Retold in One-Syllable Words

by
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Hansel and Grethel following the white bird.

Hansel and Grethel

Once on a time there dwelt near a large wood, a wood-man, with his wife and two chil-dren, a boy named Han-sel, and a girl named Greth-el. The man was quite poor. The chil-dren’s own moth-er was dead, and their step-moth-er did not care for them.

Hard times came, when there was no work for the man by which he could earn the means to buy bread. One night, aft-er they had gone to bed, the boy and girl heard their fa-ther and moth-er talk-ing. “What shall we do?” said the fa-ther. “How can we feed the chil-dren when we have not as much as two need to eat?”

“We must get rid of the chil-dren,” said the step-moth-er. “Let us take them in-to the thick part of the wood in the morn-ing, and there make them a fire, and give each of them a small piece of bread; then we will go to our work and leave them a-lone, so they will not find the way home, and we shall be freed from them.”

“No, wife,” said he, “that I can not do. How can you have the heart to leave the poor things in the wood, where the wild beasts will soon come and tear them to bits.”

“Oh, you goose!” said she; “then we must all four die for want of food.” And she left him no peace till she made him yield. The boy and girl heard all this, for they had not gone to sleep, as their par-ents thought they had. Greth-el wept, and said to Han-sel, “Oh, what shall we do?” But Han-sel told her not to cry, for he would look out for her. And as soon as their par-ents had gone to sleep, he got up, put on his coat, and crept out of doors. The moon was bright, and the small white stones which lay on the path in front of the house shone like pearls. Han-sel went down on his knees, and picked up a lot of them, and put them in his pock-et. Then he went back to Greth-el, and said, “Sleep in peace, dear sister, God will take care of us.”

Hansel picking up the stones.

The next day, as soon as the sun rose, the wife called the two chil-dren. “Come,” she said, “you must get up at once. We have to go to-day to chop wood.”

Then she gave them each a piece of bread, and said, “There is some-thing for your lunch. Don’t eat it till it is time, for it is all you will get.” Greth-el took the bread, for Han-sel’s pock-ets were so full of stones there was no room in them for it, and so they all set out on their way.

As they went on, Han-sel each few steps dropped one of the stones on the path. When they had gone far into the wood, the fa-ther told the chil-dren to pick up some wood for a fire, so that they should not be cold.

Han-sel and Greth-el picked up quite a large heap of twigs, and the wife set fire to them. As the flames burned high, she said, “Now lie down by the fire and rest, while we chop wood. When it is time to go home, I will call you.”

Hansel dropping the stones.

Han-sel and Greth-el sat down by the fire, and when it was noon each ate the piece of bread. They could hear a sound like blows of an axe, and thought their fa-ther must be near; but it was not an axe, but a branch which he had bound to a tree, so as to be blown to and fro by the wind.

At last they fell a-sleep. When they woke up it was quite dark, and Greth-el be-gan to cry, “How shall we get out of the wood?” But Han-sel tried to com-fort her by say-ing, “Wait a while till the moon comes up, and then we will find the way in a short time.”

The moon soon shone forth, and then Han-sel took his sister’s hand, and traced his way by the stones he had dropped on the path. All night long they walked on, and as day broke they came to their fath-er’s house. They knocked at the door, and when the wife o-pened it, and saw them, she cried out, “You bad chil-dren, why did you sleep so long in the wood? We thought you would nev-er come!” But the fa-ther was glad, for it had made him feel sore at heart to leave them in the wood.

The times grew worse and worse, and soon the chil-dren heard their moth-er say to their fa-ther, “All is gone a-gain. We have but half a loaf left, and then we must starve. The chil-dren must go; we will take them deep-er in-to the wood, so that they may not find the way out this time. It is the only way we can es-cape death our-selves.”

“Why did you sleep so long in the wood?”

But the man felt sad, and thought, “It would be bet-ter to share the last crust with the chil-dren.” But his wife would not give in to him, and in the end she had her way.

The chil-dren had heard all this as they lay a-wake in bed; and as soon as the man and his wife went to sleep, Han-sel got up. He meant to pick up some more of the small stones; but the wife had locked the door, and he could not get out. Still he tried to com-fort Greth-el, say-ing, “Do not cry; sleep in peace; God will not for-sake us.”

At sun-rise the wife came and made them get up, and gave each a slice of bread which was small-er than the first piece. On the way, Han-sel broke his in his pock-et, and now and then dropped a crumb on the path.

The chil-dren were led deep in-to the wood, to a part in which they had nev-er been be-fore. A big fire was made, and the wife said to them, “Sit down here and rest, and when you feel tired you can sleep for a while. We must chop wood, but in the eve-ning, when we are through, we will come for you.”

When noon came, Greth-el shared her bread with Han-sel, who had strewn all his on the path. Then they went to sleep; but the eve-ning came, and still they were left a-lone. In the dark night, they woke up, and Han-sel said to Greth-el, “On-ly wait, Greth-el, till the moon comes out; then we shall see the crumbs of bread I have dropped, and they will show us the way home.”

Grethel shares her bread with Hansel.

The moon shone, and they got up, but they could see no crumbs, for the flocks of birds that had flown a-bout in the woods and fields had picked them all up. “We shall soon find the way,” Han-sel kept say-ing to Greth-el; but they did not, and they walked the whole night long and the next day, and still they did not come out of the wood. They were weak for want of food, for they had noth-ing to eat but a few ber-ries which they found on a bush. Soon they got too tired to drag them-selves a-long, so they lay down at the foot of a tree and went to sleep.

The third day since they left home came, and still they walked on, but they on-ly got deep-er in the wood, and Han-sel saw that if help did not come soon they must die. But just then they saw a snow-white bird that sat on a bough, and sang a sweet song. It soon left off, and spread its wings, and flew a-way. The chil-dren went after it till they came to a small house, on the roof of which the bird perched. When they went up close to it, they saw that the house was made of bread and cakes. This was a fine treat for the hun-gry boy and girl, and each broke off a piece of the house, and be-gan to eat.

The old witch.

All at once an old wom-an o-pened the door and came out. The chil-dren were in such a fright that they let fall what they had in their hands, but the old wom-an said, “Ah, you dear chil-dren, what has brought you here? Come in and stop with me, and no harm shall come to you.” She took them both by the hand, and led them in-to the house. There she gave them a fine meal of cakes, milk, fruit, and nuts; and when they were through, put them to bed in a nice room with two small beds in it, in which the chil-dren lay down and thought they were in heav-en.

The old wom-an was kind to them at first, but in truth she was a witch who caught chil-dren to eat them, and had built the bread house to serve as a trap for them. The next morn-ing she came and looked at them as they slept, and mum-bled to her-self, “They will make a nice bite for me.”

Then she took up Han-sel with her rough hand, and shut him up in a small room that had a barred door, like a cage. He cried loud-ly, but it was of no use.

Next she shook Greth-el, and said, “Get up, you la-zy thing, and fetch some wa-ter to cook some food for your broth-er, who must stay in that cage and get fat. When he is fat as he ought to be, I shall eat him.”

Greth-el be-gan to cry, too, but it did no good, for the old witch made her do as she wished. So a nice meal was cooked for Han-sel, but Greth-el got noth-ing but crab’s claws.

Each morn-ing the old witch came to the cage and said, “Han-sel, stick out your fin-ger, so that I may see if you are fat.” But Han-sel used to stick out a bone, and the old witch, who had poor sight, took it for his fin-ger, and thought it strange that he was so lean.

Hansel in the cage.

When four weeks had passed, and Han-sel still kept quite lean, she got tired of wait-ing, and said she would have him for din-ner the next day, fat or lean. The chil-dren be-gan to cry, but the old witch told them to be still. “Leave off that noise,” she said, “it will not help you a bit.”

Next morn-ing she made Greth-el fill the great pot with wa-ter, and make a fire. “First we will bake, though,” said the old witch. “The o-ven is al-ready hot, and I have made the bread.” She pushed poor Greth-el up to the oven, in which there was a fierce fire. “Creep in,” she cried, “and see if it is hot e-nough, and then we will put in the bread.” She meant when Greth-el got in to shut up the o-ven and let her bake, so that she might eat her as well as Han-sel.

But Greth-el knew what she wished to do, and said, “I don’t know how to do it. How can I creep in?”

“What a goose you are,” said the old witch, “the door is large e-nough. Look here, I can get in my-self;” and she crawled up and stuck her head in the ov-en. A bright thought came to Greth-el. She gave the old witch a push, and she fell in-to the ov-en. Then Greth-el shut the door and drew the bolt.

Grethel pushes the witch into the oven.

How the old witch did howl! But Greth-el ran to the cage and let her broth-er out. “O, Han-sel! we are free,” she said, “the old witch is dead.”

As soon as the door was o-pened, Han-sel sprang out from the cage like a bird, and they were so glad that they threw their arms round each other’s neck, and kissed each other, and ran a-bout for joy.

They went through the house, and in each cor-ner stood chests of gold and pearls. “These are bet-ter than the small white stones,” said Han-sel, as he filled his pock-ets with all that they could hold.

“I will take some home too,” said Greth-el, as she filled her a-pron.

“Now we must go,” said Hansel, “and get out of this be-witched wood.”

When they had walked for two hours, they came to a large piece of water. “How shall we cross?” said Han-sel. “I see no bridge of any kind.

There are no boats, ei-ther,” said Greth-el. “But there swims a white duck. I will ask her to help us to cross. “O, little white duck, let poor Han-sel and Greth-el ride a-cross the wa-ter on your back!” said she.

The duck swam up to them, and Han-sel sat down on his back, and told his sis-ter to sit be-hind. But she said, “No, that would be too much for the duck. She must take of us one at a time.”

Riding across the water on a duck’s back.

The good lit-tle duck did so, and when they had walked a short time on the oth-er side, they came at last to a part of the wood which they knew. They went on and on, and at last came in sight of their fa-ther’s house.

Then they be-gan to run, and burst-ing in-to the room, threw their arms round their fa-ther’s neck.

The poor man had not had one hap-py hour since he left his chil-dren in the wood, and af-ter he had lost them, his wife died too.

Greth-el shook her a-pron, and the pearls and gems rolled out on the floor, and Han-sel drew hand-ful af-ter hand-ful from his pock-et. Their sor-row was now at an end, and they lived in great peace and joy.

Mr. Korbes

Once on a time a cock and a hen thought they would like to go on a short trip. So the cock built a nice сart with four red wheels, and hitched up four mice to it, and off they drove.

They had not gone far when they met a cat, who said he would like to know where they were bound for.