Week 15 Story

Story source: Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt (1884).

Story:

There once was a boy was called Hansel, and a girl named Grethel. Their parents had fallen on hard times and could no longer procure daily bread. Their father tossed and turned all night, stressed, wondering where he might find some food to feed his children in the morning. He groaned and said to his wife, "What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children, when we no longer have anything even for ourselves?"

"I'll tell you what, husband," answered the woman. "Early tomorrow morning, we will take the children out into the forest to where it is the thickest; there we will light a fire for them, and give each of them one piece of bread more, and then we will go to our work and leave them alone. They will not find the way home again, and we shall be rid of them."

The father stared at his wife blankly. "Well husband, what say you?" The wife said.

The husband looked at his wife blankly again for another few moments before slowly rising to his feet. He turned and began walking to his children's room without saying a word.

"Husband? What say you?!" the wife exclaimed, this time with a note of panic in her voice.

"Children, pack your things. We are going away for a while" The husband finally said to the children. Hansel and Grethel were confused but knew better than to questions their father. They began to pack their things as instructed and within five minutes they were prepared to leave. The wife frantically tugged on her husband's sleeve begging for him to speak to her. The husband never even afforded her a glance. He merely continued on his path and packed his own things.

When Hansel and Grethel were packed they met their father by the door. They had no inclination as to where they would be going, or for how long they might be gone. They looked to their father for guidance.

Their father approached them at the door and turned to his wife. He met her eyes and calmly stated, "I'm taking the kids to my mother's house. I want a divorce."

And with that Hansel and Grethel left with their father, never to return to their home again. 

Authors Note:

There seemed to be a theme throughout the readings this week of wives driving their husbands to perform deeds they would not otherwise do. In this story, in particular, it seemed like the wife somehow convinced the husband to leave their children for dead. I wanted to rewrite this story with the added bonus of the father actually being a man. He was responsible for his own actions and he acted rationally. In this way, the story is over much faster and the children remain in good care, while the wife is left alone as any logical person would do in this situation. 

Image