that they would be a very happy family. And, for the most part, you would think right. But the father wasn’t quite as happy as he could have been. You see, he wished for a daughter more than anything in the world. But since he and his wife had tried for one seven times, and failed each time, he was now resigned never to get his wish.
Imagine his surprise, then, when one evening a boy and a girl knocked on his door and asked if they could come and live with him. They explained that they had run away from two different homes together; one where their parents had cut off their heads, and the other where a wicked woman had tried to eat them. The man nodded at them like you nod at crazy people.
But, they said, when they saw this cozy little house in the center of the village, with candlelight flickering in every window, they decided that it was a better house for a family than either a palace or a cake-house, and that any parents who lived inside would probably love them and not try to hurt them. So they had decided that they would like to live there for the rest of their days, if that was okay with the man and his wife.
Well, the man was delighted (maybe their heads really had been cut off. So what? Who cared!). He breathlessly ushered in Hansel and Gretel—for that’s who they were, of course—and told his wife to prepare them dinner. Then he ran to tell his seven sons to go to the town well for water for the bath.
“Who’s taking a bath?” the eldest one asked.
“Your new brother and sister!” the father shouted with joy. “Now hurry!”
The boys were puzzled by this, certainly. But they knew their father had a terrible temper when he was angry and were afraid to displease him, so together they hoisted the great wooden tub onto their shoulders and ran to the well.
The man’s wife laid a steaming plate of boiled meat and potatoes before the children.
Gretel hesitated. “Will we have to do chores if we live here with you?” she asked.
The woman was kind but firm when she said, “You will.”
“And go to school?”
“Of course!” the woman scolded.
“Good.” Gretel thanked the woman for the food, and she and Hansel, slowly and not-at-all greedily, began to eat.
Meanwhile, the father wondered where his new children’s bath could be. For the seven brothers, in their haste not to displease their father, had lost their grip on the tub and sent it tumbling into the well. “He’ll be furious!” the eldest whispered, while the youngest cried, “He’ll beat us for certain!” They crowded around the well, wondering what they should do.
At home, their father was getting more impatient by the minute. “Where are those foolish boys?” he whispered to his wife as she worked in the kitchen. “Our new daughter and son will be wanting their bath at any moment!”
When, a short time later, the boys still were not home, the man swore and said, “They are useless! I wish they would all just turn into birds and fly away!”
At that very moment, in the village, the seven boys turned into seven swallows and wheeled into the evening air. They flew past their house’s kitchen window before disappearing into the nearby wood. The woman saw this and turned on her husband in a fury. But he said it was all for the best, and that they had always wanted a daughter more anyway, and he made her promise never to tell their new children what had happened. For, he said, what good could come of their knowing? Reluctantly, and with tears in her eyes, his wife agreed.
At first, things were fine in the cozy little house. Hansel and Gretel’s new parents were very kind and always took especially good care of Gretel. But the children soon began to worry. Their new father was happy, but their mother seemed to bear a great sadness with her wherever she went. Gretel in particular loved her new mother very much. She could not stand to see her so upset.
“Tell me, Mother!” she would say. “Tell me what’s wrong!” But always her mother would pretend to laugh, and shoo her away.
There were other strange things that Hansel and Gretel began to notice. Their room had seven beds in it, and more than once they asked their new parents what these seven beds were for. Their parents told them it had been a guest room before Hansel and Gretel had come to live there, but Gretel didn’t believe them. “Who has seven guests all at once, and makes them sleep in the same room?” Gretel wondered aloud.
Hansel was less worried. Once he came upon their new father staring at the seven empty beds in their room with a tear hanging from the end of his nose. But he didn’t know what to make of it. Besides, he was happy to be in a place where your father wouldn’t cut off your head, and your mother wouldn’t try to eat you.
But Gretel grew more and more uncomfortable living there. She heard whisperings about the town. “Oh, nice children, yes. But such a sacrifice! All seven sons at once!” And she wondered more and more about their new mother’s sadness.
In time, one of the children of the town told Gretel the whole story, and a few other children, wide-eyed and earnest, confirmed it. Everyone in a little town knows everything about everybody.
“We can’t live here anymore!” she implored her brother that night. “It’s our fault that the boys were turned into swallows! We must do something!”
Hansel was devastated. “Aren’t there any good parents in all the wide world?” he muttered.
“It’s my fault,” Gretel said, for the children had told her how badly the father wanted a daughter. “He did it because of me.” She turned to Hansel. “We’ve got to find them.”
“What? Who?”
“The swallows.”
“How are we going to find seven little birds out there?” he said, and gestured at the window of their room. The gesture was so weak and small that it made “out there” seem utterly unconquerable.
Gretel didn’t know. But she did know that they had to try. Otherwise her heart would break from guilt. Hansel didn’t think they had any hope of finding them—but he had suddenly begun to worry that this new father would wish
When the night was heavy and their new parents were asleep, Hansel and Gretel slipped out into the darkness to find the seven swallows. They walked all night and all the next day and all the next night. “I still don’t know how we’re going to find them,” Hansel sighed.
Gretel shook her head. But as the sun came up the next morning, dazzling their eyes, Gretel said, “I know! The sun! She sees us everywhere we go. She must know what happened to the seven swallow boys! Let’s ask her!”
Hansel thought she was crazy. On the other hand, he didn’t have any better ideas.
So Hansel and Gretel climbed the tallest tree they could find, until they were right up near the sun. They tried to speak to her, but she was too hot and terrible. They had to hide their faces. Hansel tugged on Gretel’s shirt. “I think she eats children,” Hansel whispered. Gretel thought he was probably right. They climbed back down the tree and started walking again.
That evening, as the moon rose above the trees, Gretel said, “The moon sees us just as much as the sun. And he’s not so hot and terrible. Let’s go and ask him!” So they climbed the tallest tree and got as near as they dared to the moon. The moon wasn’t hot and terrible. Instead, he was cold and creepy. “Fee-fie-foe-fesh, I think I smell child-flesh!” he said.
Hansel and Gretel hurried down the tree as quickly as they could.
Yes, the moon really did say that. No, I didn’t think the moon ate people, either. But it says so, right in the original Grimm. And I looked it up. It’s true.
Scared and dejected, Hansel and Gretel walked on until they came to a beautiful lake that shimmered in the starlight. “We’ve been walking forever,” Hansel said. “We’ll never find them! Can’t we just give up?”
But Gretel’s guilt was bubbling like a boiling pot inside her. “It’s my fault that our new mother’s sons have disappeared!” Gretel moaned.
