HANSEL AND GRETEL

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (1785-1863)

Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859)

• Popularly known as Grimm Brothers.
• German philologists and collectors of fairy tales.

Summary:

This is a story about a poor woodcutter, his second wife and his two children from first wife named Hansel and Gretel. Their mother died when they were young. Hansel and Gretel were very sad. Soon their father remarried but their stepmother was very cruel. Once, when the country was in famine (shortage) father was really in trouble to maintain the family. His wife wasn't even worried a little about the children. She rather insisted her husband to desert them into the dense forest. The woodcutter didn't like the idea but he had to accept his wife’s proposal. The children overheard their parents and Hansel collected jacket full of shiny pebbles. The next morning, he dropped the pebbles on the way while going to the forest. When they reached the middle of the forest, the parents collected firewood, kindled fire and left the children promising to return soon with firewood. The children soon fell asleep. When they woke up, it was already dark. Gretel began to cry and Hansel consoled her. As the moon shone in the sky, they saw the pebbles shining brightly. Following the trail of pebbles they finally reached their home.

After a few months, the country was again affected by famine and the children overheard their parents’ plan to leave them in the forest again. As the door was bolted from outside, Hansel couldn't go outside to get pebbles this time. In the morning, when they were taken to the forest he scrambled the bread and dropped the pieces on the way. The parents left them in the forest promising them to come back soon. When the children woke in the evening, they couldn't find the pieces of bread as they had been eaten away by birds. They were lost in the forest. They wandered for three days trying to find out the way to come out of the forest.

Finally, they came to a little house made of bread and cakes in the middle of the forest where a witch used to live. When the hungry children started eating the door and window of the house, the witch took them in and offered them food and rest. The witch used to eat children whoever came handy. The witch, on the next day imprisoned the brother and compelled the sister to do laborious deeds. Every day the witch went there and checked how fat he had become.  The witch wanted Hansel to become fat so that she could eat his meat. The boy deceived her by showing a shadow of the bone. Even elapsing (passing) four weeks, when Hansel didn't become fat, she decided to eat him. Early in the morning, she ordered Gretel to fetch water. She had prepared oven to end the brother and sister. As Gretel arrived there, she asked Gretel to check the readiness of the oven, Gretel showed ignorance to the way of entering and requested her to demonstrate how to check it. When the witch entered into the oven, Gretel pushed the witch and locked her from outside. When the witch died, Gretel freed Hansel and they escaped away after collecting the jewels from the witch’s room. On the way back home, they arrived by a river, which was full of water. The boy asked a duck to help him across the river.  Finally, when they came back home, they saw their father, who welcomed them with tears of joy. Their step mother had already been dead. So they lived happily with their father. They never went hungry again!