Hänsel und Gretel Englisch
Das Grimm’sche Märchen Hänsel und Gretel kennt hierzulande jedes Kind. Und auch im Englischen ist das Märchen von den beiden Kindern und der bösen Hexe weit bekannt. Es heißt auf Englisch auch ganz ähnlich wie bei uns.
Hänsel und Gretel Übersetzung:
Deutsch: Hänsel und Gretel – Englisch: Hansel and Gretel
Hänsel und Gretel – Kurzfassung auf Englisch lesen
The fairy tale Hansel and Gretel is quite long in the original version. Here you can find a short version with about 650 words:
***
Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter lived on the edge of a large forest. He had two children, the boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel.
When they had nothing to eat, his new wife suggested that they abandon the children in the forest. The man had doubts, but the wife persuaded him. The children lay awake from hunger and heard what the stepmother said. Hansel comforted Gretel and secretly collected white pebbles outside the house that shone in the moonlight.
The next morning, the stepmother and the father went into the forest with the children. Hansel dropped a pebble on the path now and then. The parents built a fire and left Hansel and Gretel alone to go chop wood. But they did not come back.
The children fell asleep from fatigue and awoke in the dark of night. Gretel cried, but Hansel took her by the hand and they followed the bright shimmering pebbles. In the morning they were back home and the father was very happy.
Soon after, they found themselves in great distress again, and the children heard the stepmother talking to the father again at night. He had a difficult time with this, but he gave in. Hansel wanted to pick up pebbles again, but this time the stepmother had locked the door.
In the morning, the children were given a piece of bread and led deeper into the forest than the first time. Hansel dropped a crumb of bread on the path now and then. The parents left the children alone, who fell asleep by the fire and awoke only in the dark of night. Hansel comforted his sister and they looked for the way home. But they did not find a crumb of bread. The birds of the forest had eaten everything. So the poor children wandered hungrily through the forest.
One noon a snow-white bird sang so beautifully that they followed it. Then they came to a little house made of bread and covered with cakes. The hungry children broke off a piece.
Suddenly a voice said:
„Squeak squeak, little mouse!
who is nibbling at my little house?“ The children answered:
„The wind, the wind,
the heavenly child“
and went on eating. Then the door opened and an old woman with a cane appeared. Hansel and Gretel were terribly frightened. But the old woman kindly invited them in. There was milk and pancakes, and the children were allowed to sleep in two beautiful little white beds.
But the friendly old woman was in truth a wicked witch who lured children with her little bread house in order to eat them as a feast. In the morning she grabbed Hansel and locked him in a stable with a barred door. Then she ordered Gretel to cook for her brother so that he would become fat. In despair, Gretel obeyed.
Every morning the old woman called out, „Hansel, stick out your fingers so I can feel if you’re about to get fat.“ Hansel stuck out a little bone instead, and the old woman, whose eyes were dim, wondered why he remained so skinny.
Soon she lost patience and wanted to eat Hansel anyway. Before that, the old woman heated the oven and told Gretel to crawl inside to see if it was hot enough to bake bread. In reality, the old woman wanted to close the oven door behind Gretel and bake her in it. But Gretel saw through her and said, „I don’t know how to do it; how do I get in there?“ Annoyed, the old woman showed her and stuck her head into the oven. Then Gretel pushed her in and locked the door, so that the old woman burned miserably.
Gretel freed Hansel and they fell around each other’s necks in joy. In the house they discovered pearls and precious stones and took as much of them as they could. Then they ran home through the forest until they finally saw their father’s house. How happy the man was when he saw his children again! The stepmother had died in the meantime. Hansel and Gretel poured out the pearls and precious stones. Now all worries were over and they lived happily ever after.
Buchtipp: Märchenbuch mit Grimms Märchen auf Englisch
