Oldal 122 [122]
90 GRIMM S FAIRY TALES.
she showed them two little white beds, and Hansel and
Grethel laid themselves down on them, and thought they were
in heaven.
The old w oman, although her behaviour was so kind, was a
wicked witch, who lay in wait for children, and had built the
little house on purpose to enticethem. When they were once
Inside she used to kill them, cook them, and eat them, and
then it was a feast-day with her. ‘The witch’s eyes were red,
and she could not see very far, but she had a keen scent,
like the beasts, and knew very well when human creatures
were near. When she knew that Hansel and Grethel were
coming, she gave a spiteful laugh, and said triumphantly,
“T have them, and they shall not escape me !”
Early in the morning, before the children were awake, she
got up to look at them, and as they lay sleeping so peacefully
with round rosy cheeks, she said to herself,
“What a fine feast I shall have!”
Then she grasped Hansel with her withered hand, and led
him into a little stable, and shut him up behind a grating ;
and call and scream as he might, it was no good. ‘Then she
went back to Grethel and shook her, crying,
“Get up, lazy bones; fetch water, and cook something
nice for your brother ; he is outside in the stable, and must
be fattened up. And when he 1s fat enough I will eat him.”
Grethel began to weep bitterly, but it was of no use, she
had to do what the wicked witch bade her.
And so the best kind of victuals was cooked for poor
Hansel, while Grethel got nothing but crab-shells. Each
morning the old woman visited the little stable, and cried,
‘‘ Hansel, stretch out your finger, that I may tell if you will
soon be fat enough.”
Hansel, however, used to hold out a little bone, and the
old woman, who had weak eyes, could not see what it was,
and supposing it to be Hansel’s finger, wondered very much
that it was not getting fatter. When four weeks had passed
and Hansel seemed to remain so thin, she lost patience and
could wait no longer.
“ Now then, Grethel,” cried she to the little girl; " be
quick and draw water ; be Hansel fat or be he lean, to-morrow
I must kill and cook him.”