they had nothing to eat but a few berries they found growing on the ground. And at last they were so tired that their legs refused to carry them any longer, so they lay down under a tree and fell fast asleep.
On the third morning after they had left their father’s house they set about their wandering again, but only got deeper and deeper into the wood, and now they felt that if help did not come to them soon they must perish. At midday they saw a beautiful little snow-white bird sitting on a branch, which sang so sweetly that they stopped still and listened to it. And when its song was finished it flapped its wings and flew on in front of them. They followed it and came to a little house, on the roof of which it perched; and when they came quite near they saw that the cottage was made of bread and roofed with cakes, while the window was made of transparent sugar. “Now we’ll set to,” said Hansel, “and have a regular feast. I’ll eat a bit of the roof, and you, Gretel, can eat some of the window, which you’ll find a sweet morsel.” Hansel stretched up his hand and broke off a little bit of the roof to see what it was like, and Gretel went to the casement and began to nibble at it. Thereupon a shrill voice called out from the room inside:
“Nibble, nibble, little mouse,
Who’s that nibbling at my house?”
The children answered:
“Tis Heaven’s own child,
The tempest wild,”
and went on eating, without putting themselves about. Hansel, who thoroughly appreciated the roof, tore down a big bit of it, while Gretel pushed out a whole round window-pane, and sat down the better to enjoy it. Suddenly the door opened, and an ancient dame leaning on a staff hobbled out. Hansel and Gretel were so terrified that they let what they had in their hands fall. But the old woman shook her head and said: “Oh, ho! you dear children, who led you here? Just come in and stay with me, no ill shall befall you.” She took them both by the hand and let them into the house, and laid a most sumptuous dinner before them—milk and sugared pancakes, with apples and nuts. After they had finished, two beautiful little white beds were prepared for them, and when Hansel and Gretel lay down in them they felt as if they had got into heaven.
The old woman had appeared to be most friendly, but she was really an old witch who had waylaid the children, and had only built the little bread house in order to lure them in. When anyone came into her power she killed, cooked, and ate him, and held a regular feast-day for the occasion. Now witches have red eyes, and cannot see far, but, like beasts, they have a keen sense of smell, and know when human beings pass by. When Hansel and Gretel fell into her hands she laughed maliciously, and said jeeringly: “I’ve got them now; they shan’t escape me.” Early in the morning, before the children were awake, she rose up, and when she saw them both sleeping so peacefully, with their round rosy cheeks, she muttered to herself: “That’ll be a dainty bite.” Then she seized Hansel with her bony hand and carried him into a little stable, and barred the door on him; he might scream as much as he liked, it did him no good. Then she went to Gretel, shook her till she awoke, and cried: “Get up, you lazy-bones, fetch water and cook something for your brother. When he’s fat I’ll eat him up.” Gretel began to cry bitterly, but it was of no use; she had to do what the wicked witch bade her.
So the best food was cooked for poor Hansel, but Gretel got nothing but crab-shells. Every morning the old woman hobbled out to the stable and cried: “Hansel, put out your finger, that I may feel if you are getting fat.” But Hansel always stretched out a bone, and the old dame, whose eyes were dim, couldn’t see it, and thinking always it was Hansel’s finger, wondered why he fattened so slowly. When four weeks had passed and Hansel still remained thin, she lost patience and determined to wait no longer. “Hi, Gretel,” she called to the girl, “be quick and get some water. Hansel may be fat or thin, I’m going to kill him to-morrow and cook him.” Oh! how the poor little sister sobbed as she carried the water, and how the tears rolled down her cheeks! “Kind God help us now!” she cried; “if only the wild beasts in the wood had eaten us, then at least we should have died together.” “Just hold your peace,” said the old hag; “it won’t help you.”
Early in the morning Gretel had to go out and hang up the kettle full of water, and light the fire. “First we’ll bake,” said the old dame; “I’ve heated the oven already and kneaded the dough.” She pushed Gretel out to the oven, from which fiery flames were already issuing. “Creep in,” said the witch, “and see if it’s properly heated, so that we can shove in the bread.” For when she had got Gretel in she meant to close the oven and let the girl bake, that she might eat her up too. But Gretel perceived her intention, and said: “I don’t know how I’m to do it; how do I get in?” “You silly goose!” said the hag, “the opening is big enough; see, I could get in myself,” and she crawled toward it, and poked her head into the oven. Then Gretel gave her a shove that sent her right in, shut the iron door, and drew the bolt. Gracious! how she yelled, it was quite horrible; but Gretel fled, and the wretched old woman was left to perish miserably.
Gretel flew straight to Hansel, opened the little stable-door, and cried: “Hansel, we are free; the old witch is dead.” Then Hansel sprang like a bird out of a cage when the door is opened. How they rejoiced, and fell on each other’s necks, and jumped for joy, and kissed one another! And as they had no longer any cause for fear, they went in the old hag’s house, and here they found, in every corner of the room, boxes with pearls and precious stones. “These are even better than pebbles,” said Hansel, and crammed his pockets full of them; and Gretel said: “I too will bring something home,” and she filled her apron full. “But now,” said Hansel, “let’s go and get well away from the witch’s wood.” When they had wandered about for some hours they came to a big lake. “We can’t get over,” said Hansel; “I see no bridge of any sort or kind.” “Yes, and there’s no ferry-boat either,” answered Gretel; “but look, there swims a white duck; if I ask her she’ll help us over,” and she called out:
“Here are two children, mournful very,
Seeing neither bridge nor ferry;
Take us upon your white back,
And row us over, quack, quack, quack!”
The duck swam toward them, and Hansel got on her back and bade his little sister sit beside him. “No,” answered Gretel, “we should be too heavy a load for the duck: she shall carry us across separately.” The good bird did this, and when they were landed safely on the other side, and had gone for a while, the wood became more and more familiar to them, and at length they saw their father’s house in the distance. Then they set off to run, and bounding into the room fell on their father’s neck. The man had not passed a happy hour since he left them in the wood, but the woman had died. Gretel shook out her apron so that the pearls and precious stones rolled about the room, and Hansel threw down one handful after the other out of his pocket. Thus all their troubles were ended, and they lived happily ever afterward.
Sing everyone,
My story is done,
And look! round the house
There runs a little mouse,
He that can catch her before she scampers in,
May make a large fur cap out of her skin.
My Notes
- This is the translation of May Sellar from Andrew Lang's "The Blue Fairy Book," with minor corrections. The translation of the rhyme at the end is taken from Lucy Crane's translation of the story.
- This is tale type 327A.
- In the original 1810 manuscript, the tale was called "Little Brother and Little Sister," which was used for the title of a different tale in the collection. This leads to the two stories sometimes being confused.
- The female protagonist's name can be variously translated as "Gretel," Grettel," and "Grethel."
- This story was present in all seven editions of Grimms' collection, and was always placed as the fifteenth tale. However, the story was greatly expanded upon as various edits were made, most notably by changing the mother into a stepmother, and adding the adventure with the duck at the end.
1812 version
On the outskirts of a large forest lived a poor woodcutter who had nothing to bite or to break, and hardly any daily bread for his wife and his two children, Hansel and Gretel. One day he was no longer able to manage that either, and didn't know what to do in his distress. As he tossed and turned in bed with worry in the evening, his wife said to him, "Listen, husband. Take the two children tomorrow morning, give each of them a piece of bread, then take them out into the middle of the forest where it is thickest, light them a fire, and then go away and leave them there, for we can feed them no longer."
"No, wife, said the man. "I cannot bring myself to lead my own dear children to the wild beasts that they would soon tear them to pieces"
"If you don't do it," said the woman, "we'll all die of starvation together." And she wouldn't let him rest until he said yes.
The two children were still awake from hunger and had heard everything that their mother had said to their father. Gretel thought it was all over and began to cry miserably, but Hansel said, "Be quiet, Gretel, and don't be sad, I have a plan."
With that he got up, put on his little coat, and opened the lower door and snuck out. The moon shone brightly and the white pebbles shone like silver coin. Hansel bent down and filled his coat pocket with as many pebbles as he could fit, then he went back into the house. "Comfort yourself, Gretel, and sleep peacefully," he said before he lay back on the bed and fell asleep.
Early in the morning, before the sun had even risen, the mother came and woke them both, saying, "Get up, you children, we are going into the forest. He is a piece of bread for each of you, but save it for midday.”
Gretel put the bread under her apron because Hansel had the pebbles in his pocket, and they set off into the forest. After they had walked for a while, Hansel stood still and looked back at the house, and continued to do so again and again.
"Hansel, why are you stopping and looking back?" asked the father. "Take care and march on."
"Oh, father," said Hansel, "I'm looking after my white kitten, who is sitting up on the roof and wants to say goodbye to me."
"Fool," said the mother. "That's not your kitten. That's the morning sun shining on the chimney."
But Hansel hadn't looked after the kitten, but had always thrown one of the shiny pebbles out of his pocket onto the path.
When they came to the middle of the forest, the father said, "Now gather wood, children. I will light a fire so we don't freeze."
Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood up into a small pile. They lit it, and when the flame was burning bright, the mother said, "Now lie down by the fire and go to sleep. We are going to cut wood in the forest. Wait until we come back and fetch you."
Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire until noon, when they each ate their little piece of bread, and then again until evening, but father and mother stayed away and nobody came to fetch them. As the night grew dark, Gretel began to cry, but Hansel said, "Wait a little while, until the moon has risen."
And when the moon had risen, he took Gretel's hand, and there lay the pebbles shimmering like newly minted coins showing them the way. So they walked through the whole night, and when it was morning they came back to their father's house. The father was very happy when he saw his children again, for he had hated to leave them alone. The mother also pretended to be happy, but secretly she was angry.
Not long afterwards, there was again no bread in the house, and Hansel and Gretel heard their mother say to their father in the evening, "The children found their way back one time, and I let it be, but now there is only half a loaf of bread left in the house, so tomorrow you must lead them deeper into the forest so that they cannot come home again. Otherwise there is no help for us."
The man's heart fell heavily and he thought it would be better if if they shared the last morsel with the children, but because he had done so before, he could not say no. Hansel and Gretel overheard their parents talking, and Hansel got up and tried to gather up more pebbles, but when he got to the door his mother had locked it. But he comforted Gretel and said, "Just go to sleep, dear Gretel, for God will help us."
In the morning they received their piece of bread, even smaller than before. On the way Hansel crumbled it in his pocket, and repeatedly stood still to throw a crumb on the ground.
"Why do you always stop and look around, Hansel," said the father. "Keep up with us."
"Oh!" said Hansel. "I'm looking after my little dove, who is sitting on the roof and wants to bid me farewell."
"You fool," said the mother. "That's not your dove. That's the morning sun shining on the chimney."
But Hansel crumbled all his bread and threw the crumbs onto the road.
The mother led them even deeper into the forest, where they had never been in their lives, where they were told to fall asleep again by a big fire, and in the evening their parents would come and fetch them. At noon Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, because he had scattered all of his on the road, Noon passed and evening passed, but no one came to fetch the poor children. Hansel comforted Gretel and said, "Wait until the moon rises, then I will see the crumbs of bread that I have scattered, and they will show us the way home."
The moon rose, but when Hansel looked for the crumbs they were gone, because the thousands of little birds in the forest had found them and picked them up. Hansel still thought he could find his way home and took Gretel with him, but they soon got lost in the great wilderness and walked all night and all day, and fell asleep from exhaustion. They went on again the next day, but they did not come out of the forest, and were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but a few little berries that were left on the ground.
On the third day they walked again until noon, and came to a little house built entirely of bread and covered with cakes, and the windows were of white sugar.
"Let's sit down and eat our fill," said Hansel. "I'll eat from the roof, and you can eat from the window, Gretel, as it will be sweet for you."
Hansel had already eaten a good piece of the roof and Gretel had already eaten a few round window panes and just broke out a new one when they heard her a thin voice calling out from within:
"Nibble, nibble, little mouse,
Who's that nibbling at my house?“
Hansel and Gretel were so frightened that they dropped what they were holding, and immediately afterwards they saw a little old woman walking out of the door . She shook her head and said, "Hello, dear children, where did you run from? Come into the house with me, and you shall have good food."
She took them both by the hand and led them into her little house. Good food was served, milk and pancakes with sugar, apples and nuts, and then two beautiful little beds were prepared, and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them and thought they were in Heaven.
But the old woman was a wicked witch, who ambushed children and had built her little bread house to lure them, and if one came into her power, she killed it, boiled it and ate it, and it was a feast day for her. So she was really happy when Hansel and Gretel came to her.
Early in the morning, before they were awake, she got up and went to the little beds, and when she saw the two resting so lovely, she was happy and thought, "This will be a good meal for you."
She grabbed Hansel and put him in a little stable, and when he woke up he was surrounded by a grating like the ones used to lock up young hens and could only walk a few steps. Then the witch shook Gretel and cried, "Get up, you slacker! Fetch water and go to the kitchen and cook a good meal, your brother is locked in a stable, and I plan to make him fat. When he's fat I will eat him, and you shall be the one to feed him."
Gretel was startled and wept, but had to do what the witch asked. Every day the best food was cooked for Hansel so that he should get fat, but Gretel got nothing but crab shells, and every day the old woman came to Hansel and said, "Hansel, stretch out your fingers so that I can feel if you'll soon be fat enough."
But Hansel kept sticking out a little bone for her, and she was amazed that he didn't gain weight at all.
Four weeks later she said to Gretel one evening, "Be quick; go and bring water! Your little brother may or may not be fat enough, but tomorrow I will kill and boil him, and I will prepare the dough so that we can bake!"
Gretel went with a sad heart and carried the water in which Hansel was to be boiled. Gretel had to get up early in the morning, light the fire and hang up the kettle with water. "Now watch until it boils," said the witch, "and I will light the oven and put the bread in it."
Gretel stood in the kitchen and cried bloody tears, and said to herself, "I would have preferred if the wild animals in the forest had eaten us. Then we would have died together and and wouldn't have such heartache, and I would not myself have to boil the water for my dear brother's death. Dear God, please help us poor children to get out of this trouble!"
Then the old woman said, "Gretel, come over here to the oven,"
When Gretel came, the old woman said, "Look inside and see if the bread is brown and finished. My eyes are weak, and I can't see that far, and if you can't either, sit down on the board and I will push you in, so that you can walk around inside the oven and have a look."
But once Gretel was inside it, she planned to shut the door and bake Gretel in the hot oven, because she wanted to eat her up as well. That's what the wicked witch planned, and that's why she had called Gretel. But God gave Gretel an idea and she said, "I don't know how to do it. Show me first. Sit on it, and I'll push you on it."
So the old woman sat on the board, and, because she was light, Gretel pushed her into the oven as far as she could, and then she quickly shut the door and fastened the iron bolt. The old woman began to scream and cry in the hot oven, but Gretel ran away and she left her to burn miserably.
She ran to Hansel, opened his little door for him, and Hansel jumped out. They kissed each other and were happy. The whole house was full of precious stones and pearls, so they filled their pockets, went away, and found their way home. The father was happy to see them again, because he had not had a happy day since his children were away, and now he became a rich man. But the mother had died.
