Dongeng bahasa Inggris tentang Si Hansel dan si Gretel.
Selamat Membaca :
Once upon a time a very poor woodcutter lived in a tiny
cottage in the forest with his two children, Hansel and Gretel. His second wife
often ill-treated the children and was forever nagging the woodcutter.
"There is not enough food in the house for us all.
There are too many mouths to feed! We must get rid of the two brats," she
declared. And she kept on trying to persuade her husband to abandon his
children in the forest.
"Take them miles from home, so far that they can
never find their way back! Maybe someone will find them and give them a
home." The downcast woodcutter didn't know what to do. Hansel who, one
evening, had overheard his parents' conversation, comforted Gretel.
"Don't worry! If they do leave us in the forest,
we'll find the way home," he said. And slipping out of the house he filled
his pockets with little white pebbles, then went back to bed.
All night long, the woodcutter's wife harped on and on at
her husband till, at dawn, he led Hansel and Gretel away into the forest. But
as they went into the depths of the trees, Hansel dropped a little white pebble
here and there on the mossy green ground. At a certain point, the two children
found they really were alone: the woodcutter had plucked up enough courage to
desert them, had mumbled an excuse and was gone.
Night fell but the woodcutter did not return. Gretel began
to sob bitterly. Hansel too felt scared but he tried to hide his feelings and
comfort his sister.
"Don't cry, trust me! I swear I'll take you home
even if Father doesn't come back for us!" Luckily the moon was full that
night and Hansel waited till its cold light filtered through the trees.
"Now give me your hand!" he said. "We'll
get home safely, you'll see!" The tiny white pebbles gleamed in the
moonlight, and the children found their way home. They crept through a half
open window, without wakening their parents. Cold, tired but thankful to be
home again, they slipped into bed.
Next day, when their stepmother discovered that Hansel
and Gretel had returned, she went into a rage. Stifling her anger in front of
the children, she locked her bedroom door, reproaching her husband for failing
to carry out her orders. The weak woodcutter protested, torn as he was between
shame and fear of disobeying his cruel wife. The wicked stepmother kept Hansel
and Gretel under lock and key all day with nothing for supper but a sip of
water and some hard bread. All night, husband and wife quarreled, and when dawn
came, the woodcutter led the children out into the forest.
Hansel, however, had not eaten his bread, and as he
walked through the trees, he left a trail of crumbs behind him to mark the way.
But the little boy had forgotten about the hungry birds that lived in the
forest. When they saw him, they flew along behind and in no time at all, had
eaten all the crumbs. Again, with a lame excuse, the woodcutter left his two
children by themselves.
"I've left a trail, like last time!" Hansel
whispered to Gretel, consolingly. But when night fell, they saw to their
horror, that all the crumbs had gone.
"I'm frightened!" wept Gretel bitterly.
"I'm cold and hungry and I want to go home!"
"Don't be afraid. I'm here to look after you!"
Hansel tried to encourage his sister, but he too shivered when he glimpsed
frightening shadows and evil eyes around them in the darkness. All night the
two children huddled together for warmth at the foot of a large tree.
When dawn broke, they started to wander about the forest,
seeking a path, but all hope soon faded. They were well and truly lost. On they
walked and walked, till suddenly they came upon a strange cottage in the middle
of a glade.
"This is chocolate!" gasped Hansel as he broke
a lump of plaster from the wall.
"And this is icing!" exclaimed Gretel, putting
another piece of wall in her mouth. Starving but delighted, the children began
to eat pieces of candy broken off the cottage.
"Isn't this delicious?" said Gretel, with her
mouth full. She had never tasted anything so nice.
"We'll stay here," Hansel declared, munching a
bit of nougat. They were just about to try a piece of the biscuit door when it
quietly swung open.
"Well, well!" said an old woman, peering out
with a crafty look. "And haven't you children a sweet tooth?"
"Come in! Come in, you've nothing to fear!"
went on the old woman. Unluckily for Hansel and Gretel, however, the sugar
candy cottage belonged to an old witch, her trap for catching unwary victims.
The two children had come to a really nasty place.
"You're nothing but skin and bones!" said the
witch, locking Hansel into a cage. I shall fatten you up and eat you!"
"You can do the housework," she told Gretel grimly,
"then I'll make a meal of you too!" As luck would have it, the witch
had very bad eyesight, an when Gretel smeared butter on her glasses, she could
see even less.
"Let me feel your finger!" said the witch to
Hansel every day to check if he was getting any fatter. Now, Gretel had brought
her brother a chicken bone, and when the witch went to touch his finger, Hansel
held out the bone.
"You're still much too thin!" she complained.
When will you become plump?" One day the witch grew tired of waiting.
"Light the oven," she told Gretel. "We're
going to have a tasty roasted boy today!" A little later, hungry and
impatient, she went on: "Run and see if the oven is hot enough."
Gretel returned, whimpering: "I can't tell if it is hot enough or
not." Angrily, the witch screamed at the little girl: "Useless child!
All right, I'll see for myself." But when the witch bent down to peer
inside the oven and check the heat, Gretel gave her a tremendous push and
slammed the oven door shut. The witch had come to a fit and proper end. Gretel
ran to set her brother free and they made quite sure that the oven door was
tightly shut behind the witch. Indeed, just to be on the safe side, they
fastened it firmly with a large padlock. Then they stayed for several days to
eat some more of the house, till they discovered amongst the witch's
belongings, a huge chocolate egg. Inside lay a casket of gold coins.
"The witch is now burnt to a cinder," said
Hansel, "so we'll take this treasure with us." They filled a large
basket with food and set off into the forest to search for the way home. This
time, luck was with them, and on the second day, they saw their father come out
of the house towards them, weeping.
"Your stepmother is dead. Come home with me now, my
dear children!" The two children hugged the woodcutter.
"Promise you'll never ever desert us again,"
said Gretel, throwing her arms round her father's neck. Hansel opened the
casket.
"Look, Father! We're rich now . . . You'll never
have to chop wood again."
And they all lived happily together ever after.
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