[Slow string instruments play and fade to be heard under The Narrator]
Narrator: Hello! Welcome to Mythical, the podcast that wanders the dark and fantastical pages of fairy tales and myths. I’m The Narrator. This season I’m reading the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Today’s story is “Hansel and Gretel,” the next story in our Halloween series that answers the question of trick or treat? Congratulations to tacosntalespodcast on Instagram for correctly guessing this week’s fairy tale. Thanks for playing! Let’s begin Hansel and Gretel as all good stories should with once upon a time. [Chimes to indicate the start of the story] Narrator: A poor woodcutter lived on the edge of a large forest. He didn’t have a bite to eat and barely provided the daily bread for his wife and two children, Hansel and Gretel. It reached a point when he couldn’t even provide the anymore. Indeed, he didn’t know how to solve this predicament. One night as he was tossing and turning in bed because of his worries, his wife said to him, Narrator as Wife []: Listen to me, husband, early tomorrow morning you’re to take both the children and give them each a piece of bread. Then lead them into the middle of the forest where it’s most dense. After you build a fire for them, go away and leave them there. We can no longer feed them. Narrator’s Comments: What is it in these original fairy tales that causes the biological mother to be a horrid one? None of these women have maternal instincts. Narrator as the Woodcutter [Deep and accented]: No, wife, Narrator: The man said. Woodcutter: I don’t have the heart to take my own children and abandon them to wild beasts, for they’d soon come and tear them apart in the forest. Wife: If you don’t do that, Narrator: His wife responded Wife: We shall all have to starve to death. Narrator’s Comments: So he can afford to feed two people but not four…and there’s no way to share anymore? Can’t he cut more wood? He lives next to a giant forest! Are people not buying wood anymore in preparation for winter or for cooking? Narrator: She didn’t give him any peace until he said yes. The two children were still awake because of their hunger, and they had heard everything that their mother said to their father. Gretel thought, Narrator as Gretel [worried and light]: Now it’s all over for me. Narrator: And began to weep pitiful tears. But Hansel spoke, Narrator as Hansel [young]: Be quiet, Gretel. Don’t get upset. I’ll find a way to help us. Narrator: Upon saying this, he got up, put on his little jacket, opened the bottom half of the door and crept outside. The moon was shining very brightly, and the white pebbles glittered in front of the house like pure silver coins. Hansel stooped down to the ground and stuffed his pocket with as many pebbles as he could fit in. Then he went back into the house. Hansel: Don’t worry, Gretel. Just sleep quietly. Narrator: And he lay down again in his bed and fell asleep. Early the next morning, before the sun had even begun to rise, their mother came and woke the two children. Wife: Get up, children. We’re going into the forest. Here’s a piece of bread for each of you. But be smart and don’t eat it until noon. Narrator: Gretel put the bread under her apron because Hansel had the pebbles in his pocket. Then they all set out together into the forest. After they had walked a while, Hansel stopped still and looked back at the house. He did this time and again until his father said, Woodcutter: Hansel, what are you looking at there and why are you dawdling? Pay attention and march along! Narrator’s Comments: Do the children get no explanation as to why they’re wandering the forest? No lie such as: we’re going to help cut down some trees, or let’s go play and have a picnic? Hansel: Oh, father, Narrator: Said Hansel Hansel: I’m looking at my little white cat that’s sitting up on the roof and wants to say good-bye to me. Wife: You fool Narrator: The mother said. Wife: That’s not a cat. It’s the morning sun shining on the chimney. Narrator: But Hansel had not been looking at the cat. Instead, he had been looking at the shiny pebbles from his pocket that he had been dropping on the ground. When they reached the middle of the forest, the father said, Woodcutter: Children, I want you to gather some wood. I’m going to make a fire so you won’t get cold. Narrator: Hansel and Gretel gathered together some brushwood and built quite a nice little pile. The brushwood was soon kindled, and when the fire was ablaze, the mother said, Wife: Now, children, lie down by the fire and sleep. We’re going into the forest to chop wood. When we’re finished, we’ll come back and get you. Narrator: Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when noon came, they kept eating their pieces of bread until evening. But their mother and father did not return. Nobody came to fetch them. When it became pitch dark, Gretel began to weep, but Hansel said, Hansel: Just wait awhile until the moon has risen. Narrator: And when the full moon had risen, Hansel took Gretel by the hand. The pebbles glittered like newly minted silver coins and showed them the way. They walked the whole night long and arrived back at their father’s house at break of day. Their father rejoiced with all his heart when he saw his children again, for he had not liked the idea of abandoning them alone in the forest. Their mother also seemed to be delighted by their return, but secretly she was angry. Narrator’s Comments: Well of course she’s angry! She wanted them gone and they came back. And what an awkward family dinner that’s going to be. The children know it was their mother’s idea to abandon them and now they have to pretend to be happy and unaware? Narrator: Not long after this, there was once again nothing to eat in the house, and one evening Gretel heard her mother say to their father: Wife: The children found their way back one time, and I just let that go, but now there’s nothing left in the house except for a half loaf of bread. Tomorrow you must take them farther into the forest so they won’t find their way back home again. Otherwise, there’s no hope for us. Narrator: All this saddened the father and he thought, Woodcutter: It’d be much better to share your last bite to eat with your children. Narrator: But since he had given in the first time, he also had to yield a second. Narrator’s Comments: No, you don’t! Protect your kids! Narrator: Hansel and Gretel overheard their parents’ conversations. Then Hansel got up and intended to gather pebbles once again, but their parents had locked the door. Nevertheless, he comforted Gretel and said, Hansel: Just sleep, dear Gretel. The dear Lord will certainly help us. Narrator: Early the next morning they each received little pieces of bread, but they were smaller than the last time. On the way into the forest Hansel crumbled the bread in his pocket and stopped as often as he could to throw the crumbs on the ground. Woodcutter: Hansel, why are you always stopping and looking around? Narrator: Asked the father. Woodcutter: Keep going! Hansel: Oh, I’m looking at my little pigeon that’s sitting on the roof and wants to say goodbye to me. Narrator: Hansel answered. Wife: You fool! Narrator: His mother said. Wife: That’s not your little pigeon. It’s the morning sun shining on the chimney. Narrator: Now their mother led the children even deeper into the forest until they came to a spot they had never been to before in their lives. Once again they were to sleep by a large fire, and their parents were to come and fetch them in the evening. When noon came, Gretel shared her bread with Hansel because he had scattered his along the way. Noon went by and then evening passed, but no one came for the poor children. Hansel comforted Gretel and said, Hansel: Just wait until the moon has risen, Gretel. Then I’ll see the little bread crumbs that I scattered. They’ll show us the way back home. Narrator: When the moon rose and Hansel looked for the bread crumbs, they were gone because the many thousands of birds that fly about the forest had found them and gobbled them up. Narrator’s Comments: Hansel had a good idea, but he really didn’t think any sort of animal would come and find the bread? Narrator: Nevertheless, Hansel believed he could find the way home and pulled Gretel along with him, but they soon lost their way in the great wilderness. They walked the entire night and all the next day as well, from morning till night, until they fell asleep from exhaustion. Then they walked for one more day, but they didn’t find their way out of the forest. They were now also very hungry, for they had had nothing to eat except some berries that they had found growing on the ground. On the third day they continued walking until noon. Then they came to a little house made of bread with cake for a roof and pure sugar for windows. Hansel: Let’s sit down and eat until we’re full. Narrator: Said Hansel. Hansel: I want to eat a piece of the roof. Gretel, you can have part of the window since it’s sweet. Narrator: Hansel had already eaten a good piece of the roof and Gretel had devoured a couple of small round windows and was about to break off a new one when they heard a shrill voice cry from inside. Narrator as the Witch [shrill]: Nibble, nibble, I hear a louse! Who’s that nibbling on my house? Narrator: Hansel and Gretel were so tremendously frightened that they dropped what they had in their hands, and immediately thereafter a small, ancient woman crept out of the door. She shook her head and said, Witch: Well now, dear children, where’ve you come from? Come inside with me. You’ll have a good time. Narrator: She took them both by the hand and led them into her little house. Then she served them a good meal of milk and pancakes with sugar and apples and nuts. Afterward she made up two beautiful beds, and when Hansel and Gretel lay down in them, they thought they were in heaven. The old woman, however, was really a wicked witch on the lookout for children and had built the house made of bread only to lure them to her. As soon as she had any children in her power, she would kill, cook, and eat them. It would be like a feast day for her. Therefore, she was quite happy that Hansel and Gretel had come her way. Narrator’s Comments: Are we sure the mother isn’t this witch? She wants so badly to be rid of her kids maybe she magiced this whole house and old woman disguise to kill them. She didn’t want to take her chances that Hansel and Gretel would find their way out of the forest again. Narrator: Early the next morning, before the children were awake, she got up and looked at the two of them sleeping so sweetly, and she was delighted and thought, Witch: They’ll certainly be a tasty meal for you! Narrator: Then she grabbed Hansel and stuck him into a small coop, and when he woke up, he was behind a wire mesh used to lock up chickens, and he couldn’t move about. Narrator’s Comments: How did he not notice her moving him? Is she so strong and gentle that she floated him there? Magic, I guess? Magic is just the answer for everything in fairytales that is unexplainable. Slash the writers were lazy and didn’t want to put it in. Narrator: Immediately after, she shook Gretel and yelled, Witch: Get up, you lazybones! Fetch some water, and then go into the kitchen and cook something nice. Your brother’s sitting in a chicken coop. I want to fatten him up, and when he’s fat enough, I’m going to eat him. But now I want you to feed him. Narrator: Gretel was frightened and wept, but she had to do what the witch demanded. So the very best food was cooked for poor Hansel so that he would become fat, while Gretel got nothing but crab shells. Every day the old woman came and called out, Witch: Hansel, stick out your finger so I can feel whether you’re fat enough. Narrator: However, Hansel stuck out a little bone, and the witch was continually puzzled that Hansel didn’t get any fatter. Narrator’s Comments: Why doesn’t she just look inside the chicken coop? And Hansel could not be eating all the food, another reason he isn’t getting bigger. Narrator: One evening, after a month had passed, she said to Gretel, Witch: Get a move on and fetch some water! I don’t care whether your little brother’s fat enough or not. He’s going to be slaughtered and boiled tomorrow. In the meantime I want to prepare the dough so that we can also bake. Narrator: So Gretel went off with a sad heart and fetched the water in which Hansel was to be boiled. Early the next morning Gretel had to get up, light the fire, and hang up a kettle full of water. Witch: Make sure that it boils. Narrator: Said the witch. Witch: I’m going to light the fire in the oven and shove the bread inside. Narrator: Gretel was standing in the kitchen and wept bloody tears and thought, Gretel: It would have been better if the wild animals in the forest had eaten us. Then we would have died together and wouldn’t have had to bear this sorrow, and I wouldn’t have to boil the water that will be the death of my dear brother. Oh dear God, help us poor children get out of this predicament! Narrator: Then the old woman called, Witch: Gretel, come right away over here to the oven! Narrator: When Gretel came, she said, Witch: Look inside and see if the bread is already nice and brown and well-done. My eyes are weak. I can no longer see so well from a distance, and if you can’t see, then sit down on the board, and I’ll shove you inside. Then you can get around inside and check everything. Narrator: The witch wanted to shut the oven door once Gretel was inside, for she wanted to bake her in the hot oven and eat her, too. Narrator’s Comments: Then why was she only feeding her crab shells? She won’t taste very good or have a lot of meat on her. Narrator: This is what the wicked witch had planned and why she had called the girl. But God inspired Gretel, and she said, Gretel: I don’t know how to do it. First you show it to me. Sit down on the board, and I’ll shove you inside. Narrator: And so the old woman sat down on the board, and since she was light, Gretel shoved her inside as far as she could, and then she quickly shut the oven door and bolted it with an iron bar. Narrator’s Comments: Look at that! A maiden with a name and a character arc… in a fairy tale! What!? Also, this witch is an idiot for trusting Gretel and going into a damn oven. Narrator: The old woman began to scream and groan in the hot oven, but Gretel ran off, and the witch was miserably burned to death. Meanwhile, Gretel went straight to Hansel and opened the door to the coop. After Hansel jumped out, they kissed each other and were glad. The entire house was full of jewels and pearls. So they filled their pockets with them. Narrator: Then they went off and found their way home. Their father rejoiced when he saw them again. He hadn’t spent a single happy day since his children had been away. Now he was a rich man. However, the mother had died. The end. [Chimes to signal the end of the story] [Strings play softly under The Narrator] Narrator: The moral of today’s story is: Don’t go in strangers’ homes. They will be a witch who wants to eat you. I’m convinced the old witch is the mother. They both die at the end of the story, and the bread house seemed awfully close to the woodcutter’s home. The father could have always gone looking for his children. Especially after his wife had died. The version I just read, has more dialogue then we’ve seen previously, but the final version has more still. The final version of Hansel and Gretel changes the mother from a biological mother to a stepmother, a classic edit of the Brothers Grimm. A famine has swept over the kingdom, which explains why the woodcutter and his family are so desperate for food. The stepmother is even more heartless in the final version, calling the children names and talking down to them, and being more persistent in abandoning them. When the woodcutter leaves the children in the forest, he rigs a branch to a dead tree, which swings with the wind and tricks the children into thinking it’s an ax. They fall asleep thinking their father is close by. When they find their way home, their stepmother says to them “you wicked children, why did you sleep so long in the forest? We thought you’d never come back again.” Still pretending it wasn’t her idea to leave them in the woods. And they knew where the children were sleeping, they could’ve woken them up….if they were good parents. Another famine ravages the country, and the woodcutter and his family have no food again. Once the children are left in the forest again and wander for three days, they see a beautiful white bird singing and follow it to the witch’s house. The children don’t stop eating right when the witch calls out to them. And her call is different in this version. She calls, “nibble, nibble, I hear a mouse. Who’s that nibbling at my house?” And in the final version the children answer, “The wind, the wind; it’s very mild, blowing like the Heavenly Child.” We’re told right away that witches have red eyes and poor eye sight, so this doesn’t come as an after thought when the witch is checking on Hansel. The witch in this version also walks with a crutch. When she asks Gretel to check the fire, she makes no pretense about wanting to get Gretel inside. She tells her right away to, “crawl inside.” When Gretel says she doesn’t know how to do it, the witch is overcome with stupidity and says, “The opening’s large enough. Watch, even I can do it.” On their way home, the Brothers Grimm write in a wide river the children have to cross. There is no bridge or boat to help them get to the other side. Keeping Gretel as the heroine, she spots a duck and calls, “Help us, help us, little duck! We’re Hansel and Gretel, out of luck. We can’t get over, try as we may. Please take us across right away!” The duck carries them across one at a time. When they get home their father is so happy to see them and they show him all the jewels they stole. The stepmother still dies, with no mention of how. I still think she’s the witch. In this version both the stepmother and the witch call the children “lazybones.” The woodcutter’s house is close to the witch’s cottage. They both hate children. And both are dead in the end. The similarities seem obvious to me. One of the weirdest things about this story is how it ends. It ends with the children and father being happy and wealthy, but after that there’s an extra line that makes little sense. The story of Hansel and Gretel ends with this: My tale is done. See the mouse run. Catch it, whoever can, and then you can make a great big cap out of its fur. That is the last line of Hansel and Gretel. The witch did call the children mice, and she caught them, but this last line leaves me wondering its purpose and the randomness of it closing the story. Today’s story was read from The Complete First Edition, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of The Brothers Grimm. Translated and Edited by Jack Zipes. If you have a fairy tale you would like me to read aloud, you can email me at [email protected]. You can follow the show on Twitter and Instagram at Mythicalpodcast. There I post behind the scenes, updates, and clues to each week’s episode. If you like the show, please leave a rating and a review wherever you listen to podcasts. I greatly appreciate it and it helps other people find the show. Thank you for joining me today. I’m The Narrator, and this is Mythical. [Music swells and fades]
SHOW NOTES
"A house made of bread with cake for a roof and pure sugar for windows." Hänsel und Gretel When your mother wants you dead, is it better to starve to death knowing you aren’t loved, or eaten after having a wonderful meal and heavenly sleep? This classic tale brings us one of the original trick or treats. Will the children escape the clutches of an evil witch? [Transcript]( https://mythicalpodcast.weebly.com/blog-and-transcripts/season-1-episode-9-hansel-and-gretel-transcript) If there is a fairy tale you'd like me to read, email me: [email protected] Instagram: [@mythicalpodcast](https://www.instagram.com/mythicalpodcast/) Twitter: [@mythicalpodcast](https://twitter.com/MythicalPodcast) Gretel Crying and Witch Shrieking SFX: In Studio Other SFX: Fractal Studios--[Fire](https://freesound.org/people/FractalStudios/sounds/363092/) Rempen -- [Footsteps](https://freesound.org/people/rempen/sounds/274833/) Darth_Biomech--[Oven Door](https://freesound.org/people/Darth_Biomech/sounds/389402/) Bsumorals -- [Pebbles](https://freesound.org/people/bsumorals/sounds/416267/)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2019
Categories |