Tales of the German Imagination from the Brothers Grimm to Ingeborg Bachmann (Penguin Classics) Read Online Free Page B

four weeks had gone by and Hansel still stayed skinny, she was gripped by impatience and couldn’t wait any longer. ‘Get a move on, Gretel!’ she cried to the girl. ‘Be quick and fetch me water – Hansel may be fat or lean, tomorrow I’ll slaughter and cook him.’
    Oh how the poor little sister wailed as she carried the water, and oh what a flood of tears ran down her cheeks! ‘God help us!’ she cried out. ‘If only the wild animals in the woods had eaten us, at least we would have died together.’
    ‘Save your whimpering,’ said the old crone, ‘it won’t do you any good.’
    Early the next morning Gretel had to go out to light a fire and put the kettle to boil. ‘First we’ll bake,’ said the hag, ‘I already lit the oven and kneaded the dough.’ She prodded the poor girl over to the oven, from which flames shot out. ‘Crawl in,’ said the witch, ‘and see if it’s hot enough to bake the bread.’ Once Gretel had poked her head in, the witch intended to slam the oven door shut, to roast her and eat her.
    But Gretel grasped what she had in mind, and said: ‘I don’t know how to do it; how am I supposed to climb in?’
    ‘Foolish ninny,’ said the old crone, ‘as you can see for yourself, the opening is even big enough for me to climb into,’ whereupon she came hobbling over and poked her head in. Then Gretel gave her a shove so that she went tumbling in, heaved the iron door shut and slipped the latch.
    Then the witch started howling something awful – ‘Ayyyyy!’ – but Gretel ran off, and the godless witch was burnt to a crisp.
    Gretel scampered straight to Hansel, opened the pen and cried out: ‘Hansel, we’re saved, the old witch is dead.’ And as soon as the gate was opened, Hansel came flying out like a bird out of a cage. How they rejoiced, fell into each other’s arms, leapt for joy and covered each other with kisses! And because they had nothing more to fear, they went back into the witch’s house, in every corner of which stood cupboards filled with pearls and precious stones. ‘They’re better than pebbles,’ said Hansel, and stuffed as many as he could fit in his pockets.
    And Gretel said: ‘I think I’ll take some too,’ and filled her apron with them.
    ‘We’d better go now and get out of the witch’s woods,’ said Hansel. But after they’d walked for hours, they came to a great big lake. ‘We can’t get across,’ said Hansel, ‘I don’t see ford or footbridge.’
    ‘There’s no boat either,’ said Gretel, ‘but there’s a little white duck swimming along; if I ask it, maybe it will help us get across.’ And she called out:
   Duckling, duckling, soft and white,
       There’s no ford or footbridge in sight.
       Gretel and Hansel beg you with a quack:
       Carry us across on your soft white back.
    The duckling came swimming up, and Hansel sat himself on its back and bid his sister sit beside him. ‘No,’ replied Gretel, ‘the little duck can’t bear the weight of us both, let it ferry us across one after the other.’
    The kind little creature did just that, and once they weresafely across, the woods looked more and more familiar, and finally they glimpsed from afar their father’s house. Then they started running, burst in and fell into their father’s arms. The man had not had a moment of peace ever since he left his children in the woods, but his wife had died. Gretel shook her apron out, so that the pearls and precious stones spilt all over the room, and Hansel emptied his pockets, one fistful after another. Their troubles had come to an end, and they lived happily together. My fairy tale too has come to an end; there’s a mouse running there, whoever catches it can make himself a big fur hat.

The Children of Hameln
    1816
    The Brothers Grimm
    In the year 1284 a curious man appeared in Hameln. He wore a coat of many-coloured cloth, which is why he was known as
Bundting
, Gaudy Garb. He said he was a rat catcher and promised, for