Hänsel and Grethel by The Brothers Grimm

Hänsel and Grethel is a German folklore tale, traditionally handed down orally and first written and published by The Brothers Grimm in 1812. In many of the tales, the mean, selfish mother was changed to step-mother because of the ugly truth that some parents are just nasty to their children, many folks didn’t take kindly to it due to Christian moral influences of the time, so the Brothers Grimm changed the ‘mother’ for ‘step-mother’. This tale is one example. The witch in the folk tale was most likely an old, pagan that was a hungry, widow that was demonised by the Church at that time.
Note: The white duck may have been added later on and in some tales it is a white swan.
According to Wikipedia, The fairy tale may have originated in the medieval period of the Great Famine (1315–1321), which caused desperate people to abandon young children to fend for themselves, or even resort to cannibalism.
illustration below by The late Arthur Rackham (public domain)

Once upon a time, beside The Black Forest dwelt a poor wood cutter with his wife and his two children.
The boy was called Hänsel and the girl Gretel. He had little to bite and to break, and once when great death fell on the land, he could no longer procure even daily bread.
Now when he thought over this by night in his bed, and tossed about in his anxiety, he groaned and said to the woman: “What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children, when we no longer have anything even for ourselves?”
“I’ll tell you what husband,” answered the wife, “early tomorrow 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.” “No, wife,” said the man, ” I will not do that; how can I bear to leave my children alone in the forest? “The wild animals would soon come and tear them to pieces.”
” O you fool!” said she, then we must all four die of hunger, you may as weel plane the planks for our coffins,” and she left him no peace until he consented. “But I feel very sorry for the poor children, all the same,” said the man.
The two children had also not been able to sleep for hunger, and had heard what their step-mother had said to their father. Gretel wept bitter tears, and said to Hänsel: “Now all is over with us.” “Be quiet, Gretel,” said Hänsel, “do not distress yourself, I will soon find a way to help us.” And when the old folks had fallen asleep, he got up, put on his little coat, opened the door and crept outside. The moon shone brightly, and the white pebbles which lay in front of the house glittered like real silver pennies.
Hänsel stooped and stuffed the small pocket of his coat with as many as he could get in. Then he went back and said to Gretel: “Be comforted, dear little sister, and sleep in peace, God will not forsake us,” and he lay down again in his bed.
When day dawned but before the sun had risen, the woman came and awoke the two children, saying: “Get up, you slugs! 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 up before then, for you will get nothing else.” Gretel took the bread under her apron, as Hänsel had the pebbles in his pocket. Then they all set out together on the way to the forest. When they had walked a short time, Hänsel stood still and peeked back at the house, and did so again and again. His father said:”Hänsel, what are you looking at there and staying behind for? Pay attention, and do not forget how to use your legs.” “Ah, father,” said Hänsel, ” I am looking at my white cat, which is sitting up in the roof, and wants to say good-bye to me.” The wife said: “Fool, that is not your cat, that is the morning sun which is shining on the chimneys.” Hänsel, however, had not been looking back at the cat, but had been constantly throwing one of the white pebbles out of his pocket on the road. When they had reached the middle of the forest, the father said: “Now, children, pile up some wood, and I will light a fire that you may not be cold.”
Hänsel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when noon came, each ate a piece of bread, and as they heard the strokes of the wood-axe they believed their father was near. It was not the axe, however, but a branch which he had fastened to an old tree branch which the wind was blowing back and forth. The weary children had been sitting such a long time, their eyes closed, they fell fast asleep. When a last they awoke, it was dark. Gretel began to cry and said:”How are we now to get out of the forest?” But Hänsel comforted her and said:” Just wait a bit, until the full moon has risen, Hänsel took his younger sister by the hand, and followed the pebbles which shone like newly coined silver pieces and showed them the way.
They walked the whole night, and by break of the day came once more to their father’s house. They knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it and saw that it was Hänsel and Gretel, she said:” 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 alone in the dark forest
Shortly afterwards, there was once more great plague and famine throughout the land, and the children heard their mother saying at night to their father: “Everything has been eaten again, we have half a loaf left, and that is the end of our food supply. The children must go, we will take them further into the woods, so that they will not find their way out this time; there is no other means of saving ourselves!” The man’s heart was sad and he thought: ” It would be better for you to share the last mouthful with your children.” The woman, however, would listen to nothing that he had to say, but scolded and nagged him. He who says A must be B, likewise, and as he had yielded the first time, he had to do so a second time also.
The children, however, were still awake and had overheard the conversation. When th old folks were asleep, Hänsel 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 Hänsel could not get out. He comforted his little sister, and said:”Do not cry, Gretel, go to sleep, the good god will help us.”
Early in the morning came the woman, and took the children out of their beds. Their piece of bread was given to them, but it was still smaller than the time before. On the way into the forest Hänsel crumbled his in his pocket, and stood still.
He threw a morsel on the ground. “Hänsel, why do you stop and look round?” said the father, “go on.” “I am looking back at my grey pigeon which is sitting on th roof, and wants to say good-bye to me,” answered Hänsel. “Fool!” said the woman, “that is not your grey pigeon, that is the morning sun that is shining on the chimney.” Hänsel, methodically, threw all his crumbs on the path.
The woman led the children still deeper into the forest, where they had never been before.
Then a bon fire was again made, and the mother said: “Just sit there, you children, and when you are tired you may sleep awhile: we are going into the forest to cut wood, and in the evening when we are done, we will come and fetch you.”
When it was noon, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hänsel, who had scattered his on the path. Next, they fell asleep, evening passed, but no one came to the scared children. They did not awake until it was dark, and Hänsel comforted his little sister and said:” Just wait, Gretel, until the moon rises, and then we shall see the crumbs of bread which I have spread about, they will show us our way home once more.” When the moon came they set out, but they found no crumbs, for the many thousands of birds that dwell in the Black Forest, had pecked them up.

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Hänsel said to Gretel: “We shall soon find the way,” but they did not find it. They hiked through the night and the next day too, from morning till evening, but they did not get out of the Black forest, and were famished, for they had nothing to eat but two or three berries, which grew in the field .
They were so weary that their legs would carry them no longer, they stretched out under a tree and fell asleep.
Three mornings had passed, since they had left their father’s house. They began to amble again, but they always went deeper into the dark forest, and if help did not come soon, they must die of famine and exhaustion. When it was mid-day, they saw a lovely, snow-white bird sitting on a tree branch, which sang so sweet that they stood still and listened to it. When its song was over, it spread its wings and flew away before them, and they followed it until they reached a house, on the roof of which it perched upon and when they approached the house, they saw that it was built of gingerbread and covered with cakes, but that the windows were made of clear sugar.
“We will set to work on that,” said Hänsel and have a hardy meal. I will eat a bit of the roof, and you Gretel, can eat some of the window, it will taste sweet. Hänsel reached up above, and broke off a piece of the roof to taste it, and Gretel leaned against the window and nibbled at the window panes. Then a soft voice cried from the parlor:

“Nibble, nibble, gnaw,

Who is nibbling at my little house?”

The Children answered:

“The wind, the wind,

The heaven-born wind,”

and went on eating without disturbing themselves.
Hänsel and Gretel were so terribly frightened that they dropped what they had in their hands. The old woman, however, nodded her head and said: “Oh you dear children, who brought you here? Do come in, and stay with me. No harm shall come to you.”
She took them both by the hand, and led them into her gingerbread house. Next, tasty food was set before them, milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples, and nuts. Afterwards two pretty twin beds were covered with clean white linen, and Hänsel and Gretel lay down on them, and it felt like they were in heaven.

The old woman had only pretended to be so amiable; she was in reality a unethical witch, who lay in wait for children, and had only built the small house of bread in order to entice them there. When a child fell into her power, she killed it, cooked and ate it, and that was a feast day with her. Some lore cites witches have red eyes, and can not see far, but they have a keen scent like beasts, and are aware when human beings are near.

When Hänsel and Gretel came into her neighborhood, she laughed with malice, and said mockingly:” I have them, they shall not escape me again!”
Early in the morning before the children were awake, she was already up, and when she saw both of them and looking so pretty, with their plump and rosy cheeks, she muttered to herself: “That will be a tasty morsel!” Then she seized Hänsel with her wizened hand, carried him into a little stable and locked him in behind a grated door.
Shou as he might, it would not help him. then she went to Gretel, shook her till she awoke, and cried: ” Get up, lazy girl, fetch some water, and cook something good for your brother, he is in the stable outside, and is to be fattened, when he is fat, I will gobble him up.”
Gretel began to bitterly cry, but it was all in vain, for she was forced to do what the hungry witch summoned.

Now, the best food was cooked for poor Hänsel, but Gretel got nothing but crab-shells. Every morning the woman crept to the little stable, and cried:”Hänsel, stretch out your finger that I may feel if you will soon be plump.” Hänsel, however, stretched out a little bone to her, and the old woman, who had dim eyes, could not see it, and thought it was Hänsel’s finger, and was surprised that there was no way of fattening him. When four weeks had gone by, and Hänsel still remained thin, she seized with vehemence and would would not wait any longer. “Now then Gretel,” she cried to the girl, quicken yourself, and bring some water. Let Hänsel be fat or lean tomorrow, I will kill him and cook him.”Ah, how the young sister did bawl when she had to fetch the water, and how her tears did flow down her cheeks! “Dear God, do help us, she cried.”If the wild beasts in the forest had but devoured us, we should at any rate have died together.” “Just keep your whining to yourself,” said the woman, “it won’t help you at all.”

Early in the morning, Gretel had to go out and hang up the cauldron with the water, and light the fire. “We will bake first,” said the old woman. ” I have already heated the oven, and kneaded the dough.” She pushed poor Gretel out to the oven, from which flames of fire were already darting. “Creep in,” said the witch, “and see if it is properly heated, so we can put the bread in.” Once Gretel was inside, she intended to shut the oven and let her bake in it, and the she would eat her, too.

Gretel saw what she had in mind, and said:” I do not know how I am to do it; how do I get in?”

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“Silly goose,” said the old woman. “The door is big enough; just look, I can get in myself!” and she crept up and thrust her head into the oven.
Then Gretel gave her a big push that drove her far into it, and slammed shut the iron door, and fastened the bolt.
Oh! then the old crone began to howl quite horribly, Gretel ran away, and the profane witch was miserably, burnt to death.

Gretel, however, ran like lightning to Hänsel. opened his little stable, and cried:”Hänsel, we are saved! the old witch is dead! Then Hänsel sprang like a bird from its cage when the door was opened.

How they did rejoice and embrace each other, and gleefully, dance about. They had no longer any need to fear her, they went into the witch’s house, and in every corner there stood chests full of pearls and jewels.
“These are far better than pebbles!” said Hänsel, and thrust into his pockets whatever would fit, and Gretel said:” I, too, will take something home with me,” and filled her apron full. “But now we must be off, said Hänsel, “that we may get out of the witch’s forest.”
When they had hiked for two hours, they came to a great stretch of water.
“We can not cross, said Hänsel, “I see no large planks, and no bridge.” “And there is no ferry!” answered Gretel, “a white duck is swimming there; if I ask her, she will help us over.” then she shouted:

“Little duck, little duck, dost thou see,

Hänsel and Gretel are waiting for thee?

There’s never a plank, or bridge in sight,

Take us across on thy back so white.”

The duck came to them, and Hänsel seated himself on its back, and told his sister to sit beside him. “No,” replied Gretel, “that will be too heavy for the little duck; she shall take us across, one after the other.” The kind, little duck did so, and when they were once safely across and had walked for a short time, the forest seemed to be more and more reconizable to them, and in sight of the horizon they saw their father’s house. They began to run, and raced into the parlor, 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; their stepmother however, was dead. Gretel emptied her apron until all the pearls and precious stones dropped to the floorr and she ran about the room, and Hänsel threw one handful after another out of his pocket to add to them. Then all their misery had ceased, and the family lived happily ever after.

The End.

Sources:
The Grimm Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm published 1812.
Wikipedia: link to the Great Famine.