HANSEL AND GRETHEL

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2603, 10 September 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

HANSEL AND GRETHEL

(Continued from Saturday last.) Grethel freed herself once more and went on again, but became very weary, so Grethel decided to turn herself into a daisy while Hansel tried io find the way home- alone. But Hansel got lost and did not return. One day .a shepherd spied the daisy, and picked it, saying: “1 will take this little llower homo with me; it is the prettiest daisy I have ever seen.” So he took it home and placed it in a box. and from that day everything Nourished wonderiully in his house. All the work was done, the fire made and the water fetched, before be got up. He could not make this out, so he went to a wise woman, and she said:

“It must be witchcraft. Get up early to-morrow morning and throw a white cloth over anything that moves.” So he got up early and saw the box open and the daisy come out. He at once threw a white cloth over it, and the beautiful Grethel stood before him. She told him her troubles, and said: l “I will stay with you until Hansel j comes back.” A long while passed and HanseL I came back. Hansel and Grethel once : more started for home, hut getting tirI ed they went to sleep in an old hollow | tree. j In the morning when they awoke, the sun/had risen high above the trees, ; and it was very hot. Little Hansel I said: I “Sister, lam very thirsty ;if I could i find a brook I would go and drink, and fetch you some water, too. Listen 1 I think I hear the sound of one.” Grethel thought she heard the brook, ■as it babbled along, say : “Whoever i drinks here will be turned into a { tiger.” Then she cried out : “Ah, brother, do not drink, or you ! will be turned into a wild beast and ! tear me to pieces 1” j “I will wait,” said Hansel, “for the < next brook.'’ . Blit when they came to the next, i Grethel listened again, and thought •she.heard: “Whoever drinks here will / become a wolf.” Then she cried: f “Brother, brother, do not drink, or i you will become a wolf and eat me!” i So he did not drink, but said: “I will wait for the next brook; there I must drink, say what you will, for I am so thirsty.” As they came to the third brook, Grethel listened, and heard: “Whoever drinks here will become a fawn.” “Ah, brother,” said she, “do not drink, or you will be turned into a fawn and run away from me!” But Hansel had already stooped down upon his knees, and the moment he put his lips into the water he was turned into,a fawn. Grethel wept bitterly over the poor creature, and the tears, too, roiled down his eyes as he laid himself beside her. Then 6he said : “Rest, in peaoe, dear fawn; I will never leave you.” After they had travelled a long way they came at last to a little cottage; and Grethel, having looked in and seen that it was quite empty, thought to herself, “We can stay and live here.” They lived thus a long while in the wood bv themselves, till it chanced that the king of that country came to hold a great hunt there. And when the fawn heard all around the echoing of the horns, and the baying of the dogs, and the merry shouts of the huntsmen, he wished very much to go to see what was going on. “All, sister,” said he, “let mo go out into the wood. I can stay no longer!” And he begged, so long that at last she agreed to let; him go. “But,” said she,' “be sure. to come to me in the evening. I shall shut up the door to keep out those wild huntsmen ; aiid if' you tap at it. and say, ‘Sister, let me in,’ I shall know you; but if you don’t speak, I shall keep the door fast.”

As it grew dark he came running home to the hut, and tapped, and said: “Sister, sister, let me in.” Then she opened the little door, and in hip jumped,-and slept soundly all night on his soft .bed.;: Next’morning the,hunt began again; and’ when he heard the huntsmen’s horns he said : “Sister, open the door for me, I must igo, again.” Then she let him out, and said.: “Comp back in the evening, and remember what you are to say.” When the king and the huntsmen saw the fawn with the golden collar again, they gave him chase; but he was too' quick - for ? them.! The chase lasted, the whole day; but at last the huntsmen nearly surrounded him, and one of them wounded him in the foot, so that he became sadly lame and could hardly crawl home. THe man who had wounded him followed close, behind, > and hid himself* and heard tho little fawn say: “Sister, sister, let me in.” Upon which the door opened, and soon shut again. The huntsman, marked all well, and went to the king and told him wha,t he had seen and heard; then the king, said : “Tp-inprrow we will have another chase.”; ; '■ *

was wounded; out siie pvasnea nio blood, away and put some healing herbs on it, and said : - - ‘Nov/ go to bed, dear fawn, and you--will soon be well again.” The wound was so small that in the morning there was nothing to be seen of it, and when the horn blew, the iittlo creature said: “I can’t stay here; I must go to look on. I will take care that none of them shall catch me.” But Grethel said: “I am sure they will kill you this time; I will not let you go.” “I shall die,” answered he, “if you keep me here. When I hear the horns, I feel as, if I could fly.” Then Grethel was forced to let him go; so she opened the door with heavy heart, and no bounded out gaily into the wood. When the king saw him, he said to his huntsman: “Now chase him all day long till you catch him; but let none of you do him any harm.” The sun set, however, without their being able to overtake him, and the king called away the huntsmen, and said to the one who had watched the fawn:

“Now come and show me the hut.” So they tapped at the door, and said: “Sister, sister, let me in.” Then the door opened, and the king went in, and there stood a maiden more lovely than any he had ever seen. Grethel was frightened to see that it was not her fawn but a king with a golden crown. However, he spoke, kindly., and took her hand, and said: “Will you come with me to my castle and be my wife?” “Yes,” said the maiden. “But if I come my fawn must go with me.” “Well,” said the king, “he shall come and live with you, and want for nothing.” Just at that moment in sprang the little fawn, and his sister tied the string to his neck, and they left the hut. Then the king took Grethel to his palace, and celebrated the marriage in great state. And she told the king all her story: and he sent for the fairy and punished her. And the fawn was changed into Hansel again, and he and his Sister loved one another, and lived happily together all their days.