At the edge of a great forest, there once lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children. The little boy was called Hansel, and the girl's name was Gretel. There was never much to eat in the house, and once, during a famine, the woodcutter could no longer put bread on the table. At night, he lay in bed worrying, tossing and turning in his distress. He sighed and said to his wife: "What will become of us? How can we provide for our poor children when we don't even have enough for ourselves?"

"Listen to me," answered the wife. "Tomorrow at the break of day we'll take the children out into the darkest part of the woods. We'll make a fire for them and give them each a piece of bread. Then we'll go about our work and leave them alone. They'll never find their way home, and then we'll be rid of them."

"No," her husband replied. "I won't do it. How could I have the heart to leave the children all alone in the woods when wild beasts would surely come and tear them to pieces?"

"You fool," she said. "Then all four of us will starve to death. You might as well start planing the boards for our coffins."

She didn't give him a moment's peace until he consented. "But still, I feel sorry for the poor children," he said.

The two children hadn't been able to sleep either, because they were so hungry, and they heard everything that their stepmother had said to their father. Gretel wept bitter tears and said to Hansel: "Well, now we're lost."

"Be quiet, Gretel," said Hansel, "and stop worrying. I'll figure out something."

As soon as the old folks had fallen asleep, he got up, put on his little jacket, opened the lower half of the door, and slipped out. The moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles in front of the house were glittering like silver coins. Hansel stooped down and put as many as would fit into his jacket pocket. Then he went back and said to Gretel: "Don't worry, dear little sister. Sleep peacefully. God will not forsake us." And he went back to bed.

At daybreak, just before the sun had risen, the wife came and woke the two children. "Get up, you lazybones, we're going to go into the forest to get some wood."

The wife gave each child a little piece of bread and said: "Here's something for lunch. But don't eat it before then, because you're not getting anything else."

Gretel put the bread under her apron because Hansel had the pebbles in his pocket. Then they all set out together on the path into the forest. After a little while, Hansel stopped to look back at the house. He did that again and again. His father said: "Hansel, why are you always stopping and staring? Watch out, and don't forget what your legs are for."

"Oh, Father," said Hansel. "I'm looking at my white kitten, which is sitting up on the roof trying to bid me farewell."

The woman said: "You fool, that's not your kitten. Those are the rays of the sun, shining on the chimney."

But Hansel had not been looking at the kitten. He had been taking the shiny pebbles from his pocket and dropping them on the ground.

When they arrived in the middle of the forest, the father said: "Go gather some wood, children. I'll build a fire so that you won't get cold."

Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood until they had a little pile of it. The brushwood was lit, and when the flames were high enough, the. woman said: "Now lie down by the fire, children, and get some rest. We're going into the forest to chop some wood. When we're done, we'll come back to get you."

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire. At noon they ate their little pieces of bread. Since they could hear the sounds of an ax, they were sure that their father was close by. But it wasn't an ax that they heard, it was a branch that their father had fastened to a dead tree, and the wind was banging it back and forth. They were sitting there for such a long time that finally their eyes closed from fatigue, and they fell fast asleep. When they awoke, it was pitch dark. Gretel began to cry and said: "How will we ever get out of the woods!"

Hansel comforted her: "Just wait until the moon has risen. Then we will find the way back."

And when the full moon had risen, Hansel took his sister by the hand and followed the pebbles, which were shimmering like newly minted coins and pointed the way for them. They walked all night long and arrived at their father's house just as day was breaking. They knocked at the door, and when the woman opened the door and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel, she said: "You wicked children! Why did you sleep so long in the woods? We thought you weren't ever going to come back."

But the father was overjoyed, because he had been upset at how he had abandoned them in the forest.

Not long after that, every square inch of the country was stricken by famine, and one night the children could hear what the mother was saying to their father when they were in bed: "We've eaten everything up again. All that's left is half a loaf of bread, then the jig's up. The children have to go. This time we'll take them deeper into the forest so that they won't find the way out. Otherwise there's no hope for us."

Her husband's heart was heavy, and he thought: "It would be better if you shared the last crumb of bread with your children." But the woman would not listen to anything that he said. She fussed and berated him. In for a penny, in for a pound, and since he had given in the first time, he had to give in a second time.

The children were still awake and had heard the conversation. When their parents had fallen asleep, Hansel got up and wanted to go out to pick up some pebbles as he had the last time, but the woman had locked the door, and Hansel couldn't get out. But he comforted his sister and said: "Don't cry, Gretel. Just sleep peacefully. The Lord will protect us."

Early the next morning the woman came and woke the children up. They each got a little piece of bread, this time even smaller than last time. On the way into the woods, Hansel crushed the bread in his pocket and would often stop to scatter crumbs on the ground.

"Hansel, why are you stopping and staring?" asked the father. "Keep going!"

"I'm looking at my little dove, the one sitting on the roof and trying to bid me farewell," Hansel replied.

"Fool," said the woman. "That isn't your little dove. Those are the rays of the morning sun shining up on the chimney."

After a while, Hansel had scattered all the crumbs on the path.

The woman took the children even deeper into the woods, where they had never been before in their lives. Once again a large fire was built, and the mother said: "Don't move from there, children. If you get tired, you can sleep for a while. We're going to go into the forest to chop wood. In the evening, when we're done, we'll come to get you."

At noon Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, who had scattered bits of his piece on the path. Then they fell asleep. The evening went by, but no one came to get the poor children. They awoke when it was pitch dark, and Hansel comforted his sister by saying: "Just wait, Gretel, until the moon rises. Than we will be able to see the crumbs of bread I scattered. They will point the way home for us."

When the moon rose, they set off, but they couldn't find the crumbs because the many thousands of birds flying about in the forest and over the fields had eaten them. Hansel said to Gretel: "We'll find the way back," but they didn't find it. They walked all night long and then another day from early in the morning until late at night. But they couldn't find their way out of the woods, and they got more and more hungry, for they had nothing to eat but a few berries they found on the ground. When they became so tired that their legs would no longer carry them, they lay down under a tree and fell asleep.

It was now the third morning after they had left their father's house. They started walking again, but they just got deeper and deeper into the woods. If they didn't get help soon, they were sure to perish. At noon they saw a beautiful bird, white as snow, perched on a branch. It was singing so beautifully that they stopped to listen. When it had finished its song, it flapped its wings and flew on ahead of them. They followed it until they came to a little house, and the bird perched on its roof. As they approached the house, they realized that it was built of bread and had a roof made of cake and transparent windows of sugar.

"Let's see what it tastes like," said Hansel. "May the Lord bless our meal. I'll try a piece of the roof, Gretel, and you can try the window. That's sure to taste sweet." Hansel reached up and broke off a small piece of the roof to see what it tasted like. Gretel went over to the windowpane and nibbled on it. Suddenly a gentle voice called from inside:
"Nibble, nibble, is it a mouse?
Who's that nibbling at my house?"
The children replied:
"The wind so mild,
The heavenly child."
and they continued eating, without getting distracted. Hansel, who liked the taste of the roof, tore off a big piece of it, and Gretel knocked out an entire windowpane and sat down on the ground to savor it. Suddenly the door opened, and a woman as old as the hills, leaning on a crutch, hobbled out. Hansel and Gretel were so terrified that they dropped everything in their hands. The old woman said, with her head shaking: "Well, dear children, how in the world did you get here? Come right inside and stay with me. You will not meet with any harm here."

She took them by the hand and led them into her little house. They were served a wonderful meal of milk and pancakes with sugar, apples, and nuts. Later, two beautiful little beds were made up with white sheets. Hansel and Gretel lay down in them and felt as if they were in heaven.

The old woman had only pretended to be so friendly. She was really a wicked witch, who lay in wait for children. She had built the little house of bread just to lure them inside. As soon as a child was in her power, she killed it, cooked it, and ate it. That was a real feast day for her. Witches have red eyes and can't see very far, but they have a keen sense of smell, like animals, and they can always tell when a human being is around. When Hansel and Gretel got near her, she laughed fiendishly and sneered: "They're mine! This time they won't get away from me!" Early in the morning, before the children were awake, she got out of bed and looked at the two of them resting so sweetly, with their full red cheeks. She muttered to herself: "They will make a tasty morsel."

Then she grabbed Hansel with her scrawny hand, took him to a small shed, and closed the barred door on him. He could cry as loud as he wanted, it did him no good. Then she went over to Gretel, shook her until she woke up, and cried out: "Get up, lazy bones, fetch some water and cook your brother something good. He's staying outside in a shed, waiting to be fattened up. When he's put on enough weight, I'll eat him."

Gretel began to cry bitter tears, but it did no good. She had to do what the wicked witch demanded. The finest food was cooked for poor Hansel, and Gretel got nothing but crab shells. Every morning the old woman would slink over to the little shed and cry out: "Hansel, hold out your finger so that I can tell if you're plump enough."

Hansel would stick a little bone out, and the old woman, who had poor eyesight, thought that it was Hansel's finger and wondered why he wasn't putting on weight. When four weeks had passed and Hansel was still as scrawny as ever, she lost her patience and decided not to wait any longer. "Hey there, Gretel," she called out to the girl, "go get some water and be quick about it. I don't care whether Hansel's plump or scrawny. He's going to be slaughtered tomorrow, and then I'll cook him."

"Oh," the poor little sister wailed, and how the tears flowed down her cheeks! "Dear God, help us," she cried out. "If only the wild animals in the forest had eaten us, at least then we would have died together."

"Spare me your blubbering!" the old woman said. "Nothing can help you now."

Early in the morning Gretel had to go fill the kettle with water and light the fire. "First we'll do some baking," the old woman said. "I've already heated up the oven and kneaded the dough."

She pushed poor Gretel over to the oven, from which flames were leaping. "Crawl in," said the witch, "and see if it's hot enough to slide the bread in."

The witch was planning to shut the door as soon as Gretel got into the oven. Then she was going to bake her and eat her up too. But Gretel saw what was on her mind and said: "I don't know how to get in there. How can I manage it?"

"Silly goose," said the old woman. "The opening is big enough. Just look. Even I can get in," and she scrambled over to it and stuck her head in the oven. Gretel gave her a big push that sent her sprawling. Then she shut the iron door and bolted it. Phew! the witch began screeching dreadfully. But Gretel ran away and the godless witch burned miserably to death.

Gretel ran straight to Hansel, opened the little shed and cried out: "Hansel, we're saved! The old witch is dead."

Hansel hopped out as soon as the door opened, like a bird leaving its cage. How thrilled they were: they hugged and kissed, and jumped up and down for joy! Since there was nothing more to fear, they went right into the witch's house. In every corner there were chests filled with pearls and jewels. "These are even better than pebbles," said Hansel and put what he could into his pockets.

Gretel said, "I'll take something home too," and she filled up her little apron.

"Let's get going now," said Hansel. "We need to get out of this witch's forest."

When they had walked for a few hours, they reached a large body of water. "We can't get across," said Hansel. "There's not a bridge in sight."

"There aren't any ships around," Gretel said, "but here comes a white duck. It will help us cross, if I ask it." She called out:
"Help us, help us, little duck
Hansel and Gretel are out of luck.
There's no bridge, not far or wide,
Help us, give us both a ride."

The duck came paddling over. Hansel got on it and told his sister to sit down next to him. "No," said Gretel, "that would be too heavy a load for the little duck. It can take us over one at a time."

That's just what the good little creature did. When they were safely on the other side and had walked for some time, the woods became more and more familiar. Finally they could see their father's house from afar. They began running, and then they raced into their father's house, throwing their arms around him. The man had not had a happy hour since the day that he had abandoned the children in the forest. His wife had died. Gretel emptied her apron and the pearls and jewels rolled all over the floor. Hansel reached into his pockets and pulled out one handful of jewels after another. Their worries were over, and they lived together in perfect happiness.

My fairy tale is done. See the mouse run. Whoever catches it can make a great big fur hat out of it.