Dad: «Once upon a time, there was a …»
Calvin: «Hold it. You know what I’d like to see? I’d like to see the three bears eat the three little pigs, and then the bears join up with the big bad wolf and eat Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood! Tell me a story like that, OK?»
Dad: «And how should Hansel and Gretel meet their untimely demise?»
Calvin: «The witch eats them and then the wolf eats the witch.»
Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Hansel and Gretel is easy to underestimate as a fairy tale. Going back to a mother betraying her own children (not the later step-mother insertion, or worse, the remorseful-but-happy-ending), the father yielding, the witch using care as control … it’s much more than two clever children outwitting a witch.
I used the Grimm translation by Margaret Hunt as basis with some other influences. Removed God and the duck/swan, made the mother a bit more convincingly after reading up on maternal filicide, and the witch a bit more clever. I also went for a non-happy-ending. The father complied when his wife wanted to kill their children — that is not a basis for running in his arms and giving him jewels.
Hansel and Gretel
At the border of a great forest dwelt a poor woodcutter with his wife and their two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. They had little to eat, and once, when a great famine fell upon the land, the woodcutter could no longer procure their daily bread.
At night he lay awake, thinking of the day when there would be nothing at all to put upon the table. He tossed about in his anxiety, groaned, and said to his wife, «What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children when we no longer have anything even for ourselves?»
It was not the first time the mother had wished there were only two at the table. But until that night she had never said so.
«There is a way,» she said. «Early tomorrow morning we will take the children out into the forest, to where it is thickest. There we will light a fire for them and give each of them another piece of bread. Then we will go to our work and leave them alone. They will not find the way home again, and we shall have two fewer mouths to feed.»
«No, wife,» said the man, «I will not do that. How can I bear to leave our children alone in the forest? The wild animals would soon come and tear them to pieces.»
«You fool,» replied his wife. «There is no other way. You are going to get all four of us killed if you cannot do what must be done.»
Then she softened her voice:
«We are only leaving them. What happens afterward is out of our hands. Who knows, someone might find them and take them in.»
She left him no peace until at last he let himself be persuaded and said:
«Perhaps it is for their own good. There may yet be some chance for them in the woods.»
Yet he pitied his poor children and did not believe his own words.
The two children had also been unable to sleep for hunger and had heard what their mother had said to their father.
Gretel wept bitter tears and said to Hansel:
«Now all is over with us.»
«Be quiet, Gretel,» said Hansel. «Do not distress yourself. I will soon find a way to help us.»
And when their parents had fallen asleep, he got up, put on his little coat, opened the house door, and crept outside. The moon shone brightly, and the white pebbles that lay in front of the house glittered like real silver pennies. Hansel stooped and put as many of them into the little pocket of his coat as would fit.
Then he went back and said to Gretel:
«Be comforted, dear little sister, and sleep in peace. We are not forsaken.»
And he lay down again in his bed.
At dawn, before the sun had risen, the woman came and awoke the two children, saying:
«Get up, you sluggards! 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 do not eat it before then, for you will get nothing else.»
Hansel slipped his bread to Gretel, and she tucked both pieces under her apron, for his pockets were full of stones. Then they all set out together on the way to the forest.
When they had walked a short distance, Hansel stood still and peeped back at the house, and did so again and again. His father said:
«Hansel, what are you looking at there, and why are you staying behind? Mind what you are about, and do not forget how to use your legs.»
«Ah, father,» said Hansel, «I am looking at a little white cat sitting on the roof. It wants to say good-bye to me.»
The wife said, «Fool, there is no cat there. That is the morning sun shining on the chimneys.»
Hansel, however, had not been looking at the cat. Each time he stopped, he dropped one of the white pebbles from his pocket behind him.
When they had gone far into the forest, the father said:
«Now, children, pile up some wood, and I will light a fire so that you may not be cold.»
Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood together until it was as high as a little hill. The brushwood was lighted, and when the flames were burning very high, the woman said:
«Now, children, lie down by the fire and rest. We will go and cut some wood. When we have done, we will come back and fetch you away. Do not worry. Everything will be fine.»
Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire and watched the sunlight move through the leaves, the birds sing, and the insects fly and crawl.
When noon came, each ate a little piece of bread, and when they heard the strokes of the axe, they believed that their father was near. But the sound they took for the axe came from a branch their father had fastened to a withered tree, so that the wind knocked it backward and forward against the trunk.
They had been sitting so long that at last their eyes closed with weariness, and they fell fast asleep.
When they awoke, night had fallen. It was growing cold, and now that the birds were silent, every little sound in the forest seemed near. Something rustled among the dead leaves. Far off an owl called, and once they heard some heavy creature moving through the brush.
Gretel began to cry and said, «How are we to get out of the forest now?»
But Hansel comforted her and said, «Just wait a little until the moon has risen, and then we will soon find the way.»
And when the full moon had risen, the pebbles shone like newly coined silver pieces. Hansel took his little sister by the hand and followed them, stopping at each pebble until he saw the next. The moonlit forest threw long and deep shadows, but though they were often frightened, they knew the stones would lead them home.
They walked the whole night long and by break of day came once more to their parents’ house. They knocked at the door, and when their mother opened it and saw them, she jeered:
«You naughty children, why have you slept so long in the forest? We thought you were never coming back at all!»
The father, however, rejoiced, for it had cut him to the heart to leave them behind alone.
Not long afterward, famine pressed hard upon the land once more. One night, the children heard their mother saying to their father:
«How are we to feed them? Everything is eaten again. We have half a loaf left, and after that there is an end. The children must go. We will take them farther into the wood so that they will not find their way out again. There is no other way to save ourselves!»
The man thought, ‹Better the four of us go hungry together than that I leave them there again.›
But his wife went on, and he answered nothing.
«You agreed to it once. Do not draw back now. We began it together, and this time we must do it properly.»
And as he had let himself be persuaded the first time, he let himself be persuaded a second time.
The children, however, were still awake and had heard the conversation. When their parents were asleep, Hansel again got up and tried to go out and gather pebbles as he had done before.
But after the children returned the first time, their mother had wondered how they had found their way home. The next night she had gone outside and found the shining white pebbles along the road.
So this time she had locked the house door, and Hansel could not get out. No matter where he looked, he could find nothing in the house that he might use to mark their way. Still, he comforted his little sister and said:
«Do not cry, Gretel. Go to sleep quietly. At least we will not forsake each other.»
Early in the morning their mother woke them and took them out of their beds. She gave each of them a bit of bread, but it was smaller still than the time before.
On the way into the forest, Hansel crumbled his bread in his pocket. Often he stood still and bit his lip as he threw a morsel onto the ground.
«Hansel, why do you stop and look around?» said the father. «Go on.»
«I am looking back at a little pigeon sitting on the roof. It wants to say good-bye to me,» answered Hansel.
«Simpleton!» said the mother. «There is no pigeon there. That is the morning sun shining on the chimney.»
Hansel, however, little by little, threw all the crumbs behind him.
Their parents led them still deeper into the forest, where they had never in their lives been before. Then a great fire was again made, and the mother said:
«Just sit there, you children, and when you are tired you may sleep a little. We are going into the forest to cut wood, and in the evening, when we are done, we will come and fetch you away.»
The forest was peaceful, and the sun shone through the trees. At noon, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hansel, who had scattered his bread along the way. Then they fell asleep, and evening came and went, but no one came to the poor children.
They did not wake until night had fallen, and Hansel comforted his little sister and said:
«Just wait, Gretel, until the moon rises, and then we shall see the crumbs of bread that I have strewn behind us. They will show us our way home again.»
But when the moon rose, they could find no trail. Hansel searched beneath the trees, but even where the birds had missed a crumb, the brown bread was lost among the leaves and roots.
Still he said to Gretel, «We shall soon find the way.»
But they did not find it.
Though the moon was nearly full, the forest was cold and dark, and the trees threw long and deep shadows. The children shuddered to think what wild beasts might be lurking there to tear them to pieces as they tried to find their way back.
They walked the whole night and all the next day too, from morning until evening. But they did not get out of the forest, and they were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but two or three berries that grew upon the ground. And as they were so weary that their legs would carry them no farther, they lay down beneath a tree and fell asleep.
It was now three mornings since they had left their parents’ house. They began to walk again, but they only wandered deeper into the forest. If help did not come soon, they would die of hunger and weariness.
They cried aloud, but the forest gave them no answer.
At midday they saw a beautiful snow-white bird sitting upon a bough. It sang so delightfully that they stood still and listened to it. And when it had finished its song, it spread its wings and flew away before them. They followed it until they reached a little house, upon the roof of which it settled.
When they came up to the little house, they saw that it was built of bread and covered with cakes, and that the windows were of clear sugar.
«We shall eat our fill,» said Hansel. «I will eat a bit of the roof, and you, Gretel, can eat some of the window. It will taste sweet.»
«It is strange. Who can have built a house of bread here?» asked Gretel.
«Strange or not, I am starving,» said Hansel.
He reached up and broke off a little of the roof to see how it tasted. Gretel leaned against the window and nibbled at the panes.
Then a voice called from within:
«Nibble, nibble, little mouse,
Who is nibbling at my house?»
The children answered:
«The wind, the wind,
Only the wind,»
and went on eating.
Hansel liked the sweetness of the roof and tore down a great piece of it. Gretel pushed out the whole of one round windowpane, sat down, and ate it.
Everything they ate was sweet upon the tongue, but when they swallowed, their bellies were as empty as before. So Hansel broke off another piece.
Suddenly the door opened, and a very old woman came slowly out, bent with age and leaning upon a gnarled walking stick. Hansel and Gretel were so terribly frightened that they let fall what they had in their hands.
The old woman, however, nodded her head, smiled kindly, and said:
«Oh, you dear children, who has brought you here? Do come in and stay with me, for your own good. I will help you and protect you from harm.»
She took them both by the hand and led them into her little house. Then good food was set before them, milk and pancakes, sugar, apples, and nuts. The children ate their fill until warmth returned to their bellies and sleep grew heavy upon them.
Afterward the old woman made up two pretty little beds with clean white linen and asked them to lie down and rest. Hansel and Gretel lay down in them, relieved at last, for they thought their troubles were over.
Early the next morning, before the children were awake, the old woman was already up. When she saw them sleeping there, with color once more in their cheeks, she muttered to herself:
«That will be a dainty mouthful!»
Then she lifted the sleeping Hansel from his bed, carried him into a little stable, and shut him behind a grated door.
Then she went to Gretel, shook her until she awoke, and cried:
«Get up, lazy thing! Fetch some water and cook something good for your brother. He is in the stable outside and must get some meat on his bones.»
«Why have you put him in the stable?» asked Gretel.
«So that he may have fresh air and still be safe from harm. No forest beast can get at him there,» replied the old woman. «Now stop questioning me and do what I say. I know what is best for you.»
Gretel wept bitterly, but the old woman gave her no rest until she obeyed.
From then on Gretel had to cook the best food for poor Hansel, while she herself received nothing but scraps. But whenever Gretel brought him his food, Hansel quickly gave half of it back to her. Gretel glanced toward the old woman, but the old woman’s cloudy eyes were fixed somewhere beyond them.
And while she cooked, Gretel discovered bones among the ashes. She passed one to Hansel when she brought him his food.
«Those are not chicken bones,» whispered Hansel.
Hansel kept the little bone.
A few days later, the witch began to come each morning to the little stable and cry:
«Hansel, stretch out your finger so that I may feel whether you will soon be fat.»
Hansel stretched out the little bone to her. The witch felt it and, with her dim eyes, took it for Hansel’s finger. So she wondered why the boy would not grow fat.
When four weeks had gone by and what she took for Hansel’s finger was still as thin as ever, the witch grew impatient and would wait no longer.
«Gretel,» she cried to the girl, «make haste and bring some water. Let Hansel be fat or lean. Tomorrow I will feast.»
Ah, how the poor little sister lamented when she had to fetch the water, and how her tears flowed down her cheeks!
«If the wild beasts in the forest had but devoured us,» she cried, «we would at least have died together.»
«Hold your tongue,» said the witch. «Have I not been kind to your brother and fed him these four weeks? And have you not served me all this while? You shall serve me to the end.»
Early in the morning, Gretel had to hang the cauldron, fill it with water, and light the fire beneath it.
«We will bake first,» said the witch. «I have already heated the oven and kneaded the dough.»
She pushed poor Gretel toward the oven, from which flames were already darting.
«Creep in,» said the witch, «and see whether it is properly heated, so that we can put the bread in.»
The witch licked her lips and looked hungrily at Gretel.
Gretel looked at the open oven, then at the witch.
«I do not know how I am to do it. How do you get in?»
«Stupid goose,» said the witch. «Must I show you everything? The door is big enough. Look, I can get in myself!»
She went up to the oven and thrust her head inside.
Then Gretel gave her a push that sent her far into it, shut the iron door, and fastened the bolt.
Oh, how horribly the witch howled! Behind the iron door she shrieked and cursed until at last her voice fell silent. By then she had burned miserably to death.
Gretel, however, ran like lightning to Hansel, opened the grated door, and cried:
«Hansel, we are saved! The old witch is dead!»
Then Hansel sprang out like a bird from a cage when its door is opened.
How they did rejoice and embrace each other, and dance about and kiss each other! And as they had no need to fear the witch any longer, they searched her house. There they found chests full of pearls and jewels.
«These are far better than pebbles!» said Hansel, and thrust into his pockets as much as they would hold.
«I, too, will take some,» said Gretel, and filled her pinafore full.
«But now we will go away,» said Hansel, «that we may get out of the witch’s forest.»
«But how will we find our way through the forest?» asked Gretel.
Then they heard the beautiful snow-white bird singing outside and followed it to the back of the house. There sat another snow-white bird in a tiny cage.
Hansel opened the door at once.
The bird flew straight to its mate. Then the two birds spread their wings and flew away before the children.
Hansel and Gretel followed them for a long time, until the forest grew more and more familiar.
Suddenly they heard a hoarse voice calling their names. Hansel and Gretel looked at each other.
«Father,» they said.
Soon they saw him at some distance. His coat was torn by thorns, his shoes were thick with mud, and his beard had grown rough and unkempt. He stumbled through the forest, calling their names.
When he saw them, he ran toward them with outstretched arms. But Hansel and Gretel stood still. Then Gretel gripped Hansel’s hand and stood close beside him.
He stopped a few steps in front of them.
«I left you,» he said. «I left you to die.»
Then he wept.
«I have looked for you every day.»
«Mother?» asked Gretel.
The father lowered his head.
«Dead.»
Hansel and Gretel said nothing. Then the three of them went home together. There was bread enough in the house after that, and no child went hungry at the table.
Before they went to bed, their father laid two small house keys upon the table, one before Hansel and one before Gretel.
And so the three of them began again.