“The little brother and the little sister”
- The manuscript version of the brother Grimms original fairytale Hansel and Gretel, German: “Hänsel u. Gretchen”, written in 1810.
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Once upon a time there was a poor woodcutter who lived next to a great forest.
He felt really miserable and he could barely feed his wife, and his two children.
One evening he had no more bread, and was in great fear, and his wife said to him:
- “Take the two children in the morning, and lead them into the middle of thickest part of the woods,
… and give each of them a little piece of bread, make a fire for them and after that, go away and leave them alone.
For a long time, the man disagreed, but the woman left him no peace until he finally agreed.
But the children had heard everything that the mother had said.
The little sister cried bitter tears, but the brother told her to stay calm, and not to worry.
Then he got up quietly and went to the door.
The moon was shining brightly and the white pebbles were glistening in front of the house.
The boy picked them carefully, and filled his jacket pockets with them, as many as would fit.
Then he went back to his little sister and fell asleep.
Early next morning before the sun had risen, the father and the mother came and woke the two children, because they were going into the woods.
The mother gave each one a little piece of bread, which the little sister put under her apron because the little brother´s pockets were full of stones.
Then they set forth into the great forest.
As they now went on, the little brother began silently stopping again and again and looking back towards the house.
The father said:
- “Why are you stopping and looking back ?”
- “Oh,” replied the boy, “I am looking at my white cat that is sitting on the roof and wants to say good-bye to me.”
Secretly the little brother had been dropping the shiny pebbles onto the path..
His mother said:
- “Just keep on walking, that´s not your little cat, it’s the morning sun shining on the chimney.”
But the boy kept on looking back and always he dropped a little stone.
So they went on for a long time and finally they arrived in the middle of the great forest.
As the father made a great fire, the mother said:
- “Lie down by the fire and sleep, we will go into the woods to fetch trees. Wait until we get back. ”
The children sat down by the fire, and each ate a little piece of bread.
They waited until night, but the parents did not return.
The little sister began to cry very much, but the little brother was there, comforted, and took her by the hand.
Since the moon had come up, the pebbles glistened and showed them the way.
The little brother lead his sister throughout the entire night and as morning was breaking they arrived at the father´s house.
The father was overjoyed because he had not wanted to leave them alone, but the mother was angry.
Not long afterward there was once again no bread in the house, and one evening when the little brother was lying in bed, he heard the mother tell the father to take the children even deeper into the woods.
The little sister again began to cry bitterly, and the brother stood up again and wanted to gather pebbles.
But when he came to the door, he found that the mother had locked it and the little brother began to be sorrowful and could´nt comfort his sister.
Next morning before the daybreak, the parents came and got the children from there beds, each received again a little piece of bread.
On the way, the little brother looks around often.
The father said:
- “My child, why are you always stopping and looking back towards the house ?”
- “Oh !”, replied the little brother, “… I can see my pigeon sitting on the roof. It wants to say Good-bye to me.”
Secretly he crumbled all of his bread and dropped the crumbs onto the path..
His mother said:
- “Keep walking, That isn´t your pigeon. That´s the morning sun shining on the chimney.”
But the little brother kept looking back, and always let a crumb drop on the path.
When they reached the middle of the great forest, the father again made a large fire, and the mother said the same words again, and they both went away.
The little sister shared her bread with the little brother, because he had scattered all of his, along the path.
They waited until evening, and the little brother was going to lead his sister in the moonlight again.
But the birds in the woods had found the crumbs and pecked them up and the children could not find the way.
They set forth, but they soon became totally lost in the great woods..
On the third day they came to a little house, built entirely from bread with a roof made of cake, and the windows were made of sugar.
The kids were really happy to find that house and the little brother ate from the roof and his sister ate from the window.
As they stood there and enjoyed the sweets, they heard a gentle voice calling out from inside:
Nibble, nibble, little mouse,
Who is nibbling at my little house ?
The children were frightened, and soon a little woman came out and took the children gently by the hand and led them into the house.
Then she served them a good meal and made two nice beds for them.
Next morning, however, the woman put the little brother in a little stall, as if he was a pig, and the little sister had to bring him Water and good food.
Every day the old woman came and said to the little brother he had to stick out his finger, so she could feel if he were fat enough, but the little brother always stuck out a little bone, so the old woman would thing it would take longer.
The little sister recieved nothing but crayfish shells, because that wouldn´t be too fat for her.
After four weeks, one evening she said to the sister,
- “Go and fetch some water, and warm it up tomorrow, we are going to slaughter and boil your brother and in the meantime, I want to start the dough that we will bake to go with him.”
The next morning, as the water was hot, the old woman called the little sister to come right to the oven.
- “Sit on the board, I want you in the oven to see if the the bread is nicely brown and done.”
But once the little sister was inside, the witch intended to close the door, and bake her too in the hot oven.
The little sister noticed that, and said to the witch:
- “I don´t understand, sit on it first, and I will push you inside.”
The old woman sat on it, and the little sister pushed the witch all the way inside then closed the door, and the witch burned up.
Then she ran to her brother and unlocked his door.
They found that the whole house was filled with precious stones, which they filled there pockets with and brought them home to there father, who now was a rich man;
However, the mother had died.
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The end
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