Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm(8)

But Gretel grasped what she had in mind, and said, “I don’t know how to do it. How am I supposed to climb in?”

“Foolish ninny,” said the old crone, “as you can see for yourself, the opening is even big enough for me to climb in,” whereupon she came hobbling over and poked her head in. Then Gretel gave her a shove so that she went tumbling in, heaved the iron door shut, and slipped the latch. Then the witch started howling something awful – “Ayyyyy!” And Gretel ran off, and the godless witch was burned to a crisp.

But Gretel scampered straight to Hansel, opened the pen, and cried out, “Hansel, we’re saved, the old witch is dead.” And as soon as the gate was opened, Hansel came flying out like a bird from a cage. How they rejoiced, fell into each other’s arms, leapt for joy, and covered each other with kisses! And because they had nothing more to fear, they went back into the witch’s house, in every corner of which stood cupboards filled with pearls and precious stones.

“They’re better than pebbles,” said Hansel, and stuffed as many as he could fit in his pockets.

And Gretel said, “I think I’ll take some too,” and filled her apron with them.

“We’d better go now and get out of the witch’s woods,” said Hansel. But after they’d walked for hours, they came to a great big lake. “We can’t get across,” said Hansel. “I don’t see a ford or footbridge.”

“There’s no boat either,” said Gretel, “but there’s a little white duck swimming along. If I ask it, maybe it will help us get across.” And she called out:

“Duckling, duckling, soft and white,

There’s no ford or footbridge in sight.

Gretel and Hansel beg you with a quack:

Carry us across on your soft white back.”

The duckling came swimming up, and Hansel sat himself on its back and bid his sister sit beside him. “No,” replied Gretel, “the little duck can’t bear the weight of us both. Let it ferry us across one after the other.” The kind little creature did just that, and once they were safely across, the woods looked more and more familiar, and finally they glimpsed from afar their father’s house. Then they started running, burst in, and fell into their father’s arms. The man had not had a moment of peace ever since he left his children in the woods, but the woman had died. Gretel shook her apron out, so that the pearls and precious stones spilled all over the room, and Hansel emptied his pockets, one fistful after another. Their troubles had come to an end, and they lived happily together.

My fairy tale too has come to an end. There’s a mouse running there, and whoever catches it can make himself a big fur hat.





THE GOLDEN GOOSE





There once was a man who had three sons, the youngest of whom was called “Simpleton” and was scorned and ridiculed and slighted time and again. It so happened one day that the eldest son had to go to the forest to cut wood, and before he left, his mother gave him a lovely-looking and delicious pancake and a bottle of wine to satisfy his hunger and quench his thirst. At the forest’s edge he happened upon a little gray man who bid him good day and said, “Give me a piece of the pancake in your pocket and let me have a swallow of your wine. I’m so hungry and thirsty.”

To which the savvy son replied, “If I give you my pancake and my wine I’ll have none left for myself. Be off with you!” So he left the stranger high and dry and continued on his way. But when he started cutting down a tree it wasn’t long before he took a bad swing and the ax struck him in the arm, so that he had to return home and get himself bandaged up. This happened on account of his treatment of the little gray man.

Then the second son went to the forest, and just as she had done with the eldest, the mother gave him a pancake and a bottle of wine. He too encountered the little gray man, who stopped him to ask for a bite of his pancake and a swallow of his wine. But the second son sensibly replied, as had the first, “Whatever I give you will be all the less for me. Be off with you!” And he left the little man high and dry and continued on his way. The punishment followed promptly; with a misguided swing of the ax at a tree he struck himself in the leg and had to be carried back home.



Then Simpleton said, “Father, let me go cut wood.”

To which the father replied, “Your brothers landed themselves some nasty gashes in the process, better not try. You don’t know how to cut wood.” But Simpleton pleaded so long that the father finally said, “Go then if you must. The wounds may make you wise.”

The mother gave him a water-based cake baked in ashes and a bottle of sour beer. When he got to the forest he also met the little old gray man, who greeted him and said, “Give me a piece of your cake and a swig from your bottle. I’m so hungry and thirsty.”