At the edge of a great forest lived a poor but kindly woodcutter with his wife and two children; the boy was called Hansel and the girl, Gretel. Although the family was poor, the children loved to go into the forest near the cottage, playing hide and seek amongst the trees. They would marvel at the forest creatures and sometimes watch a fox run with her young cubs.

The stepmother was the woodcutter’s second wife, for sadly the children’s mother had died some years ago. They missed her dreadfully because the stepmother was a sharp and spiteful woman.

In the cottage there was little food and even less money. When prices were high, they lacked even dry bread to satisfy their hunger. The worried woodcutter could not sleep at night. He sighed heavily to his wife:

“What will become of us? How can we feed our poor children when we hardly have anything for ourselves?”

“This is a troublesome question, dear,” replied the stepmother. “But for every troublesome question, there is always a solution, even if it be a difficult one. Tomorrow at dawn, let us lead the children deep into the forest where the vegetation is thick; there we will start a fire, give each of them a piece of bread, and then we will go back to work and leave behind the children to fend for themselves. They will not manage to find their way back home, and thus we shall rid ourselves of them.”

“Oh no, my dear!” replied the woodcutter. “We cannot do such an evil thing. I would not have the heart to leave my children in the woods!”

“Oh, you fool!” snapped back the stepmother. “You would rather see all four of us die of hunger! Why don’t you shape some planks for our coffins!?” They argued for so long that at last the woodcutter gave in with a heavy heart. Although he was a kind man, he was weak and allowed himself to be bullied by his new wife.

“But how I pity those poor children,” he lamented and stood sadly fiddling with his long beard, as was his habit when he was sad or worried.

Meanwhile, the children also did not sleep because hunger gnawed at their empty stomachs and kept them awake. They heard every word the stepmother said to their father; Gretel wept bitterly and said to Hansel:

“Now we’re doomed!”

“Hush, Gretel,” Hansel reassured her, “do not worry; I will think of something!”

When the parents fell asleep, he got up, dressed and slipped out of the house. The moon shone brightly, and white pebbles lying around the house glittered like new coins. Hansel gathered as many as he could fit in his pockets. Then he returned to the cottage and said to Gretel:

“Be calm, my dear sister, and sleep happily; the good Lord will not forsake us!” With that he lay down on his bed and fell asleep.

At dawn, before the sun rose, the stepmother got up and woke the children:

“Get up you lazy children; we must all go to the forest to gather some dry firewood!”

She then gave each a piece of bread but warned them:

“Here is bread for your lunch, but do not eat it all at once because you will not get anymore.”

Illustrations and cover

Arthur Friday

Text by

Alex Fonteyn

English Translation and Adaptation:

Stephen Potocki

Matthew Zamoyski

Typesetter

Andrzej Nowak

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© Copyright by Tom eMusic

ISBN 978-1-62321-024-3

Tom eMusic

www.tomemusic.com

New York 2012