The brothers grimm hansel gretel read. Hansel and Gretel - Brothers Grimm. The Brave Tailor

In a large forest on the edge of the forest there lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children: the boy's name was Hansel, and the girl's name was Gretel.

The poor man had both scarce and hungry in his family; and from the time when the great dearness began, he sometimes did not even have his daily bread.

And then one evening he lay in bed, pondering and tossing and turning from side to side with worries, and said to his wife with a sigh: “I really don't know how we should be! How are we going to feed our children when we ourselves have nothing to eat! "

“Do you know what, hubby,” replied the wife, “tomorrow we’ll take the children out into the thicket of the forest early; there we will light a light for them and give each of them another piece of bread in reserve, and then we will go to work and leave them there alone. They will not find their way home from there, and we will get rid of them. "

“No, little wife,” said the husband, “I won't do that. I can’t leave my children alone in the forest - perhaps some wild animals will come and tear them to pieces ”.

- “Oh, you fool, fool! - she answered. - So is it really better, as all four of us will die of hunger, and you know how to plan the boards for the coffins.

And until then he sawed that he finally agreed. “And yet I feel sorry for the poor children,” he said, even agreeing with his wife.

And the children, out of hunger, also could not sleep and heard everything that their stepmother said to their father. Gretel cried with bitter tears and said to Hansel: "Our heads are gone!"

“Enough, Gretel,” said Hansel, “don't be sad! I will somehow manage to help the trouble. "

And when his father and stepmother fell asleep, he got out of bed, put on his little dress, opened the door, and even slipped out of the house.

The moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles, of which there were many lying in front of the house, glittered like coins. Hansel bent down and stuffed as many of them into the pocket of his dress as he could fit.

Then he returned home and said to his sister: "Calm down and sleep with God: he will not leave us." And went to bed.

As soon as it began to dawn, the sun also did not rise - the stepmother came to the children and began to wake them up: "Well, well, get up, lazy people, let's go into the forest for firewood."

Then she gave each of them a piece of bread for lunch and said: "Here is bread for lunch, just look, don't eat it before dinner, because you won't get anything else."

Gretel took the bread under her apron, because Hansel had a pocket full of stones. And so they all went to the forest together.

After walking a little, Hansel paused and looked back at the house, and then again and again.

His father asked him: “Hansel, why are you yawning and falling behind? Please give me a quicker step. "

“Ah, father,” said Hansel, “I keep looking at my white cat: she sits there on the roof, as if she’s saying goodbye to me.”

The stepmother said: “You fool! Yes, this is not your kitty at all, but a white pipe glistens in the sun. " And Hansel did not even think to look at the kitty, he only quietly threw everything out of his pocket on the road, one stone at a time.

When they came to the thicket of the forest, the father said: "Well, children, collect the dead wood, and I will light a light for you so that you do not get chilled."

Hansel and Gretel brought some brushwood and piled it up like a mountain. The fire was lit, and when the fire flared up, the stepmother said: “Here, lie down to the fire, children, and rest; and we will go to the forest and chop wood. When we finish the work, we will return to you and take it with us. "

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when it was lunchtime, they ate their pieces of bread. And since they heard the blows of the ax, they thought that their father was somewhere nearby.

And it was not an ax that tapped at all, but a simple branch, which my father tied to a dry tree: it was swayed by the wind and hit against the tree.

They sat, sat, their eyes began to stick together with fatigue, and they fell fast asleep.

When they woke up, it was a dark night all around. Gretel began to cry and say: "How will we get out of the forest?" But Hansel consoled her: "Wait just a little, until the month rises, then we will find a way."

And just as a full month had risen in the sky, Hansel took his sister by the hand and went, looking for the way through the pebbles, which glittered like newly minted coins, and showed them the way.

They walked all night long, and at dawn they came to their father's house. They knocked on the door, and when the stepmother unlocked and saw who was knocking, she said to them: “Oh, you trashy kids, why did you sleep in the forest for so long? We really thought that you would not come back at all. "

And my father was very happy about them: his conscience tormented him so much that he left them alone in the forest.

Soon thereafter, the dire need again set in, and the children heard how their stepmother once again began to say to their father one night: “We ate everything again; we have only half a loaf of bread in stock, and then the song is over! The guys need to get rid of; we will take them even further into the forest so that they cannot find their way home. And then we will have to disappear with them. "

It was hard on my father's heart, and he thought: "It would be better if you shared the last crumbs with your children." But his wife did not want to listen to him, she scolded him and expressed all sorts of reproaches to him.

"He called himself a load, so get into the back!" - says the proverb; so he: he gave in to his wife the first time, had to give in the second.

And the children did not sleep and listened to the conversation. When the parents fell asleep, Hansel, like the last time, got out of bed and wanted to get some naked, but the stepmother locked the door and the boy could not leave the house. But he still calmed his sister and told her: “Don't cry, Gretel, and sleep well. God will help us. "

Early in the morning, the stepmother came and lifted the children out of bed. They received a piece of bread each - even less than the last time they were given.

On the way to the forest, Hansel crumbled his piece in his pocket, often paused and dropped the crumbs on the ground.

"Hansel, that you keep stopping and looking around," his father told him, "go your own way."

“I look back at my dove, who sits on the roof and says goodbye to me,” replied Hansel. “You fool! - said his stepmother. "This is not your dove at all: it is a pipe whitening in the sun."

But Hansel, little by little, managed to scatter all the crumbs along the road.

Again a big fire was lit, and the stepmother said to them: "Sit here, and if you are mad, you can sleep a little: we will go to the forest to chop wood, and in the evening, when we finish the work, we will go after you and take you with us." ...

At lunchtime, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hansel, who crumbled his portion along the way.

Then they fell asleep, and it was getting dark, and yet no one came for the poor children.

They woke up already when the dark night fell, and Hansel, comforting his sister, said: "Wait, Gretel, the month will rise, then we will see all the bread crumbs that I scattered over them and find our way home."

But then the month had risen, and they got together on their way, but they could not find a single crumb, because thousands of birds flitting in the forest and in the field had long been eating those crumbs.

Hansel said to his sister: "We'll find a way somehow," but they didn't find the way.

So they walked all night and another day from morning to evening, and yet they could not get out of the forest and were terribly hungry, because they had to eat only berries, which they found here and there along the way. And since they were tired and could hardly stand on their feet from languor, they lay down again under the tree and fell asleep.

It was the third morning since they left their parental home. They went again through the forest, but no matter how they walked, they only went deeper into its thicket, and if help had not arrived in time, they would have had to perish.

At noon they saw a beautiful snow-white bird in front of them; she sat on a branch and sang so sweetly that they paused and began to listen to her singing. Having sung her song, she spread her wings and flew, and they followed her until they came to the hut, on the roof of which the bird sat.

Coming closer to the hut, they saw that it was all built of bread and covered with cookies, and that its windows were made of pure sugar.

“So we’ll take it,” said Hansel, “and eat. I’ll eat a piece of the roof, and you, Gretel, can break off a piece of your window — it’s probably sweet. ” Hansel reached up and broke off a piece of the roof to taste what it tasted like, and Gretel went to the window and began gnawing at its windows.

Knock-breaks under the window?
Who knocks at my house?

And the children answered this:

Wind, wind, breeze.
Sky clear son!

And they continued to eat as before.

Hansel, who liked the roof very much, broke off a decent piece of it, and Gretel planted a whole round window for herself, immediately sat down at the hut and drank at her leisure - and suddenly the door in the hut was flung wide open, and the old old woman left it leaning on a crutch.

Hansel and Gretel were so frightened that they even dropped their tasty morsels from their hands. And the old woman just shook her head and said: “Uh, kids, who brought you here? Come to me and stay with me, you will not get any evil from me. "

She took the children by the hand and led them into her hut. There was already abundant food on the table: milk and sugar biscuits, apples and nuts. And then two clean beds were made for the children, and Hansel and his sister, when they lay down in them, thought that they were in heaven itself.

But the old woman only pretended to be affectionate, but in essence she was an evil witch who lay in wait for the children and built her bread hut just to lure them.

When a child fell into her clutches, she killed him, cooked his meat and devoured him, and this was a holiday for her. The eyes of witches are red and not far-sighted, but their instincts are as subtle as those of animals, and from afar they sense the approach of a person. When Hansel and Gretel were just approaching her hut, she was already laughing angrily and saying mockingly: "These are already caught - I suppose they will not escape me."

Early in the morning, before the children woke up, she had already got up, and when she saw how sweetly they slept and how the blush played on their full cheeks, she muttered to herself: "This will be a tasty morsel!"

Then she took Hansel in her rigid hands and carried him into a small cage, and secured him with a latticed door: he could shout there as much as he wanted - no one would have heard him. Then she came to her sister, pushed her and shouted: “Well, get up, you lazy person, get some water, cook something tastier for your brother: I put him in a special cage and will feed him. When he gets fat, I'll eat him. "

Gretel began to cry bitterly, but she only wasted her tears - she had to do everything that the wicked witch demanded of her.

So poor Hansel began to cook the most delicious food, and his sister got nothing but leftovers.

Every morning the old woman made her way to his cage and shouted to him: "Hansel, give me your finger, let me feel, will you soon be fattening up?" And Hansel thrust a bone through the grating, and the blind old woman could not notice his tricks and, mistaking the bone for Hansel's fingers, marveled that he did not get fat at all.

When four weeks had passed and Hansel was still not getting fat, then the old woman was overcome with impatience, and she did not want to wait any longer. "Hey you, Gretel," she shouted to her sister, "apply water more quickly: tomorrow I want to stab and cook Hansel - whatever he is, thin or fat!"

Oh, how the poor sister grieved when she had to carry water, and what large tears were rolling down her cheeks! “Good God! - she exclaimed. - Help us! After all, if wild animals tore us to pieces in the forest, then at least both of us would die together! "

- “Stop grinding trifles! the old woman shouted at her. "Nothing will help you anyway!"

Early in the morning Gretel had to leave the house, hang up a pot of water and make a fire under it.

“First, let's get to the cookies,” said the old woman, “I've already lit the oven and kneaded the dough.”

And she pushed poor Gretel to the stove, from which the flame was even beating out.

"Get in there," said the witch, "and see if it's hot enough and if you can plant bread in it."

And when Gretel bent down to look into the oven, the witch was about to cover the oven with a shutter: "Let her bake there too, then I'll eat her too."

However, Gretel understood what was on her mind and said: "Yes, I don’t know how to get in there, how to get into the insides?"

- “Fool! - said the old woman. “Why, the mouth of the stove is so wide that I could get in there myself,” yes, going up to the stove, and stuck her head into it.

Then Gretel pushed the witch from behind so that she suddenly found herself in the stove, and slammed the stove shutter behind the witch, and even slid the bolt.

Wow, how terribly the witch howled then! But Gretel ran away from the stove, and the wicked witch had to burn there.

And Gretel, meanwhile, rushed straight to Hansel, unlocked the cage and shouted to him: “Hansel! You and I are saved - there is no more witch in the world! "

Then Hansel fluttered out of the cage like a bird when the door was opened for her.

Oh, how they rejoiced, how they hugged, how they jumped around, how they kissed! And since they had no one to be afraid of, they went to the witch's hut, in which there were boxes with pearls and precious stones in all corners. “Well, these pebbles are even better than naked ones,” said Hansel and filled his pockets with them as much as he could; and there Gretel said: "I also want to take a few of these pebbles home," and poured them into a full apron.

"Well, now it's time to get on the road," said Hansel, "to get out of this enchanted forest."

And they went - and after two hours the way came to a large lake. "We can't cross here," Hansel said, "I don't see either a perch or a bridge." “And there’s no boat,” said the sister. “But there’s a white duck swimming over there. If I ask her, she will certainly help us get across. "

And she shouted to the duck:

Duck, beauty!
Help us get across;
Not a bridge, not a perch,
Carry us on the back.

The duck immediately swam up to them, and Hansel sat down on her back and began to call his sister to sit next to him. “No,” Gretel answered, “it will be hard for the duck; she will transport us both one by one. "

So the good duck did, and after they had safely crossed and walked through the forest for some time, the forest began to seem more and more familiar to them, and at last they saw their father's house in the distance.

Then they started to run, ran to the house, broke into it and threw themselves on their father's neck.

The poor fellow had not had a joyful hour since he left his children in the forest; and the stepmother died in the meantime.

Gretel at once shook out all her apron - and the pearls and gems they scattered throughout the room, and Hansel, too, began throwing handfuls of them out of his pocket.

For two centuries now, the treasury of the world author's fairy tale includes works by Jacob and the Brothers collected and processed more than two hundred folklore works of European peoples, among which the rather popular Cinderella, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, The Bremen Town Musicians, Little Red Riding Hood " and many others. Despite the fact that the authors are often accused of describing excessive cruelty, they remain beloved for many generations of children, as they teach vitality and the ability to resist adversity, kindness and mutual support, the desire for justice.

Features of artistic processing

The contribution of the Brothers Grimm to the development of the world, and in particular the German, literary tale is truly invaluable. The main advantage of their works is that the authors, borrowing the plot in folklore, almost completely retained the content, ideological plan, composition, features of characters and speech of characters. This is confirmed, for example, by "Hansel and Gretel" - a tale on German, which is distinguished by the maximum closeness to the original source. The authors only slightly changed the language form, making the work more fun and readable. This approach was fundamental when processing folk tale, since it allowed to convey the features way of life Europeans mainly during the Middle Ages.

The basis of the plot about the gingerbread house

According to the surviving information, the brothers Grimm heard the tale of two children named Hansel and Gretel from Dorothea Wilt - she later became Wilhelm's wife. The folklore work differs from the author's version known to us in that the little heroes were sent into the forest, dooming to inevitable death, their own mother and father. The Brothers Grimm somewhat softened the plot of the fundamental principle, introducing the image of a stepmother who put pressure on a weak-willed husband. By the way, a work with a similar plot can be found in the collection of another German storyteller, L. Bechstein, as well as in folk poems and songs, which testifies to the great popularity of the story of the gingerbread house among the people.

As for the cruel act of the parents, then, most likely, it has very real circumstances. In 1315-17 in Europe, including on the territory of Germany, a terrible famine broke out, the consequences of which were felt for another five years. Historians note that at this time there were quite possible cases of cannibalism, which are mentioned in the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" - meaning the episode with the witch. In addition, similar stories can be found in some European stories about children who, by chance, ended up in the hands of terrible cannibals and, as a result, managed to prevail over them thanks to their fearlessness and ingenuity.

The Gingerbread House was included in the Brothers Grimm's first collection of fairy tales, published in 1812, and has been translated into many languages. The best Russian arrangement was the text processed by P. Polev.

Meet the heroes

Hansel and Gretel, brother and sister, were the children of a poor woodcutter. They lived with their father and unkind stepmother. But then came hard times when there was nothing to buy bread. And one night they overheard their parents talking. In response to the father's complaint that there was no food left at all, the stepmother offered to take her brother and sister to the forest and leave there alone. At first the woodcutter was indignant: the heart is not made of stone - to doom your own children to inevitable death. Then everyone will have to die - that was the woman's answer. All the same, the evil stepmother convinced her husband that it was impossible to do otherwise.

Sister burst into tears when she learned about the fate awaiting them, and her brother began to calm her down and promised to come up with something. This is how the famous fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm "Hansel and Gretel" begins.

First trip to the forest

The boy waited until his father and stepmother fell asleep, dressed and went out into the street, where he gathered up stones that glittered in the moonlight.

Early in the morning, the parents gathered in the forest for firewood, woke the children up and took them with them. On the way, Hansel imperceptibly threw on a pebble - he got their pocket full. So we got to the thicket. The woodcutter made a fire, and the stepmother ordered the children to go to bed and promised to return in the evening for them. Hansel and Gretel - the tale here repeats the motive of the stepmother's cruelty popular in European folklore - were left alone by the fire. All day they heard dull thumps in the forest, and they hoped that it was the father who was chopping wood. In fact, a bough knocked, tied by parents to a tree.

At lunchtime, the children ate a slice of the bread given to them in the morning and soon, tired, fell asleep. When they opened their eyes, it was already a dark night. The sister burst into tears again, and her brother began to calm her down: "A month will rise and we will find our way home." And indeed, in the moonlight, the stones glittered, and by morning Hansel and Gretel were already at their own door.

Meeting with parents

The stepmother who let the children in scolded them for walking in the forest for too long. The father was glad that they returned alive.

But the situation soon became even worse. And again, brother and sister heard the already familiar argument between the parents. The woodcutter resisted for a long time, but, once yielding, succumbed to persuasion this time too. Hansel and Gretel thought about their future again. thus, like any other of the magical group, it is built on a repetition of the same event. But the brother did not manage to collect pebbles this time - the prudent stepmother closed the door for the night, and he could not go out into the street. His sister was even more frightened, but the boy promised to come up with something. And in the morning, when the stepmother again gave them a piece of bread and ordered them to go with her and father to the forest, he broke his portion in his pocket and began to sprinkle crumbs on the road.

Got lost

The woodcutter and the stepmother walked for a long time through the forest, until they got into such a wilderness, where they had never been before. And again, the parents left the children alone by the fire and went home. But at night, when the moon rose, Hansel and Gretel could not find a way, as the birds ate up all the bread crumbs. Morning came, and then evening, and they all wandered through the forest. Only by lunchtime the next day, tired and hungry, did the children see a snow-white bird on the tree. She sang so well that the children listened, and then they followed her. And suddenly a hut appeared ahead, past which the hungry Hansel and Gretel could not pass by.

Fairy tale, summary which you are reading is built according to all the laws of the genre. The walls of the wonderful house, which suddenly appeared before the eyes of the children, were made of bread, the roof was made of delicious gingerbread, and the windows were made of sugar. Thus, a sweet house from the fairyland of abundance called Kokan is mentioned here. She was often mentioned in folk legends and attracted by the fact that she did not need to do anything myself, since all the food grew right on the trees.

The history of gingerbread houses

Although the plot about a tasty hut at the beginning of the 19th century could not be considered unusual, it was after the publication of the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" in Germany and in a number of other European countries that a new tradition appeared. For two hundred years, housewives have been baking gingerbread houses for Christmas and decorating them with multi-colored glaze, candied fruits, berries, etc. The sweetness is put on the festive table, sent to all kinds of exhibitions and competitions and, of course, given out to children. The main thing is that you can first admire such a gingerbread and then enjoy the great taste.

Meeting with the witch

But back to the fairy tale recorded by the brothers Grimm. Hansel and Gretel - a summary gives an overall picture of what was happening at that moment - after seeing such an abundance, they decided to feast on. The brother broke off a piece from the roof, and the sister decided to try the window. They were happy to eat sweets, when they suddenly heard a rather pleasant voice from the hut. And a little later, a very ancient old woman appeared on the threshold. The children were frightened at first, but she immediately calmed them down, then brought them into the house, generously treated them and put them to sleep on a soft bed under a snow-white blanket. Tired and exhausted children felt that they were in real paradise... Hansel and Gretel did not yet know that they were visiting an evil witch. A child was her dream and her favorite delicacy. And although this old woman saw very badly, she perfectly felt the human smell. And the bread house, decorated with sweets, became a bait for children like Hansel and Gretel. Thus, the tale largely repeats the plots of the famous cycle "Children and the Cannibal", which is included in the international index of folklore works of this genre.

"Here will be a tidbit"

In the morning, the witch examined the sleeping children and decided that the boy with ruddy and chubby cheeks would be very good for dinner. You just need to feed him a little more. She locked the awakened Hansel in the barn behind a barred door, and Gretel ordered to feed her brother so that he would become fatter. This went on for four weeks, during which the sister cooked the most delicious dishes, while she herself ate scraps. The resourceful Hansel all this time managed to deceive the poorly seen witch. When she came to check how much her "future lunch" had recovered, he slipped a bone into her hand instead of his finger, and she still could not understand why the boy was still so thin. But one day the old woman's patience ran out, and she decided to certainly eat Hansel, way not even fat enough, the very next day. And the girl had to apply water, in which her own brother would then be cooked. “It would be better if wild animals in the forest had torn us to pieces, then we would have died together,” she sobbed.

The witch managed to deceive

The next morning the old woman decided to deal with Gretel, and then proceed with her brother. She lit the oven and ordered the girl to climb into it to find out if the heat was ready for baking bread. Gretel was about to fulfill the witch's demand, when she suddenly realized what the old woman really wanted from her. And she was not mistaken: she was really just preparing to close the flap and fry the girl. “I don’t know how to get there,” said my sister. The angry witch scolded her and began to show her how to get into the furnace. At that moment, Gretel pushed her forward, and then immediately closed the flap. So she saved herself and her brother from inevitable death. And the old woman, who was in the oven, howled terribly and burned to the ground. Thus, Hansel and Gretel become the winners in this confrontation with the man-eating witch.

The tale of brother and sister, apparently, also has a connection with the ancient traditions of European peoples and some tribes. So, many linguists often associate the episode of the burning of a witch with a fairly common rite of initiation, the essence of which was the transition of a teenager into adulthood, the entry of a person into any secret society or his initiation into the number of shamans, leaders. This, too, is not a new motive for the Brothers Grimm, as it is found in many other folk and author's tales, including, for example, "Boy-with-a-finger" by C. Perrault.

The freed children examined the hut and found many precious stones and pearls in it. They took them with them and went to look for a way out of this witch forest.

So, thanks to ingenuity and resourcefulness, they were able to get rid of the hated cannibal witch Hansel and Gretel. The tale ends with a description of their journey home.

Happy return

A couple of hours later, the children went out to an unknown lake, but did not see a bridge or a boat nearby. Only the duck swam. The girl turned to her with a request to transport them to the other side, and very soon the brother and sister found themselves in a familiar forest. And here it was easy for them to find their way to the woodcutter's house. They rushed, happy, to their father and threw themselves on his neck. The woodcutter was very happy when he saw that his children were safe and sound, because he did not know a minute of peace and joy after parting with them.

It turned out that his wife died unexpectedly - this fact makes it possible for many linguists to identify the images of an evil stepmother and a witch who decided to take revenge on the hated children. And since that time the woodcutter and his children have healed happily and well. And they saved the family from want of pearls and precious stones, which Hansel and Gretel brought from the forest hut.

A story about the adventures of brother and sister in art

Today Hansel and Gretel are famous all over the world. The tale about them is included in the collected works of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and has been translated into many languages. In addition, her characters have repeatedly become heroes of works of other types of art. So, in 1893, E. Humperdinck's opera appeared, written especially for Christmas. Theatrical performances of the fairy tale have been repeatedly prepared. Many people did not remain indifferent to the work.

With the advent of cinematography, the scriptwriters also turned to the well-known plot. Among the films that are quite popular today include the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" on English language, filmed in 1988. The authors slightly changed the original version: at the request of their mother, the children went into the forest for berries and got lost, after which they ended up in the gingerbread house of the sorceress Griselda. Another option is the American film of 2012, based on the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel", in which the father, tormented by remorse, goes in search of the children himself.

In 2013, an action movie appeared, telling about what happened to the heroes after they returned home. And although the plot of the film has little in common with the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm, he emphasizes that interest in the plot persists in our time.

There lived a poor woodcutter at the edge of a dense forest with his wife and two children: the boy's name was Hansel, and the girl's name was Gretel. The woodcutter lived from hand to mouth; and one day there came such a high price in that land that he could not afford to buy even a piece of bread.

One evening he lies in bed, does not sleep, and everything turns over from side to side, sighs and finally says to his wife:

What will happen to us now? How can we feed our children, we ourselves have nothing to eat!

And you know what, - answered the wife, - tomorrow morning we will take the children early into the forest, into the thicket; Let's make a fire there and give them a piece of bread each. And we ourselves will go to work and leave them alone. If we cannot find their way back, we will get rid of them.

No, wife, - says the woodcutter, - I will not do this: after all, my heart is not a stone, I cannot leave my children alone in the forest. Wild animals will attack them and eat them.

What a fool! - says the wife. - Then all four of us will have to disappear from hunger, and you will have only one thing - to put together coffins. - And she pestered him until he agreed with her.

And yet I feel sorry for my poor children! said the woodcutter.
Children from hunger could not sleep and heard everything that the stepmother said to their father. Gretel wept bitter tears and says to Hansel:

Poor you and me, poor! Apparently, now we have to disappear!

Hush, Gretel, don't grieve! - said Hansel. - I'll think of something.

And so, when the parents fell asleep, he got up, put on his jacket, opened the door to the vestibule and quietly got out into the street. The moon shone brightly in the sky. White pebbles in the courtyard glittered under his rays, like money. Hansel bent down and filled a pocket full of them.

Then he returned home and said to Gretel:

Take comfort, dear sister, sleep well now! - And with these words he went back to bed.

As soon as it began to dawn, the stepmother came and began to wake the children.

Get up, lazy people! You need to go to the forest for firewood. - Then she gave them a piece of bread and said: - This bread will be for your lunch. Just look, don't eat it now, you won't get anything else.

Gretel took all the bread and hid it under her apron. Hänsel had nowhere to hide the bread, his pocket was full of pebbles. Then they all went to the forest. They walk, and Hansel still stops and looks back. His father says to him:

What are you, Hansel, keep turning around and falling behind? Go quickly.

I, father, - answered Hansel, - I keep looking at my white kitty. She sits on the roof and looks at me so pitifully, as if saying goodbye.

Do not talk nonsense, - said the stepmother, - this is not your kitty at all, it is a white pipe shining in the sun.

And Hansel was not looking at the cat at all, but took out shiny pebbles from his pocket and threw them on the road.

So they came to the very bowl of the forest, and the woodcutter said:

Well, children, collect brushwood, and I will make a fire so that you do not get chilled.

Hansel and Gretel gathered a whole bunch of brushwood. When the fire is well lit, the stepmother says:

Well, children, now lie down by the fire and rest properly, and we will go into the forest to chop wood. When we're done, we'll come back for you.

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and at noon they ate their bread. They all the time heard the knocking of an ax and thought that it was father working somewhere nearby. And it was not an ax that tapped at all, but a dry branch that my father tied to an old tree. The bough swayed in the wind, it hit the trunk and knocked. They sat like that, sat, their eyes began to close from fatigue, and they fell fast asleep.

When they woke up, it was already completely dark in the forest. Gretel began to cry and says:

How do we find our way home now?

Wait, - Hansel consoled her, - a month will rise, it will become brighter, we will find a way.

And rightly so, a month soon came up. Hansel took Gretel by the hand and walked from pebble to pebble - and they glittered like money, and showed the children the way. They walked all night, and at dawn they came to their father's house and knocked on the door. The stepmother opened the door, saw that Hansel and Gretel were standing in front of her, and said:

Oh, you nasty children, why did you sleep in the forest for so long? And we already thought that you do not want to go back at all.

The father was delighted to see the children. It was hard for him to leave them alone in the forest. But soon hunger and want came again, and there was nothing to eat in the woodcutter's house. And then the children heard how the stepmother at night, lying in bed, said to their father:

We have already eaten everything again, there are only half the scraps of bread left, and then we're done! We need to get rid of the children - we will take them into the forest far away, so as not to find their way back! We have no other choice.

And the children did not sleep and heard their whole conversation. When the father and stepmother fell asleep, Hansel got out of bed and wanted to go into the yard to collect pebbles, like the last time. But the stepmother locked the door, and Hansel could not leave the hut. He began to console his sister and says:

Don't cry, Gretel, sleep well, you will see that we will not be lost.

Early in the morning, the stepmother woke them up and gave them a piece of bread each, it was even smaller than the last time. They went into the forest, and Hansel on the way crumbled bread in his pocket, stopped and threw bread crumbs on the road. His father says to him:

Why, Hansel, are you still stopping and looking around? Go quickly.

I, father, - answered Hansel, - I am looking at my white dove. He sits on the roof and looks at me so pitifully, as if he were saying goodbye.

Don't talk nonsense, ”his stepmother tells him. - It's not your dove at all, it's a white pipe glistening in the sun.

And Hansel dropped everything and threw bread crumbs on the road. The stepmother took the children even deeper into the forest, where they had never been. They made a big fire again, and the stepmother says:

Sit here, kids, and when you get tired, sleep a little. And we will go into the forest to cut firewood and by evening, when we finish work, we will come for you.

When noon came, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hansel, for he had crumbled his bread on the way. Then they fell asleep. So the evening passed, but no one came for the poor children.

They woke up - and in the forest it was already a dark night. Hansel began to console his sister:

Wait, Gretel, soon the moon will rise, and we will find our way through bread crumbs.

When the moon rose, they went to look for a way. They looked for her, looked for her, but never found her. Thousands of birds fly in the forest and in the field - and they all ate them.

Hansel says to Gretel: "We'll find a way somehow," but they didn't find it. They walked all night and all day from morning to evening, but they could not get out of the forest. The children were very hungry: after all, apart from the berries that they picked on the way, they had not a piece in their mouths. They were so tired that they could hardly move their legs, lay down under a tree and fell asleep.

It was already the third morning since they left their father’s hut. They went on. They walk and walk, and the forest is deeper and darker, and if help had not arrived, they would have been exhausted.

It was noon, and the children noticed a beautiful snow-white bird on a branch. He sits to himself and sings, but it is so good that the children stopped and listened. The bird fell silent, flapped its wings and flew in front of them, and they followed her, until finally they reached the hut, where the bird sat on the roof. The children came closer, they saw that the hut was not simple: it was all made of bread, its roof was made of gingerbread, and the windows were made of sugar.
Hansel says:

Here we are now and will eat well. I'll take the roof, it must be delicious.

Hansel stretched out to his full height and broke off a piece of the roof to taste what it tasted like, while Gretel began to feast on the windows.
Suddenly, a thin voice was heard from within:

Who is there under the window?
Who is chewing on my sweet home?

Children answer:

This is a wonderful guest
Celestial wind!

And they continue to tear off and eat pieces from the delicious house.

Hansel liked the roof very much, and he tore off a large piece of it, and Gretel broke a whole round glass of sugar and, sitting near the hut, began to devour it.

Suddenly the door opens, and an old, old woman comes out, leaning on a crutch. Hansel and Gretel were frightened, and they dropped all the delicacies from their hands. The old woman shook her head and said:

Hey pretty kids, how did you get here? Well, come to me, I will not harm you.

She took both of them by the hands and led them to her hut. She brought a treat - milk with pancakes sprinkled with sugar, apples and nuts. Then she made them two beautiful beds and covered them with white blankets. Hansel and Gretel lay down and thought: "We must have come to heaven."

But the old woman only pretended to be so kind, but in fact it was a wicked witch that lay in wait for the children, and built a hut of bread for bait. If any child fell into her hands, she would kill him, boil him in a cauldron and eat him, and this was the greatest delicacy for her. Her eyes were, like all witches, red, and they could not see well, but they had a subtle scent, like animals, and they sense the closeness of a person.

When Hansel and Gretel approached her hut, she laughed viciously and said with a grin: "So they got caught! Now they can't get away from me!"

Early in the morning, when the children were still asleep, she got up, watched how they were sleeping peacefully and what plump and rosy cheeks they had, and said to herself: "This will be a tidbit!" She grabbed Hansel with her bony hand, carried him to the barn and locked him behind the lattice door - let him scream as much as he wanted, nothing would help him!

And then she woke Gretel up and said:

Get up quickly, lazy person! Go fetch some water and cook something tasty for your brother, he sits in the barn over there. I want it to become fatter, then I will eat it.
Gretel wept bitterly. But what was to be done, she had to carry out the orders of the wicked witch. And so she cooked the most delicious dishes for Hansel, and she herself got nothing but leftovers. Every morning the old woman waddled to the barn and said:

Come on, Hansel, give me your finger, I want to see if you are fat.

And Hansel took and handed the witch a bone instead of a finger. The witch did not see well, felt the bone and wondered why Hansel was not getting fat. So four weeks passed, and Hansel was still not getting fat. The old woman tired of waiting, and she shouted to the girl:

Hey Gretel, put some water on! Fat or skinny, I will kill and cook Hansel tomorrow morning.
Oh, how the poor sister grieved when she had to carry water! Tears still ran down her cheeks.

It would be better if we were torn to pieces by wild animals in the forest, then at least we would die together!

Well, there is no need to whimper! - shouted the old woman. “Nothing will help you now.

Early in the morning Gretel had to get up, go out into the yard, hang up the boiler of water and make a fire.

First we will bake bread, - said the old woman, - I have already heated the oven and kneaded the dough. And she pushed poor Gretel to the stove itself, from where a great flame was blazing. - Well, get into the oven, - said the witch, - but look, is it well heated, isn't it time to plant bread?

Gretel was about to climb into the oven, while the old woman wanted to close it with a shutter so that Gretel could be fried and eaten. But Gretel guessed what the old woman was up to and said:

I don’t know how to do it, how can I get through there?

Here's a stupid goose, ”said the old woman,“ look how big the mouth is, and I could have climbed there, ”and she climbed onto a pole and stuck her head into the oven.

Here Gretel pushes the witch, so much so that she finds herself right in the oven itself. Then Gretel closed the stove with an iron flap and bolted it. Ooh, how terribly the witch howled! But Gretel fled, and the damned witch was burned to ashes.
Gretel hurried to Hansel, opened the barn and shouted:

Come out, Hansel, we're saved! The old witch burned out in the stove!

Hansel jumped out of the barn like a bird out of a cage when the door was opened for her. How happy they were, how they threw themselves on each other's necks, how they jumped for joy and kissed! Now they had nothing to fear, and now they entered the witch's hut and saw that there were caskets with pearls and precious stones everywhere in the corners.

Well, it will probably be better than our pebbles, ”Hansel said, and filled his pockets with them.

And Gretel says:

I also want to bring something home, - and poured their full apron.

And now we run quickly from here, - said Hansel, - we need to get out of the witch's forest.

They went on like this for two hours and finally came to a large lake.

We cannot cross it, says Hansel, and we cannot see anywhere a shop or a bridge.

Yes, and the boat is not visible, - answered Gretel, - but a white duck is swimming over there; if I ask her, she will help us to cross to the other side.

And Gretel called to the duck:

There is no bridge anywhere
Take us on the water!

A duck swam up, Hansel sat on her and called his sister to sit with him.

No, said Gretel, it will be too hard for the duck. Let her transport you first, and then me.

The good duck did just that. They happily crossed to the other side and went on. And there the forest seemed completely familiar to them, and, at last, they saw from afar their father's house.
Then the children started to run, flew into the room and threw themselves on their father's neck.

From the time his father abandoned the children in the forest, he did not have a moment of joy, and his wife died. Gretel opened her apron, and pearls and precious stones scattered around the room, and Hansel threw them out of his pocket in whole handfuls. And their need and sorrow came to an end, and they healed happily and well.

There lived a poor woodcutter at the edge of a dense forest with his wife and two children; the boy's name was Hansel, and the girl's name was Gretel. The woodcutter lived from hand to mouth; Once in that land there had come such a high price that there was nothing for him to buy even bread for food.

And so, in the evening, lying in bed, he began to think, and all were overwhelmed by various thoughts and concerns; he sighed and said to his wife:

What will happen to us now? How can we feed the poor children, after all, we ourselves have nothing to eat!

And you know what, - answered the wife, - let's get it early in the morning, as soon as it begins to dawn, we will take the children into the forest, into the most remote thicket; Let's make a fire for them, give each of them a piece of bread, and we'll go to work and leave them alone. They won't find their way home, so we'll get rid of them.

No, wife, says the woodcutter, I will not do that; After all, my heart is not a stone, I cannot leave my children alone in the forest, there wild animals will attack them and they will be torn apart.

Eh you, you simpleton! - says the wife. - After all, otherwise we all four of us will perish from hunger, and there will be only one thing to do - to put together coffins. - And she pestered him as long as he agreed with her.

And yet I feel sorry for my poor children! said the woodcutter.

Children from hunger could not sleep and heard everything that the stepmother said to their father. Gretel burst into bitter tears and said to Hansel:

Apparently, we now have to disappear.

Hush, Gretel, ”said Hansel,“ don’t worry, I’ll think of something. ”

And when the parents fell asleep, he got up, put on his jacket, opened the door to the vestibule and quietly got out into the street. At that time, the moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles lying in front of the hut glittered like heaps of silver coins.

Hansel bent down and filled a pocket full of them. Then he returned home and said to Gretel:

Take comfort, dear sister, sleep well now, God will not leave us. - And with these words he went back to bed.

As soon as it began to dawn, even the sun did not rise, and the stepmother had already approached and began to wake the children:

Hey, you sloths, it's time to get up, get together with us into the forest for firewood!

She gave each of them a piece of bread and said:

This will be your lunch; look, don't eat it ahead of time, you won't get anything else.

Gretel hid the bread in her apron, since Hansel had a pocket full of stones. And they gathered to go together into the forest. They walked a little, suddenly Hansel stopped, looked back, looked at the hut - so he kept looking back and stopped. And his father says to him:

Hansel, why are you looking around and falling behind? Look, don't yawn, go quickly.

Ah, father, - Hansel answered him, - I keep looking at my white cat, she sits on the roof, as if she wants to say goodbye to me.

And the stepmother says:

Eh, you fool, this is not your kitty at all, this morning sun glistens on the pipe.

And Hansel was not looking at the cat at all, but took it out of his pocket and threw shiny pebbles on the road.

So they entered the very thicket of the forest, and the father said:

Well, children, gather some brushwood now, and I will make a fire so that you will not be chilled.

Hansel and Gretel gathered a whole bunch of brushwood. They lit a fire. When the flame is well lit, the stepmother says:

Well, children, now lie down by the fire and rest properly, and we will go to the forest to chop wood. When we're done, let's go back and take you home.

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when noon came, each of them ate a piece of bread. They heard the sound of the ax all the time and thought that their father was somewhere nearby. But it was not the sound of an ax at all, but a block of wood, which the woodcutter tied to a dry tree, and he, swaying in the wind, knocked on the trunk.

For a long time they sat around the fire, their eyes began to close from fatigue, and they fell fast asleep. And when we woke up, it was already a dead night. Gretel began to cry and says:

How do we get out of the woods now?

Hansel began to console her.

Wait a little, the moon will rise soon, and we will find our way.

When the moon rose, Hansel took his sister by the hand and walked from pebble to pebble - and they sparkled like new silver money and showed the children the way. They walked all night long and came at dawn to their father's hut.

They knocked, the stepmother opened the door for them; she sees that it is Hansel and Gretel, and says:

Why are you nasty children who have slept in the forest for so long? And we really thought that you did not want to go back at all.

The father was delighted to see the children - it was heavy in his heart that he had abandoned them alone.

And soon hunger and want came again, and the children heard how their stepmother, lying in bed at night, said to their father:

Once again, everything has already been eaten, only half a crust of bread remains, it is clear that the end will come to us soon. We ought to get rid of the children: let's take them into the woods far away, so as not to find their way back - we have no other way out.

The children were still awake and had heard the whole conversation. And as soon as the parents fell asleep, Hansel got up again and was about to leave the house to collect the pebbles, as before, but the stepmother locked the door, and Hansel could not get out of the hut. He began to console his sister and says:

Don't cry, Gretel, sleep well, God will help us somehow.

Early in the morning, the stepmother came and lifted the children out of bed. She gave them a piece of bread, it was even smaller than the first time. On the way to the forest, Hansel was crumbling bread in his pocket, stopping and throwing bread crumbs on the road.

What are you, Hansel, you keep stopping and looking around, - said the father, - go your own way.

Yes, I’m looking at my dove, he’s sitting on the roof of the house, as if he’s saying goodbye to me, ”replied Hansel.

You fool, - said the stepmother, - this is not your dove at all, this morning sun shines on the top of the chimney.

And Hansel dropped everything and threw bread crumbs along the way. So the stepmother took the children even deeper into the forest, where they had never been before. They made a big fire again, and the stepmother says:

Children, sit down here, and you get tired, so sleep a little; and we will go into the forest to chop wood, and in the evening, after we finish work, we will return here and take you home.

When noon came, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hansel, since he had crumbled all his bread on the way. Then they fell asleep. But now the evening passed, and no one came for the poor children. They woke up on a dark night, and Hansel began to console his sister:

Wait, Gretel, the moon will soon rise, and the bread crumbs that I scattered along the way will become visible, they will show us the way home.

The moon rose, and the children set off on their way, but they did not find bread crumbs - thousands of birds that fly in the forest and in the field, all ate them. Then Hansel says to Gretel:

We'll find our way somehow.

But they didn't find her. They had to walk all night and all day, from morning to evening, but they could not get out of the forest. The children were very hungry, because they ate nothing, except for the berries that they picked along the way. They were so tired that they could hardly move their legs, and so they lay down under a tree and fell asleep.

It was already the third morning since they left their father’s hut. They went on. They walk and walk, and the forest is deeper and darker, and if help had not arrived soon, they would have been exhausted.

It was noon, and they noticed a beautiful snow-white bird on a branch. She sang so well that they stopped and listened to her singing. But suddenly the bird fell silent and, flapping its wings, flew in front of them, and they followed her, and walked until, finally, they reached the hut, where the bird sat on the roof. When they came closer, they saw that a hut was made of bread, the roof on it was made of gingerbread, and the windows were all made of transparent candy.

So we will take it, - said Hansel, - and we will have a glorious treat! I will take off a piece of the roof, and you, Gretel, take hold of the window - it must be very sweet.

Hansel climbed onto the hut and broke off a piece of the roof to taste what it tasted like, and Gretel went to the window and began to gnaw on it.

Suddenly, a thin voice was heard from within:

It's crumbling and crumbling all under the window,

Who gnaws and gnaws at the house?

The children answered:

This is a wonderful guest

Celestial wind!

And, not paying attention, they continued to devour the house.

Hansel, who liked the roof very much, tore off a large piece from it and threw it down, while Gretel broke a whole round glass of candy and, sitting down near the hut, began to feast on it.

Suddenly the door opens, and an old, old grandmother comes out of there, leaning on a crutch. Hansel and Gretel were so afraid of her that they dropped the treat from their hands. The old woman shook her head and said:

Eh, dear children, who brought you here? Well, you are welcome, enter the hut, it won't be bad for you here.

She took them both by the hands and led them into her hut. She brought them delicious food - milk with pancakes sprinkled with sugar, apples and nuts. Then she made two beautiful beds and covered them with white blankets. Hansel and Gretel lay down and thought that they must be in heaven.

But the old woman only pretended to be so kind, but she was in fact a wicked witch that was lying in wait for the children, and she built a hut of bread for bait. If someone fell into her hands, she killed him, then boiled and ate, and it was a holiday for her. Witches always have red eyes, and they see into the distance poorly, but they have a nose, like animals, and they smell the closeness of a person.

When Hansel and Gretel approached her hut, she laughed viciously and said with a grin:

So they got caught! Well, now they can't get away from me!

Early in the morning, when the children were still asleep, she got up, watched how they were sleeping peacefully and what plump and rosy cheeks they had, and muttered to herself: “That’s what I’ll cook myself a delicious dish.”

She grabbed Hänsel with her bony hand, carried him to the barn and locked him behind the barred door - let him shout to herself as much as she liked, nothing would help him. Then she went to Gretel, pushed her aside, woke her up and said:

Get up, lazy person, and bring me some water, cook something tasty for your brother - he sits in the barn over there, let him feed himself well. And when it gets fat, I'll eat it.

Gretel burst into bitter tears, but - what to do? - she had to carry out the orders of the wicked witch.

And so the most delicious dishes were prepared for Hansel, and Gretel got nothing but leftovers.

Every morning the old woman made her way to the little barn and said:

Hansel, hold out your fingers to me, I want to see if you are fat enough.

But Hansel held out a bone to her, and the old woman, who had weak eyes, could not see what it was, and thought that it was Hansel's fingers, and wondered why he was not getting fat.

Four weeks passed in this way, but Hansel was still thin - here the old woman lost all patience and did not want to wait any longer.

Hey, Gretel, ”she shouted to the girl,“ get moving, get some water: it doesn't matter if Hansel is fat or lean, and tomorrow morning I'll kill him and cook him. ”

Oh, how the poor sister grieved when she had to carry water, how tears flowed down her cheeks in streams!

Lord, help us! - she exclaimed. - It would be better if we were torn to pieces by wild animals in the forest, then at least we died together.

Well, there is no need to whimper! - shouted the old woman. “Nothing will help you now.

Early in the morning Gretel had to get up, go out into the yard, hang up the cauldron of water and make a fire.

First we will bake bread, - said the old woman, - I have already heated the oven and kneaded the dough. She pushed poor Gretel to the oven itself, from where a great flame was blazing.

Well, get into the oven, - said the witch, - but look, is it well heated, isn't it time to plant bread?

Gretel was just about to climb into the oven, while the old woman wanted to close it with a damper so that Gretel could be fried and then eaten. But Gretel guessed what the old woman was up to and said:

I don’t know how to do it, how can I get through there?

Here is a stupid goose, - said the old woman, - look how big the mouth is, I could even climb there - and she climbed onto the pole and stuck her head into the oven.

Then Gretel pushed the witch, so much so that she found herself right in the oven itself. Then Gretel closed the stove with an iron flap and bolted it. Ooh, how terribly the witch howled! Gretel fled; and the damned witch was burned in terrible torment.

Gretel hurried to Hansel, opened the barn and shouted:

Hansel, we are saved: the old witch is dead!

Hansel jumped out of the barn like a bird out of a cage when the door was opened for her. How glad they were, how they threw themselves on each other's necks, how they jumped for joy, how hard they kissed! And since now they had nothing to be afraid of, they entered the witch's hut, and there were everywhere in the corners caskets with pearls and precious stones.

These, perhaps, will be better than our pebbles, - said Hansel and filled his pockets with them. And Gretel says:

I also want to bring something home, - and poured their full apron.

Well, now let's run from here as soon as possible, - said Hansel, - we still have to get out of the witch's forest.

So they passed for two hours and finally came across a large lake.

We can’t get over it, ”says Hansel,“ there’s nowhere to see either a path or a bridge.

Yes, and the boat is not visible, "answered Gretel," and there is a white duck floating over there; if I ask her, she will help us get across to the other side.

And Gretel called:

Duck, my duck,

Come a little closer to us

No path, no bridge

Ferry us, don't leave!

A duck swam up, Hansel sat on her and called his sister to sit down with him.

No, said Gretel, it will be too hard for the duck; let it transport you first, and then me.

So the good duck did, and when they happily crossed to the other side and went on, the forest became all their acquaintances and acquaintances, and they finally noticed their father's house from afar. Then, in joy, they started to run, jumped into the room and threw themselves on their father's neck.

Since the father abandoned the children in the forest, he did not have a moment of joy, and his wife died. Gretel opened her apron, and pearls and precious stones were scattered all over the room, and Hansel took out whole handfuls of them from his pocket.

And their need and grief came to an end, and they all healed happily together.

Here the fairy tale ends too,

And over there the mouse is running forward;

Whoever catches her is

Sew himself a fur hat,

Yes, big, big.

V In a large forest at the edge of the forest there lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children: the boy's name was Hansel, and the girl's name was Gretel.