Hansel And Gretel
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"Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
collected by the German
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel and Gretel are a brother and sister abandoned in a
forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
, where they fall into the hands of a
witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...
who lives in a house made of gingerbread,
cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...
, and candy. The
cannibalistic Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...
witch intends to fatten Hansel before eventually eating him, but Gretel pushes the witch into her own oven and kills her. The two children then escape with their lives and return home with the witch's treasure. "Hansel and Gretel" is a tale of Aarne–Thompson–Uther type 327A. It also includes an episode of type 1121 ('Burning the Witch in Her Own Oven'). The story is set in medieval
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The tale has been adapted to various media, most notably the opera (1893) by Engelbert Humperdinck.


Origin


Sources

Although
Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...
and
Wilhelm Grimm Wilhelm Carl Grimm (also Karl; 24 February 178616 December 1859) was a German author and anthropologist, and the younger brother of Jacob Grimm, of the literary duo the Brothers Grimm. Life and work Wilhelm was born in February 1786 in Hanau, ...
credited "various tales from
Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
" (the region where they lived) as their source, scholars have argued that the brothers heard the story in 1809 from the family of Wilhelm's friend and future wife, Dortchen Wild, and partly from other sources. A handwritten note in the Grimms' personal copy of the first edition reveals that in 1813 Wild contributed to the children's verse answer to the witch, "The wind, the wind,/ The heavenly child," which rhymes in German: "Der Wind, der Wind,/ Das himmlische Kind." According to folklorist Jack Zipes, the tale emerged in the
Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
Germany (1250–1500). Shortly after this period, close written variants like Martin Montanus' ''Garten Gesellschaft'' (1590) began to appear. Scholar Christine Goldberg argues that the episode of the paths marked with stones and crumbs, already found in the French "
Finette Cendron Finette Cendron (meaning in English, ''Cunning Cinders'') is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. It combines Aarne-Thompson types 327A and 510A. Other tales of 510A type include "Cinderella", " Katie Woodencloak", " Fair, Br ...
" and "
Hop-o'-My-Thumb Hop-o'-My-Thumb (Hop-on-My-Thumb), or Hop o' My Thumb, also known as Little Thumbling, Little Thumb, or Little Poucet (french: Le petit Poucet), is one of the eight fairytales published by Charles Perrault in ''Histoires ou Contes du temps pass ...
" (1697), represents "an elaboration of the motif of the thread that
Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for havi ...
gives
Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes describe ...
to use to get out of the Minoan labyrinth". A house made of confectionery is also found in a 14th-century manuscript about the Land of Cockayne.


Editions

From the pre-publication manuscript of 1810 (''Das Brüderchen und das Schwesterchen'') to the sixth edition of ''
Kinder- und Hausmärchen ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publi ...
'' (''Grimm's Fairy Tales'') in 1850, the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
made several alterations to the story, which progressively gained in length, psychological motivation, and visual imagery, but also became more Christian in tone, shifting the blame for abandonment from a mother to a stepmother associated with the witch. In the original edition of the tale, the woodcutter's wife is the children's biological mother, tr. "Hansel and Gretel (The Complete First Edition)", pp. 43–48; tr., pp. 122–126; but she was also called "stepmother" from the 4th edition (1840). The Brothers Grimm indeed introduced the word "stepmother", but retained "mother" in some passages. Even their final version in the 7th edition (1857) remains unclear about her role, for it refers to the woodcutter's wife twice as "the mother" and once as "the stepmother". The sequence where the duck helps them across the river is also a later addition. In some later versions, the mother died from unknown causes, left the family, or remained with the husband at the end of the story. In the 1810 pre-publication manuscript, the children were called "Little Brother" and "Little Sister", then named Hänsel and Gretel in the first edition (1812). Wilhelm Grimm also adulterated the text with Alsatian dialects, "re-appropriated" from August Ströber's Alsatian version (1842) in order to give the tale a more "folksy" tone. Goldberg notes that although "there is no doubt that the Grimms' ''Hänsel und Gretel'' was pieced together, it was, however, pieced together from traditional elements," and its previous narrators themselves had been "piecing this little tale together with other traditional motifs for centuries." For instance, the duck helping the children cross the river may be the remnant of an old traditional motif in the folktale complex that was reintroduced by the Grimms in later editions.


Plot

Hansel and Gretel are the young children of a poor woodcutter. When a famine settles over the land, the woodcutter's second wife tells the woodcutter to take the children into the woods and leave them there to fend for themselves, so that she and her husband do not starve to death. The woodcutter opposes the plan, but his wife claims that maybe a stranger will take the children in and provide for them, which the woodcutter and she simply cannot do. With the scheme seemingly justified, the woodcutter reluctantly is forced to submit to it. They are unaware that in the children's bedroom, Hansel and Gretel have overheard them. After the parents have gone to bed, Hansel sneaks out of the house and gathers as many white
pebble A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predominant ...
s as he can, then returns to his room, reassuring Gretel that God will not forsake them. The next day, the family walk deep into the woods and Hansel lays a trail of white pebbles. After their parents abandon them, the children wait for the moon to rise and then follow the pebbles back home. They return home safely, much to their stepmother's rage. Once again, provisions become scarce and the stepmother angrily orders her husband to take the children further into the woods and leave them there. Hansel and Gretel attempt to gather more pebbles, but find the front door locked. The following morning, the family treks into the woods. Hansel takes a slice of bread and leaves a trail of
bread crumbs Bread crumbs or breadcrumbs (regional variants including breading and crispies) consist of crumbled bread of various dryness, sometimes with seasonings added, used for breading or crumbing foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickeni ...
for them to follow to return back home. However, after they are once again abandoned, they find that the birds have eaten the crumbs and they are lost in the woods. After days of wandering, they follow a beautiful white bird to a clearing in the woods, and discover a large cottage built of gingerbread,
cookie A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, n ...
s,
cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...
s, and
candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language an ...
, with window panes of clear
sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
. Hungry and tired, the children begin to eat the rooftop of the house, when the door opens and a "''very old woman''" emerges and lures the children inside with the promise of soft beds and delicious food. They enter without realizing that their hostess is a bloodthirsty
witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...
who built the gingerbread house to waylay children to cook and eat them. The next morning, the witch locks Hansel in an iron cage in the garden and forces Gretel into becoming a slave. The witch feeds Hansel regularly to fatten him up, but serves Gretel nothing but crab shells. The witch then tries to touch Hansel's finger to see how fat he has become, but Hansel cleverly offers a thin bone he found in the cage. As the witch's eyes are too weak to notice the deception, she is fooled into thinking Hansel is still too thin to eat. After weeks of this, the witch grows impatient and decides to eat Hansel, "''be he fat or lean''". She prepares the oven for Hansel, but decides she is hungry enough to eat Gretel, too. She coaxes Gretel to the open oven and asks her to lean over in front of it to see if the fire is hot enough. Gretel, sensing the witch's intent, pretends she does not understand what the witch means. Infuriated, the witch demonstrates, and Gretel instantly shoves her into the hot oven, slams and bolts the door shut, and leaves "''the ungodly witch to be burned in ashes''". Gretel frees Hansel from the cage and the pair discover a
vase A vase ( or ) is an open container. It can be made from a number of materials, such as ceramics, glass, non-rusting metals, such as aluminium, brass, bronze, or stainless steel. Even wood has been used to make vases, either by using tree species ...
full of
treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions le ...
, including
precious stone Precious may refer to: Music * Precious (group), a British female pop group Albums * Precious (Chanté Moore album), ''Precious'' (Chanté Moore album), 1992 * Precious (Cubic U album), ''Precious'' (Cubic U album), 1998 * Precious (Ours albu ...
s. Putting the jewels into their clothing, the children set off for home. A swan ferries them across an expanse of water, and at home they find only their father; his wife having died from an unknown cause. Their father had spent all his days lamenting the loss of his children, and is delighted to see them safe and sound. With the witch's
wealth Wealth is the abundance of Value (economics), valuable financial assets or property, physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for financial transaction, transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the ...
, they all live happily ever after.


Variants

Folklorists
Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...
and
Peter Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...
indicate that "Hansel and Gretel" belongs to a group of European tales especially popular in the Baltic regions, about children outwitting
ogre An ogre ( feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the wor ...
s into whose hands they have involuntarily fallen.


ATU 327A tales

"Hansel and Gretel" is the prototype for the fairy tales of the type Aarne–Thompson–Uther (ATU) 327A. In particular, Gretel's pretense of not understanding how to test the oven ("Show Me How") is characteristic of 327A, although it also appears traditionally in other sub-types of ATU 327. As argued by
Stith Thompson Stith Thompson (March 7, 1885 – January 10, 1976) was an American folklorist: he has been described as "America's most important folklorist". He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which indexes folktales by type, and the ...
, the simplicity of the tale may explain its spread into several traditions all over the world. A closely similar version is "
Finette Cendron Finette Cendron (meaning in English, ''Cunning Cinders'') is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. It combines Aarne-Thompson types 327A and 510A. Other tales of 510A type include "Cinderella", " Katie Woodencloak", " Fair, Br ...
", published by Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy in 1697, which depicts an impoverished king and queen deliberately losing their three daughters three times in the wilderness. The cleverest of the girls, Finette, initially manages to bring them home with a trail of thread, and then a trail of ashes, but her peas are eaten by pigeons during the third journey. The little girls then go to the mansion of a
hag HAG is a Swiss maker of model trains. The company was founded by Hugo and Alwin Gahler on 1 April 1944 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The Gahler brothers originally manufactured model trains in O scale but due to competition, particularly by Märk ...
, who lives with her husband the
ogre An ogre ( feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the wor ...
. Finette heats the oven and asks the ogre to test it with his tongue, so that he falls in and is incinerated. Thereafter, Finette cuts off the hag's head. The sisters remain in the ogre's house, and the rest of the tale relates the story of "
Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
". In the Russian
Vasilisa the Beautiful Vasilisa the Beautiful (russian: Василиса Прекрасная) or Vasilisa the Fair is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in '' Narodnye russkie skazki''. Synopsis By his first wife, a merchant had a single daughter, ...
, the stepmother likewise sends her hated stepdaughter into the forest to borrow a light from her sister, who turns out to be
Baba Yaga In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga, also spelled Baba Jaga (from Polish), is a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking woman. In fairy tales Baba Yaga flies around in a ...
, a cannibalistic witch. Besides highlighting the endangerment of children (as well as their own cleverness), the tales have in common a preoccupation with eating and with hurting children: The mother or stepmother wants to avoid hunger, and the witch lures children to eat her house of candy so that she can then eat them. In a variant from
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
, ''The Sugar-Candy House'', siblings Jan and Jannette get lost in the woods and sight a hut made of confectionary in the distance. When they approach, a giant wolf named Garon jumps out of the window and chases them to a river bank. Sister and brother ask a pair of ducks to help them cross the river and escape the wolf. Garon threatens the ducks to carry him over, to no avail; he then tries to cross by swimming. He sinks and surfaces three times, but disappears in the water on the fourth try. The story seems to contain the "child/wind" rhyming scheme of the German tale. In a French fairy tale, ''La Cabane au Toit de Fromage'' ("The Hut with the Roof made of Cheese"), the brother is the hero who deceives the witch and locks her up in the oven. In the first Puerto Rican variant of "The Orphaned Children," the brother pushes the witch into the oven. Other folk tales of ATU 327A type include the French " The Lost Children", published by Antoinette Bon in 1887, or the
Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...
n "Old Gruel", edited by Maria Kosch in 1899.


The Children and the Ogre (ATU 327)

Structural comparisons can also be made with other tales of ATU 327 type ("The Children and the Ogre"), which is not a simple fairy tale type but rather a "folktale complex with interconnected subdivisions" depicting a child (or children) falling under the power of an ogre, then escaping by their clever tricks. In ATU 327B ("The Brothers and the Ogre"), a group of siblings come to an ogre's house who intends to kill them in their beds, but the youngest of the children exchanges the visitors with the ogre's offspring, and the villain kills his own children by mistake. They are chased by the ogre, but the siblings eventually manage to come back home safely.
Stith Thompson Stith Thompson (March 7, 1885 – January 10, 1976) was an American folklorist: he has been described as "America's most important folklorist". He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which indexes folktales by type, and the ...
points the great similarity of the tales types ATU 327A and ATU 327B that "it is quite impossible to disentangle the two tales". ATU 327C ("The Devil
itch Itch (also known as pruritus) is a sensation that causes the desire or reflex to scratch. Itch has resisted many attempts to be classified as any one type of sensory experience. Itch has many similarities to pain, and while both are unpleasant ...
Carries the Hero Home in a Sack") depicts a witch or an ogre catching a boy in a sack. As the villain's daughter is preparing to kill him, the boy asks her to show him how he should arrange himself; when she does so, he kills her. Later on, he kills the witch and goes back home with her treasure. In ATU 327D ("The Kiddlekaddlekar"), children are discovered by an ogre in his house. He intends to hang them, but the girl pretends not to understand how to do it, so the ogre hangs himself to show her. He promises his kiddlekaddlekar (a magic cart) and treasure in exchange for his liberation; they set him free, but the ogre chases them. The children eventually manage to kill him and escape safely. In ATU 327F ("The Witch and the Fisher Boy"), a witch lures a boy and catches him. When the witch's daughter tries to bake the child, he pushes her into the oven. The witch then returns home and eats her own daughter. She eventually tries to fell the tree in which the boy is hiding, but birds fly away with him.


Further comparisons

The initial episode, which depicts children deliberately lost in the forest by their unloving parents, can be compared with many previous stories: Montanus's "The Little Earth-Cow" (1557), Basile's "Ninnillo and Nennella" (1635), Madame d'Aulnoy's "Finette Cendron" (1697), or Perrault's "
Hop-o'-My-Thumb Hop-o'-My-Thumb (Hop-on-My-Thumb), or Hop o' My Thumb, also known as Little Thumbling, Little Thumb, or Little Poucet (french: Le petit Poucet), is one of the eight fairytales published by Charles Perrault in ''Histoires ou Contes du temps pass ...
" (1697). The motif of the trail that fails to lead the protagonists back home is also common to "Ninnillo and Nennella", "Finette Cendron" and "Hop-o'-My-Thumb", and the Brothers Grimm identified the latter as a parallel story. Finally, ATU 327 tales share a similar structure with ATU 313 ("
Sweetheart Roland "Sweetheart Roland" (german: Der Liebste Roland) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 56). It combines several Aarne-Thompson types: type 1119, the witch killing her own children; type 313A, the girl helps the hero flee; ...
", " The Foundling", "Okerlo") in that one or more protagonists (specifically children in ATU 327) come into the domain of a malevolent supernatural figure and escape from it.
Folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Jacobs ...
, commenting on his reconstructed proto-form of the tale (''Johnnie and Grizzle''), noticed the "contamination" of the tale with the story of ''
The Master Maid "The Master Maid" is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their '' Norske Folkeeventyr''. "Master" indicates "superior, skilled." Jørgen Moe wrote the tale down from the storyteller Anne Godlid in ...
'', later classified as ATU 313. ATU 327A tales are also often combined with stories of ATU 450 ("Little Brother and Sister"), in which children run away from an abusive stepmother.


Analysis

According to folklorist Jack Zipes, the tale celebrates the symbolic order of the
patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
home, seen as a haven protected from the dangerous characters that threaten the lives of children outside, while it systematically denigrates the adult female characters, which are seemingly intertwined between each other. The mother or stepmother indeed dies just after the children kill the witch, suggesting that they may metaphorically be the same woman. Zipes also argues that the importance of the tale in the European oral and literary tradition may be explained by the theme of child abandonment and abuse. Due to famines and lack of
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
, it was common in medieval Europe to abandon unwanted children in front of churches or in the forest. The death of the mother during childbirth sometimes led to tensions after remarriage, and Zipes proposes that it may have played a role in the emergence of the motif of the wicked stepmother. Linguist and folklorist
Edward Vajda Edward J. Vajda (Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, September 10, 1958 as Edward M. Johnson; changed his name in 1981) is a historical linguist at Western Washington University. He is known for his work on the proposed Dené–Yeniseian language fam ...
has proposed that these stories represent the remnant of a
coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...
,
rite of passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
tale extant in
Proto-Indo-European society Proto-Indo-European society is the reconstructed culture of Proto-Indo-Europeans, the ancient speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, ancestor of all modern Indo-European languages. Scientific approaches Many of the modern ideas in this ...
. Psychologist
Bruno Bettelheim Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born psychologist, scholar, public intellectual and writer who spent most of his academic and clinical career in the United States. An early writer on autism, Bettelheim's wor ...
argues that the main motif is about dependence, oral greed, and destructive desires that children must learn to overcome, after they arrive home "purged of their oral fixations". Others have stressed the satisfying psychological effects of the children vanquishing the witch or realizing the death of their wicked stepmother.


Cultural legacy


Stage and musical theater

The fairy tale enjoyed a multitude of adaptations for the stage, among them the opera ''Hänsel und Gretel'' by Engelbert Humperdinck—one of the most performed operas. It is principally based upon the Grimm's version, although it omits the deliberate abandonment of the children. A contemporary reimagining of the story, Mátti Kovler's musical fairytale Ami & Tami, was produced in Israel and the United States and subsequently released as a symphonic album.


Literature

Several writers have drawn inspiration from the tale, such as
Robert Coover Robert Lowell Coover (born February 4, 1932) is an American novelist, short story writer, and T.B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation and metafiction. Background ...
in "The Gingerbread House" (''Pricks and Descants'', 1970),
Anne Sexton Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book '' Live or Die''. Her poetry details ...
in ''Transformations'' (1971), Garrison Keillor in "My Stepmother, Myself" in "Happy to Be Here" (1982), and
Emma Donoghue Emma Donoghue (born 24 October 1969) is an Irish-Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Her 2010 novel ''Room'' was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donoghue's 1995 novel '' Hood'' ...
in "A Tale of the Cottage" (''Kissing the Witch'', 1997).
Adam Gidwitz Adam Gidwitz (born February 14, 1982) is the author of the best selling children's books ''A Tale Dark and Grimm'' (2010), ''In a Glass Grimmly'' (2012), and ''The Grimm Conclusion'' (2013), all published by Dutton Books for Young Readers, an im ...
's 2010 children's book ''A Tale Dark & Grimm'' and its sequels ''In a Glass Grimmly'' (2012), and ''The Grimm Conclusion'' (2013) are loosely based on the tale and show the siblings meeting characters from other fairy tales.


Film

* '' Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy'', a 1954 stop-motion animated theatrical feature film directed by John Paul and released by
RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
. * A 1983 episode of
Shelley Duvall Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949) is an American actress and producer who is known for her portrayals of distinct, often eccentric characters. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Peab ...
's ''
Faerie Tale Theatre Faerie Tale Theatre (also known as Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre) is an American live-action fairytale fantasy drama anthology television series of 27 episodes, that originally aired on Showtime from September 11, 1982 until November 14, ...
'' starred
Ricky Schroder Richard Bartlett Schroder (born April 13, 1970) is an American actor and filmmaker. As a child actor billed as Ricky Schroder he debuted in the film '' The Champ'' (1979), for which he became the youngest Golden Globe award recipient, and went o ...
as Hansel and
Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime ...
as the stepmother/witch. *''
Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...
'', a 1983 TV special directed by
Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...
. * ''Hansel and Gretel'', a 1987 American/Israeli musical film directed by Len Talan with
David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Oth ...
,
Cloris Leachman Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nomina ...
, Hugh Pollard and Nicola Stapleton. Part of the 1980s film series
Cannon Movie Tales ''Cannon Movie Tales'' is the collective name for a series of live-action films created in the late 1980s by Cannon Group producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, associate producer Patricia Ruben, and executive producer Itzik Kol. Filmed princi ...
. * Elements from the story were used in the 1994 horror film ''
Wes Craven's New Nightmare ''Wes Craven's New Nightmare'' (also known simply as ''New Nightmare'') is a 1994 American meta slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven, creator of 1984's ''A Nightmare on Elm Street''. A standalone film and the seventh installment in ...
'' for its climax. * "Hänsel und Gretel" by 2012 German Broadcaster RBB released as part of its series Der rbb macht Familienzeit. * '' Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters'' (2013) by
Tommy Wirkola Tommy Wirkola (born 6 December 1979) is a Norwegian film director and writer. Career His first film was 2007's ''Kill Buljo'', which he co-wrote with Stig Frode Henriksen. They later made the 2009 horror comedy '' Dead Snow''. In 2010 they agai ...
with Jeremy Renner and
Gemma Arterton Gemma Christina Arterton (born 2 February 1986) is an English actress and producer. After her stage debut in Shakespeare's ''Love's Labour's Lost'' at the Globe Theatre (2007), Arterton made her feature film debut in the comedy '' St Trinian's'' ...
, (USA, Germany). The film follows the adventures of Hansel & Gretel who became adults. * '' Gretel & Hansel'', a 2020 American horror film directed by
Oz Perkins Osgood Robert "Oz" Perkins II (born February 2, 1974) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. Early life Perkins was born in Manhattan, New York, the elder son of actor Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) and photog ...
in which Gretel is a teenager while Hansel is still a little boy. * '' Secret Magic Control Agency'' (2021) is an animated retelling of the fairy tale by incorporating comedy and family genres


Computer programming

Hansel and Gretel's trail of breadcrumbs inspired the name of the navigation element "
breadcrumb Bread crumbs or breadcrumbs (regional variants including breading and crispies) consist of crumbled bread of various dryness, sometimes with seasonings added, used for breading or crumbing foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickeni ...
s" that allows users to keep track of their locations within programs or documents.


Video games

* ''Hansel & Gretel and the Enchanted Castle'' (1995) by
Terraglyph Interactive Studios ''TerraGlyph Interactive Studios'' was a multi-platform game development studio located in Schaumburg, IL and was founded in 1994. The company was the game development division of the TerraGlyph group of companies, which also includes a feature an ...
is an adventure and hidden object game. The player controls Hansel, tasked with finding Prin, a forest imp, who holds the key to saving Gretel from the witch. * ''Gretel and Hansel'' (2009) by Mako Pudding is a browser adventure game. Popular on
Newgrounds Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania. ...
for its gruesome reimagining of the story, it features hand painted watercolor backgrounds and characters animated by Flash. * ''Fearful Tales: Hansel and Gretel Collector's Edition'' (2013) by
Eipix Entertainment Eipix Entertainment is a Serbian video game developer based in Novi Sad. The company was founded in 2005 and develops casual games for PC, Mac, iOS and Android, as well as virtual reality games. As of December 2019, Eipix is part of Playrix. ...
is a HOPA (hidden object puzzle adventure) game. The player, as Hansel and Gretel's mother, searches the witch's lair for clues. * In the online role-playing game
Poptropica ''Poptropica'' is an online role-playing game, developed in 2007 by Pearson Education's Family Education Network, and targeted towards children aged 6 to 15. ''Poptropica'' was primarily the creation of Jeff Kinney, the author of the ''Diary of ...
, the ''Candy Crazed'' mini-quest (2021) includes a short retelling of the story. The player is summoned to the witch's castle to free the children, who have been imprisoned after eating some of the candy residents.


See also

*"
Brother and Sister "Brother and Sister" (also "Little Sister and Little Brother"; German: ''Brüderchen und Schwesterchen'') is a European fairy tale which was, among others, written down by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 11). It is a tale of Aarne–Thompson Type 450. In ...
" *"
Esben and the Witch Esben and the Witch (Danish language: ''Esben og Troldheksen'') is a Danish fairy tale first collected by Jens Kamp.Kamp, Jens. ''Danske Folkeminder, æventyr, Folkesagn, Gaader, Rim Og Folketro''. Odense: R. Nielsen, 1877. pp. 93-102. Andrew ...
" *
Gingerbread house Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as ...
*"
Hop-o'-My-Thumb Hop-o'-My-Thumb (Hop-on-My-Thumb), or Hop o' My Thumb, also known as Little Thumbling, Little Thumb, or Little Poucet (french: Le petit Poucet), is one of the eight fairytales published by Charles Perrault in ''Histoires ou Contes du temps pass ...
" ( French fairy tale by
Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...
) *"
The Hut in the Forest "The Hut in the Forest" (also The Hut in the Wood; German: ''Das Waldhaus'') is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 169). Andrew Lang included it in ''The Pink Fairy Book'' (1897). It is Aarne-Thompson type 431. Synopsis A w ...
" *" Jorinde and Joringel" *"
Molly Whuppie Molly Whuppie is an English fairy tale set in Scotland and collected by Joseph Jacobs in ''English Fairy Tales''.Joseph Jacobs, ''English Fairy Tales''"Molly Whuppie"/ref> A Highland version, Maol a Chliobain, was collected by John Francis Campb ...
" *"
Thirteenth In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octa ...
" *''
The Truth About Hansel and Gretel ''The Truth About Hansel and Gretel'' (german: Die Wahrheit über Hänsel und Gretel) is a book written by Germany, German caricaturist Hans Traxler, which was published in 1963. The book is a satire which purports to tell the story of how teacher ...
''


Footnotes


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *


Primary sources

*


Further reading

* de Blécourt, Willem. "On the Origin of Hänsel und Gretel". In: ''Fabula'' 49, 1-2 (2008): 30-46. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/FABL.2008.004 * * Freudenburg, Rachel. "Illustrating Childhood—"Hansel and Gretel"." Marvels & Tales 12, no. 2 (1998): 263-318. www.jstor.org/stable/41388498. * Gaudreau, Jean. "Handicap et sentiment d'abandon dans trois contes de fées: Le petit Poucet, Hansel et Gretel, Jean-mon-Hérisson". In: ''Enfance'', tome 43, n°4, 1990. pp. 395–404. OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/enfan.1990.1957 www.persee.fr/doc/enfan_0013-7545_1990_num_43_4_1957 * Harshbarger, Scott. "Grimm and Grimmer: “Hansel and Gretel” and Fairy Tale Nationalism." Style 47, no. 4 (2013): 490-508. www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/style.47.4.490. * * Taggart, James M. ""Hansel and Gretel" in Spain and Mexico." The Journal of American Folklore 99, no. 394 (1986): 435-60. doi:10.2307/540047. *


External links

*
Hansel and Gretel fairy taleOriginal versions and psychological analysis of classic fairy tales, including Hansel and GretelThe Story of Hansel and GretelCollaboratively illustrated story
o
Project Bookses
*https://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/hansel_and_gretel {{Authority control Hansel and Gretel Cannibalism in fiction European fairy tales Grimms' Fairy Tales Literary duos Child characters in fairy tales Male characters in fairy tales Female characters in fairy tales Fictional German people Witchcraft in fairy tales European folklore characters German fairy tales Siblings in fiction Germany in fiction ATU 300-399 Child abandonment