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© Мартиросян А. В., словарь, адаптация, упражнения, 2025
© ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2025

Hansel and Gretel

A poor woodcutter with his wife and his two children lived next to a great forest. The boy's name was Hansel and the girl's name was Gretel. The woodcutter had little to eat, and once, when a great hunger came to the land, he could no longer feed his family.

One evening he was lying in bed and thinking about his problems. Then he said to his wife, “What will happen to us? How can we feed our children when we have nothing to eat?”

“Man, do you know what?” answered the woman. “Tomorrow morning we will take the children into the woods, make a fire for them, and give each of them a little piece of bread, then leave them and go to our work. They will not find their way home, and we will not have to feed them anymore.”

“No, woman,” said the man. “I will not do that. How could I leave my own children alone in the woods? Wild animals would kill them.”

“Oh, you fool,” she said, “then all four of us will die from hunger.” And she scolded him until he agreed.

“But I do feel sorry for the poor children,” said the man.

The two children could not sleep because of their hunger, and they heard the conversation between the stepmother and the father.

Gretel cried and said to Hansel, “It is over for us!”

“Be calm, Gretel,” said Hansel, “and don't worry. I know what to do.”

When the adults were sleeping, he got up, put on his jacket and went outside. The moon was shining brightly, and the white little stones in front of the house were sparkling like silver coins. Hansel filled all of his jacket pockets with them.

Then he went back into the house and said, “Don't worry, Gretel. Sleep well. God will not leave us.” Then he went back to bed.

Early in the morning the woman came and woke the two children. “Get up, you lazy children. We are going into the forest to gather wood.” Then she gave each one a little piece of bread, saying, “Here is something for you. Don't eat it soon, for you'll not get any more.”

Gretel put the bread under her apron, because Hansel's pockets were full of stones. Then all together they went into the woods. When they were still not far from home, Hansel began stopping again and again and looking back toward the house.

The father said, “Hansel, why are you stopping and looking back? Be careful, and don't forget your legs.”

“Oh, father,” said Hansel, “I am looking at my white cat that is sitting on the roof and wants to say good-bye to me.”

The woman said, “You fool, that isn't your cat. That's the morning sun shining on the roof.”

However, Hansel was not looking at his cat. He was throwing the shiny little stones from his pocket on the road.

When they arrived in the middle of the woods, the father said, “You children gather some wood, and I will make a fire so you won't freeze.”

Hansel and Gretel gathered together a lot of sticks.

When the fire was burning well, the woman said, “Lie down by the fire and rest. We will go into the forest to cut wood. When we are finished, we will come back and get you.”

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire. When noon came each one ate his little piece of bread. They sat there a long time. They were tired, so they closed their eyes, and fell asleep.

When they finally awoke, it was dark at night. Gretel began to cry and said, “How will we get out of woods?”

Hansel calmed her, “Wait a little until the moon comes up, and then we'll find the way.”

When full moon came up, Hansel took his little sister by the hand and followed the little stones that sparkled like new coins, showing them the way. They walked throughout the entire night, and early in the morning they arrived at the father's house.

They knocked on the door, and when the woman opened it and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel, she said, “You nasty children, why did you sleep so long in the woods? We thought that you did not want to come back.”

But the father was happy when he saw his children once more. He did not want to leave them alone.

Not long after there was once again great hunger everywhere. One evening the children heard that mother said to the father, “We have nothing to eat. We have only a half loaf of bread, and then the song will be over. We must get ridof the children. We will take them deeper into the woods, so they will not be able to come back. Or we will all die.”

The man was very sad, and he thought, “It would be better to share the last bit with the children.”

But the woman would not listen to him, scolded him, and criticized him. Who says A must also say B, and because he gave up the first time, he had to do so the second time too.

The children were still awake. They heard the conversation. When the adults were sleeping, Hansel got up and wanted again to gather little stones, but this time the door was locked, and Hansel could not go out. But he calmed his little sister and said, “Don't cry, Gretel. Sleep well. God will help us.”

Early the next morning the woman came and got the children from their beds. They received their little pieces of bread, even less than the last time. On the way to the woods, Hansel crumbled his piece in his pocket, then often stood still, and threw crumbs onto the ground.

“Hansel, why are you always stopping and looking around?” said his father. “Keep walking.”

“I can see my pigeon sitting on the roof. It wants to say good-bye to me.”

“Fool,” said the woman, “that isn't your pigeon. That's the morning sun shining on the roof.”

But little by little Hansel dropped all the crumbs onto the path. The woman took them very deep into the woods, so they could not come back.

Once again, the parents made a large fire, and the mother said, “Sit here, children. If you get tired you can sleep a little. We are going into the forest to cut wood. We will come and get you in the evening when we are finished.”

When it was noon Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, who had nothing to eat, because crumbs of his piece now were lying along the road. Then they fell asleep, and evening passed, but no one came to get the poor children.

It was dark at night when they awoke, and Hansel calmed Gretel and said, “Wait, when the moon comes up I will be able to see the crumbs of bread that I left on the road, and they will show us the way back home.”

When the moon appeared they got up, but they could not find any crumbs. The crumbs were eaten by the many thousands of birds that flew about in the woods and in the fields.

Hansel said to Gretel, “We will find our way,” but they did not find it.

They walked through the entire night and the next day from morning until evening, but they did not find their way out of the woods. They ate only a few small berries that were growing on the ground. They were terribly hungry.

And because they were so tired that their legs would no longer carry them, they lay down under a tree and fell asleep. They were walking in the woods for three days.

They started walking again, but managed only to go deeper and deeper into the woods. If help did not come soon, they would die. At noon they saw a little snow-white bird sitting on a branch. It sang so beautifully that they stopped to listen. When it was finished it flew in front of them. They followed it until they came to a little house. The bird sat on the roof, and when they came closer, they saw that the whole little house was built from bread with a roof made of cake, and the windows were made of clear sugar.

“Let's have a good meal,” said Hansel. “I'll eat a piece of the roof, and Gretel, you eat from the window. That will be sweet.”

Hansel reached up and broke off a little of the roof to see how it tasted, while Gretel stood next to the window glasses and was nibbling at them. Then a gentle voice called out from inside:

Nibble, nibble, little mouse,
Who is nibbling at my house?

The children answered:

The wind, the wind,
The heavenly child.

They continued to eat. Hansel, who very much liked the taste of the roof, tore down another large piece, and Gretel pulled out an entire round window glass. Suddenly the door opened, and an old woman went out. Hansel and Gretel were so frightened that they dropped what they were holding in their hands.

But the old woman shook her head and said, “Oh, you dear children, who brought you here? Just come in and stay with me. No harm will come to you.”

She took them by the hand and led them into her house. Then she served them a good meal:milk and pancakes with sugar, apples, and nuts. Afterwards she made two nice beds for them. Hansel and Gretel went to bed, thinking they were in heaven. But the old woman pretended to be friendly. She was an evil witch who was waiting there for children. She built her house of bread in order to trap them. If she caught one, she would kill him, cook him, and eat him.

Witches have red eyes and cannot see very far, but they have a sense of smell like animals, and know when humans are nearby.

When Hansel and Gretel came near to her, she thought, “Now I have them. They will not get away from me again.”

Early the next morning, before they awoke, she got up, went to their beds, and looked at the two of them lying there so peacefully, with their full red cheeks. “They will be a good dinner,” she spoke to herself. Then she grabbed Hansel and carried him to a little stall, where she locked him behind a cage door. He cried as loudly as he could, but no one came to help him.

Then she shook Gretel and cried, “Get up! Bring water and cook something good for your brother. He is locked outside in the stall. When he will be fat enough, I am going to eat him.”

Gretel began to cry, but it did not help. She had to do what the witch wanted. Now Hansel was given the best things to eat every day, but Gretel received nothing but eggshells.

Every morning the old woman went out to the stall and shouted, “Hansel, stick out your finger, so I can feel if you are fat yet.”

But Hansel stuck out a little bone, and the old woman, who had bad eyesight and could not see the bone, thought it was Hansel's finger, and she wondered why he didn't get fat.

After four weeks Hansel was still thin, and she decided not to wait any longer. “Hey, Gretel!” she shouted to the girl, “Hurry up and bring some water. Whether Hansel is fat or thin, tomorrow I am going to kill him and boil him.”

Oh, how the poor little sister cried as she was forced to carry the water, and how the tears streamed down her cheeks! “Dear God, please help us,” she cried. “It would be better if we were torn apart by wild animals. Then we would have died together.”

“Save your crying,” said the old woman. “It doesn't help you at all.”

The next morning Gretel had to get up early, hang up the pot with water, and make a fire.

“First we are going to bake,” said the old woman. “I have already made a fire in the oven and mixed the dough.”

She pushed poor Gretel outside to the oven, from which fire was breaking. “Climb in,” said the witch, “and see if it is hot enough to put the bread in yet.” She wanted to close the oven, when Gretel was inside, bake her, and eat her as well. But Gretel saw what she had in mind, so she said, “I don't know how to do that. How can I get inside?”

“Fool,” said the old woman. The opening is big enough. See, I myself could get in.” And she stuck her head into the oven.

Then Gretel gave her a kick, causing her to fall in. Then she closed the iron door and secured it with a bar. The old woman began to scream. But Gretel ran away, and the evil witch burned up. Gretel ran straight to Hansel, unlocked his stall, and cried, “Hansel, we are saved. The old witch is dead.”

Then Hansel jumped out, like a bird from its cage when someone opens its door. How happy they were! They threw their arms around each other's necks, jumped with joy, and kissed one another. Because they now had nothing to fear, they went into the witch's house. In every corner were chests of pearls and precious stones.

“These are better than little stones,” said Hansel, filling his pockets.

Gretel said, “I will take some home with me as well,” and she filled her apron full.

“But now we must leave,” said Hansel, “and get out of these witch-woods.”

After walking a few hours they arrived at a large lake. “We cannot get across,” said Hansel. “I cannot see a bridge.”

“There are no boats here,” answered Gretel, “but there is a white duck swimming. If I ask it, it will help us across.”

Then she called out:

Duckling, duckling,
Here stand Gretel and Hansel.
Neither a path nor a bridge,
Take us onto your white back.

The duckling came up to them, and Hansel climbed onto it, then asked his little sister to sit down next to him.

“No,” answered Gretel. “That would be too heavy for the duckling. It should take us across one at a time.”

That is what the good animal did. When they were safely on the other side, they walked on a little while, and the woods became more familiar to them. Finally, they saw the father's house in the distance. They began to run, ran inside, and threw their arms around the father's neck.

All this time the man was very unhappy and missed his children so much. However, the woman died.

Gretel shook out her apron, throwing pearls and precious stones around the room, and Hansel added to them by throwing all the stones from his pockets.

Now all their problems were at an end, and they lived happily together.