Hansel and Gretel (Part3)

    ‘We will set to work on that,’ said Hansel, ‘and have a good meal. I will eat a bit of the roof, and you Gretel can eat some of the window, it will taste sweet.’

     Hansel reached up above, and broke off a little of the roof to try how it tasted, and Gretel leant against the window and nibbled at the 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. Hansel, who liked the taste of the roof, tore down a great piece of it, and Gretel pushed out the whole of one round window-pane, sat down, and enjoyed herself with it.

     Suddenly the door opened, and a woman as old as the hills, who supported herself on crutches, came creeping out. Hansel and Gretel were so terribly frightened that they let fall what they had in their hands.

     The old woman, however, nodded her head, and said, ‘Oh, you dear children, who has brought you here? Do come in, and stay with me. No harm shall happen to you.’

     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 in reality a wicked witch, who lay in wait for children, and had only built the little 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. Witches have red eyes, and cannot see far, but they have a keen scent like the beasts, and are aware when human beings draw near. When Hansel and Gretel came into her neighborhood, she laughed with malice, and said mockingly, ‘I have them, and 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 sleeping and looking so pretty, with their plump and rosy cheeks, she muttered to herself that will be a dainty mouthful.

     Then she seized Hansel with her shriveled hand, carried him into a little stable, and locked him in behind a grated door. Scream as he might, it would not help him. Then she went to Gretel, shook her till 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 is to be made fat. When he is fat, I will eat him.’

     Gretel began to weep bitterly, but it was all in vain, for she was forced to do what the wicked witch commanded. And now the best food was cooked for poor Hansel, but Gretel got nothing but crab-shells. Every morning the woman crept to the little stable, and cried, ‘Hansel, stretch out your finger that I may feel if you will soon be fat.’

     Hansel, however, 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 seized with impatience and would not wait any longer.

     ‘Now, then, Gretel,’ she cried to the girl, ‘stir yourself, and bring some water. Let Hansel be fat or lean, to-morrow I will kill him, and cook him.’

     Ah, how the poor little sister did lament 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 noise to yourself,’ said the old 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 properly heated, so that we can put the bread in.’ and once Gretel was inside, she intended to shut the oven and let her bake in it, and then she would eat her, too.

Brothers Grimm

Source:eastoftheweb.com