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In a little cottage at the edge of a forest in Germany, lived Peter, a poor broom maker, and his wife Gertrude. They had two children, Hansel and Gretel.
One day Hansel and Gretel were left alone at home. Their father had gone to the village to sell brooms. Their mother was away, too.
The children were left busily at work. The boy was mending brooms, the girl knitting stockings.
After a time they became tired of their hard work.
“ Come, Gretel, let us have some fun! ” cried Hansel.
As he spoke, he threw the broom upon the floor, and pulled the stocking from his sister's hand.
“ Oh, yes! ” said Gretel. “ I will teach you a song, and you can learn the steps of the dance. ”
Hansel and Gretel danced about the room.
Gretel sang, while she and Hansel danced,
“ First your foot you tap, tap, tap,
Then your hands you clap, clap, clap;
Right foot first, left foot then,
Round about and back again. ”
Presently the mother returned home. She entered the room and found Hansel and Gretel at play.
“ You lazy children! ” she exclaimed. “ Why have you not finished your work? ”
Taking the broom that Hansel had thrown upon the floor, the mother started to punish him, but the boy was too quick for her.
Hansel ran nimbly about, and as she was trying to catch him, the mother upset a jug of milk. It was all the food there was in the house.
“ Oh, mother! ” cried Gretel. “ You have spilled the milk, and we shall have nothing to eat. ”
“ Go out into the woods and gather some strawberries. Do not return until you have filled the basket to the brim, ” commanded the mother.
“ Hansel, help your sister pick the berries, and hurry back, both of you, for there is nothing else for supper. ”
Towards evening the father returned from the village.
“ Ho, ho, good wife! ” called Peter. “ I have had great luck today, and have sold all my brooms. Now for a good supper! See here — bread and butter, some potatoes, ham and eggs. But where are the children? ”
“ They have gone to the woods to gather strawberries, ” replied Gertrude.
“ It is growing dark. Hansel and Gretel should have been here long ago, ” said Peter anxiously.
The wife began to prepare supper. The husband went to the door of the cottage and looked out into the darkness.
“ Alas, my children! ” cried Peter. “ I fear that the terrible Witch of the Forest may find them, and that we shall never see them again! ”
Meanwhile Hansel and Gretel had filled the basket with strawberries, and then had wandered into the forest. They sat down upon a mossy bank under a fir tree, to rest.
“ Here is a fine strawberry! Taste it, ” said Gretel.
She put a berry into Hansel's mouth and took one for herself.
“ I am so hungry! Give me another berry, ” said Hansel.
The children tasted another and another of the strawberries, until all were gone.
“ Oh, Hansel! We have eaten all of the strawberries, ” cried Gretel. “ We must fill the basket again. ”
The children began to hunt for more berries, but it was now growing dark, and they could find none. To make matters worse, they had lost their way.
Gretel began to cry, but Hansel tried to be very brave.
“ I will take care of you, sister, ” said he.
“ Hark! ” said Gretel.
They could hear soft voices among the trees. The children became more frightened than before.
“ What is that, near the dark bushes? ” whispered Gretel.
“ It is only the stump of a tree, ” replied Hansel.
“ It is making faces at me! ” said Gretel.
Hansel made faces back again, trying to drive the strange form away.
Suddenly a light came toward them.
“ Oh, here are father and mother looking for us! ” cried Gretel.
But no, it was only the light of the will-o'-the-wisp.
Hansel called, “ Who is there? ”
Echo answered, “ Who is there? ”
Poor Babes in the Wood! They fled in terror, back to the mossy bank under the fir tree. There they huddled close together.
Presently a little man with a long white beard stood before them. He was dressed in gray clothes, and he carried a gray sack upon his back.
Hansel and Gretel were not afraid of the little man, for he seemed very friendly.
The little man sang softly,
“ Golden slumbers close your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise.
Sleep, pretty darlings, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Lullaby, lullaby, the Sandman am I. ”
Then the Sandman threw into their tired eyes the sand of sleep. Soon the children had gone safely to Slumberland.
At midnight a little elf, whose home was deep in the heart of an oak tree, came forth and rang a fairy bell. He sang,
“ Twelve small strokes on my tinkling bell — 'Twas made of the white snail's pearly shell; —
Midnight comes, and all is well!
Hither, hither, wing your way,
'Tis the dawn of the fairy day! ”
At the last stroke of twelve, a troop of fairies and wood nymphs appeared. They danced merrily to the tune of the flower bells, forming a ring around the children.
When the sun's rays began to shine through the branches of the trees, the fairies tripped away. Only the Dew Fairy remained. She sprinkled dew upon the children's faces with her magic wand.
The Dew Fairy sang,
“ Awake you, O children dear,
Wake you and rise!
The sun glowing brightly, peeps
Into your eyes! ”
Then the Dew Fairy departed.
“ O Hansel! Hear the birds singing! Where are we? ” exclaimed Gretel. “ Come, Hansel, wake up! ”
The children looked about them in wonder. The giant trees had disappeared, and near them stood a little house.
“ What a pretty cottage! ” said Hansel. “ Why, it is a candy house! The roof is chocolate, and the windows are sugar plums. What a queer fence! It is gingerbread! ”
Soon they heard some one say, in a squeaky voice,
“ Nibble, nibble, little mouse,
Who is nibbling my sweet house? ”
The children only ate and sang and laughed.
Suddenly the door of the house flew open. An old witch came out. On her head she wore a pointed hat, and in her hand she carried a stick.
The candy cottage belonged to the Witch of the Forest.
“ Oh, ho! ” cried the witch. “ You dear children, who led you here? Come in, and I will give you candies, cakes, apples, and nuts — all that you wish to eat! ”
Hansel and Gretel were frightened. They started to run away, but the old witch waved her Elder Bush above her head. It cast a spell over the children. They could not move.
Then the witch put Hansel into a cage She brought from the cottage a basket of sugar plums, candies, and nuts. She gave him the sweets to eat.
“ You will soon be fat enough to cook, ” she muttered. “ I will bake the girl first. ”
Grasping the little girl's arm, she shook her roughly, saying, “ Go into the house and set the table while I build a fire. ”
The old witch gathered some wood. As she threw it upon the fire, she said, “ Now for a ride through the air on my broom, while the oven is heating! ”
Astride her big broom, the witch rode high above the cottage. She circled around like a huge bird, over the trees and back again, while she sang a strange song.
Hansel, shut up in the cage, watched her in terror.
At last the witch flew down to the ground, on her broom. She alighted close beside the oven, which stood in the front yard.
Calling the little girl out of the house she said, “ Open the oven door. Then creep inside and see if it is hot enough to bake the bread. ”
But Gretel guessed that the witch meant to shut the door upon her, so she said, “ I am afraid to creep into the oven. ”
“ Silly child! ” said the witch. “ The door is wide enough. Why, even I could pass through! ”
As she spoke, she popped her head into the oven.
Gretel sprang toward her and shut the oven door. That was the end of the old witch!
Then Gretel ran and unfastened the door of the cage.
“ We are saved, Hansel! ” she exclaimed. Then she danced about, singing merrily,
“ First your foot you tap, tap, tap,
Then your hands you clap, clap, clap;
Right foot first, left foot then,
Round about and back again. ”
Then, taking the Elder Bush, Gretel waved it above her head as the witch had done.
Instantly the candy house became a log cabin. Sunflowers and morning-glories were growing in the front yard, where the witch's cage and the oven had stood.
Soon voices were heard. The sounds came nearer, and the father and mother clasped their children in their arms.
Peter and Gertrude lived with the two children in the log cabin in the forest, for many happy years. And the fairies always took good care of both Hansel and Gretel.
