Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
Hansel and Gretel
The old tale of the gingerbread house
Also in: Janko in Metka (Slovenian) · Janko a Marienka (Slovak)
At the edge of a great forest lived Hansel and Gretel with their father, a woodcutter. One morning they took their little baskets and went into the forest to pick blueberries.
1
So they wouldn't get lost, Hansel dropped little breadcrumbs along the way. "The crumbs will show us the way home," he told Gretel.
2
But the birds pecked up every last crumb. When darkness fell, Hansel and Gretel were lost. They snuggled up under a big fir tree and fell asleep, while the forest animals quietly watched over them.
3
In the morning a snow-white little bird woke them. It flew ahead of them from branch to branch — and all at once, in the middle of a clearing, they saw a little house. And not an ordinary one: it was made of gingerbread, with a roof of sugar and windows of lollipops!
4
"Just a piece," said Hansel, and broke a corner off the roof. "Just a little window," said Gretel, and licked a sugar pane. But suddenly a voice came from inside: "Who is nibbling at my little house?"
5
On the doorstep stood a small round old woman in a crooked hat. "Hungry children! Come in, come in," she said sweetly, and baked them pancakes. But the old woman was a sweet-toothed witch who never let children go home again.
6
In the morning the witch showed her true face. "You will carry firewood!" she ordered Hansel. "And you will sweep!" she ordered Gretel. "You will stay with me forever and bake gingerbread!"
7
But Gretel had a plan. When the witch bent deep into her big cupboard to count her sacks of sugar, Gretel quickly slammed the door and turned the key. "We will let you out," she said, "when you promise never to lock up children again!"
8
Then they filled their pockets with gingerbread for their father and ran out of the house. The white bird flew ahead of them again, showing them the way through the forest.
9
At a wide river there was no bridge and no plank. "Hop onto my back," said a big white duck. First it carried Hansel across, then Gretel — and waved a wing goodbye.
10
At the edge of the forest their father was waiting. He had searched for them all day and all night. He wrapped them both in his arms and didn't let go for a long, long time.
11
At home they shared out the gingerbread, and Hansel and Gretel told all about the sugar house, the white bird and the big duck. Their father just shook his head and hugged them once more.
12
And the witch? The lock on the cupboard was enchanted: it only opened when the witch truly promised to be good. Ever since, she bakes gingerbread for every child who gets lost in the forest — and walks each one safely home.
13
As for Hansel and Gretel, they never got lost again. They knew the forest like their own pocket — and every time they went blueberry picking, they came home with full baskets and a story to spare.
14The End
