汉赛尔与格莱特的故事
汉赛尔与格莱特的故事英文版
Hansle and gretel
Once upon a time, there lived in a village a lovely brother and sister called Hansel and Gretel. But their stepmother did not like them at all. The morning of one day, their stepmother said to the children, "Let's go to the forest to pick some fruit."
The older brother Hansel marked his way by dropping white pebbles, without letting his stepmother know. When they reached a deep forest, their stepmother had the children work. And she stealthily crept away from them and out of the forest.
Total darkness surrounded the children after they had worked for some time, and the day grew to a close. Then Hansel saw the shining pebbles in white along the trail of the dark mountain. The children came home by looking at the pebbles Hansel had cast.
After a few days, their stepmother suggested to the children that they again go pick fruit. Hansel marked his way by dropping the pieces of bread that remained from breakfast in the morning. When they arrived at the deep forest, their stepmother ran away in secret again.
When night fell, Hansel tried to find the pieces of bread he had dropped down on the road. But the pieces of bread had been eaten up by the birds and were not to be found. The children suddenly began to be afraid.
Hansel and Gretel wandered around the forest for some time. "Brother, there is a house." Gretel shouted. They came near the house, and found that it was made entirely of cookies and candies. The children were so hungry and fell upon the walls of the house with great appetite.
At that time, a dreadful hag appeared. Upon seeing the children, she thought that, 'I am going to eat them up after they become fat.' The hag pretended to be friendly to the brother and sister, saying, "Little children, live with me. Then I will give you many things to eat."
But she locked up Hansel in a prison and had Gretel work hard. She gave a large amount of cookies and candies to Hansel every day in order to eat him after he became fat. However, the hag had weak eyesight and was unable to see well.
"Dear Hansel, please stick out your finger." Every time Hansel would stick out chicken bone through the bars of his cage. The hag was very angry and shouted, "Why you don't get fat soon? You must eat a lot in order to be fat."
Gretel knew that the like of her brother was in danger. Gretel said to the hag, "Please see if the fire in the stove is burning well. My eyesight is weak, and I am unable to see well."
The hag said, "You foolish girl! Can't you even do that? You shall not eat anything today, either!" The hag looked in the stove. At that moment, Gretel forcefully pushed the hag into the stove and closed the door.
When the hag was burnt and dead, Gretel saved Hansel and they escaped from the witch's cottage. The children wandered around for several days to find their house, eating the cookies they brought from the gingerbread house. When they returned home they found that their stepmother had run away, but their father greeted them with delight. Thereafter, Hansel and Gretel lived happily with their father.
汉赛尔与格莱特的作者
格林兄弟：雅科布·格林、威廉·格林
他们都是德国民间文学搜集整编者。出身官员家庭，均曾在马尔堡大学学法律，又同在卡塞尔图书馆工作和任格延根大学教授，1841年同时成为格林科学院院士。他俩共同编成《儿童与家庭童话集》(1857年出最后一版，共216篇故事)。其中的《灰姑娘》、《白雪公主》、《小红帽》、《勇敢的小裁缝》……等名篇，已成为世界各国儿童喜爱的杰作。此外，格林兄弟从1808年起，开始搜集德国民间传说，出版《德国传说》两卷，共585篇。他们还编写了《德语语法》(1819～1837)、《德国语言史》(1848)及《德语大辞典》(1852)前4卷等学术著作，为日尔曼语言学的发展做出了贡献。