N=NARRATOR/B=BROTHER[Hansel]/S=SISTER[Gretel]/F=FATHER/W=WITCH/SA=STEPMOTHER

N: Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little to bite and to break, and once when great dearth fell on the land, he could no longer procure even daily bread.

F: [LOOK AT THE STEP MOTHER]:What is to become of us. How are we to feed our poor children, when we no longer have anything even for ourselves

SA: I'll tell you what, husband early to-morrow morning we will take the children out into the forest to where it is the thickest. There we will light a fire for them, and give each of them one more piece of bread, and then we will go to our work and leave them alone. They will not find the way home again, and we shall be rid of them.

F: No, wife, I will not do that. How can I bear to leave my children alone in the forest. The wild animals would soon come and kill them

SA: O' you fool then we must all die of hunger

F: But I feel very sorry for the poor children

N: The two children had also not been able to sleep for hunger, and had heard what their step-mother had said to their father.

S: [LOOK AT BROTHER]:now all is over with us

B: Do not distress yourself, I will soon find a way to help us." said Hansel.

N: And when the old folks had fallen asleep, he got up, put on his little coat, opened the door below, and crept outside. The moon shone brightly, and the white pebbles which lay in front of the house glittered like real silver pennies. Hansel stooped and stuffed the little pocket of his coat with as many as he could get in.Next day before the sun had risen, the woman came and awoke the two children. She gave each a little piece of bread, and said[STEP MOTHER JUST PRETEND TO GIVE THEM BREAD]

SA: There is something for your dinner, but do not eat it up before then, for you will get nothing else

N:Gretel took the bread under her apron, as Hansel had the pebbles in his pocket.[ BROTHER AND SISTER JUST PRETEND TO HIDE THE BREAD]

Then they all set out together on the way to the forest. When they had walked a short time, Hansel stood still and peeped back at the house, and did so again and again.

F: Hansel, what are you looking at there and staying behind for. Pay attention, and do not forget how to use your legs

B: Ah, father, I am looking at my little white cat, which is sitting up on the roof, and wants to say good-bye to me

SA: Fool, that is not your little cat, that is the morning sun which is shining on the chimneys

N: Hansel, however, had not been looking back at the cat, but had been constantly throwing one of the white pebble-stones out of his pocket on the road.

N: When they had reached the middle of the forest

F: Now, children, pile up some wood, and I will light a fire that you may not be cold.

SA: Now, children, we will go into the forest and cut some wood. When we have done, we will come back and fetch you away

N: Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when noon came, each ate a little piece of bread, and as they heard the strokes of the wood-axe they believed that their father was near. And as they had been sitting such a long time, they fell asleep. When at last they awoke, it was already dark night.

S: [began to cry]How are we to get out of the forest now.

B: Just wait a little, until the moon has risen, and then we will soon find the way.

N: And when the full moon had risen, Hansel took his little sister by the hand, and followed the pebbles to their father's house. They knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel

Sa: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 afterwards, there was once more great dearth throughout the land, and the children heard their mother saying at night to their father

S: Everything is eaten again, we have one half loaf left. The children must go, we will take them farther into the wood, so that they will not find their way out again

N: The man's heart was heavy, but the woman, however, would listen to nothing that he had to say, but scolded him. The children, however, were still awake and had heard the conversation. When the old folks were asleep, Hansel again got up, and wanted to go out and pick up pebbles as he had done before, but the woman had locked the door, and Hansel could not get out. Nevertheless he comforted his little sister

B: Do not cry, Gretel, go to sleep quietly, the good God will help us.

N: Early in the morning the woman took the children out of their beds. Their piece of bread was given to them, but it was smaller than the time before. On the way into the forest Hansel crumbled them in his pocket, and often stood still and threw a morsel on the ground.

F: Hansel, why do you stop and look round, go on.

B: I am looking back at my little pigeon which is sitting on the roof, and wants to say good-bye to me

SA: Fool, that is not your little pigeon, that is the morning sun that is shining on the chimney.

N: Hansel, however, little by little, threw all the crumbs on the path. [BROTHER PRETEND TO DO SO]

N: The woman led the children 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

SA: Just sit there, children, we are going into the forest to cut wood, and in the evening we will come and fetch you away

N: When it was noon, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hansel. Then they fell asleep and evening passed, but no one came to them.

B: Just wait, Gretel, until the moon rises, and then we shall see the crumbs of bread, they will show us our way home again.

N: When the moon came they set out, but they found no crumbs, for the birds had picked them all up.

B: We shall soon find the way

N: But they did not find it. They walked the whole night and all the next day from morning till evening, but they did not get out of the forest.

N: It was now three mornings since they had left their father's house. They began to walk again, but they came deeper into the forest. When it was mid-day, they saw a beautiful white bird sitting on a bough, which sang so delightfully that they stood still and listened to it. And when its song was over, it spread its wings and flew away before them, and they followed it until they reached a little house which was built of bread and covered with cakes, the windows were covered with sugar.

B: Let’s work on that and have a good meal. Gretel, eat some of the window, it tastes sweet.

W: Who is nibbling at my little house."

N: Suddenly the door opened, and a old woman came creeping out. Hansel and Gretel were so terribly frightened that they let fall what they had in their hands.

W: [nodded YOUR head]Oh, you dear children, come in, and stay with me. No harm shall happen to you.

N: She took them both by the hand, and led them into her little house. Then good food was set before them, milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples, and nuts. Afterwards two pretty little beds were covered with clean white linen, and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them, and thought they were in heaven. The old woman had only pretended to be so kind. She was a wicked witch, have red eyes, and cannot see far, who lay in wait for children, and when a child fell into her power, she killed it, cooked and ate it, and that was a feast day with her.

Early in the morning before the children were awake, she carried Hansel into a little stable, and locked him in behind a grated door.

W[LOOK AT SISTER]:Get up, lazy thing, fetch some water, and cook something good for your brother, he is in the stable outside. When he is fat, I will eat him!

S:[ BEGAN TO WEEP]

N: Every morning the woman crept to the little stable, and cried

W: Hansel, stretch out your finger that I may feel if you will soon be fat.

N: Hansel stretched out a little bone to her, and the old woman, who had dim eyes, could not see it, and thought it was Hansel's finger, and was astonished that there was no way of fattening him. When four weeks had gone by, and Hansel still remained thin, she was impatient to wait any longer.

W: Now, then, Gretel Let Hansel be fat or lean, to-morrow I will kill him, and cook him."

S: Dear God, do help us If the wild beasts in the forest had but devoured us, we should at any rate have died together

W: Just keep your noise to yourself, it won't help you at all.

N: Early in the morning, Gretel had to go out and hang up the cauldron with the water, and light the fire.

W: We will bake first, I have already heated the oven."

W: [pushed Gretel into the oven]Creep in, and see if it properly heated, so that we can put the bread in.

N: And once Gretel was inside, she intended to shut the oven and let her bake in it, and then she would eat her, too.

B: I do not know how to get in."

W: Silly goose ! the door is big enough. Just look, I can get in myself

W: [crept up into the oven]

B: [gave her a push that drove her far into it, shut the iron door and fastened the bolt]

B: [ran to Hansel, opened his little stable]Hansel, we are saved. The old witch is dead

S: now we must get out of the witch's forest.

N: When they had walked for two hours, they came to a great stretch of water.

S: We cannot cross I see no foot-plank, and no bridge.

B: And there is also no ferry but a white duck is swimming there.

N: The duck came to them, and when they were safely across and had walked for a short time, the forest seemed to be more and more familiar to them, and at length they saw their father's house. Then they began to run, and threw themselves round their father's neck. The man had not known one happy hour since he had left the children in the forest. The woman, however, was dead. Then all anxiety was at an end, and they lived together in perfect happiness. My tale is done, there runs a mouse, whosoever catches it, may make himself a big fur cap out of it.