Brick Fairy Tales: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Hansel and Gretel, and More Read Online Free PDF Page A

upon him, and gave him the coffin.

    And now the King’s son had it carried away by his servants on their shoulders.

    And it happened that they stumbled over a tree-stump,

    and with the shock the poisonous piece of apple which Snow-white had bitten off came out of her throat.

    And before long she opened her eyes, lifted up the lid of the coffin, sat up, and was once more alive. “Oh, heavens, where am I?” she cried.

    The King’s son, full of joy, said, “You are with me,” and told her what had happened,

    and said, “I love you more than everything in the world; come with me to my father’s palace, you shall be my wife.” And Snow-white was willing, and went with him, and their wedding was held with great show and splendour.

    But Snow-white’s wicked step-mother was also bidden to the feast. When she had arrayed herself in beautiful clothes she went before the Looking-glass, and said—
    “Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall, Who in this land is the fairest of all?”

    the glass answered—
    “Oh, Queen, of all here the fairest art thou, But the young Queen is fairer by far as I trow.”

    Then the wicked woman uttered a curse, and was so wretched, so utterly wretched, that she knew not what to do.

    At first she would not go to the wedding at all, but she had no peace, and must go to see the young Queen. And when she went in she knew Snow-white; and she stood still with rage and fear, and could not stir.

    But iron slippers had already been put upon the fire, and they were brought in with tongs, and set before her. Then she was forced to put on the red-hot shoes,

    and dance

    until she dropped down dead.

Hansel and Gretel

Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little to bite and to break, and once when great scarcity fell on the land, he could no longer procure daily bread.

    Now when he thought over this by night in his bed, and tossed about in his anxiety, 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 to-morrow 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.”

    “No, wife,” said the man, “I will not do that; how can I bear to leave my children alone in the forest?—

    the wild animals would soon come and tear them to pieces.”

    “O, thou fool!” said she, “Then we must all four die of hunger, thou mayest as well plane the planks for our coffins,” and she left him no peace until he consented.

    “But I feel very sorry for the poor children, all the same,” said the man.

    The two children had also not been able to sleep for hunger, and had heard what their step-mother had said to their father.

    Gretel wept bitter tears, and said to Hansel, “Now all is over with us.”

    “Be quiet, Gretel,” said Hansel, “do not distress thyself, I will soon find a way to help us.”

    And when the old folks had fallen asleep, he got up, put on his little coat, opened the door below, and crept outside. The moon shone brightly, and the white pebbles which lay in front of the house glittered like real silver pennies.

    Hansel stooped and put as many of them in the little pocket of his coat as he could possibly get in.

    Then he went back and said to Gretel, “Be comforted, dear little sister, and sleep in peace, God will not forsake us,”

    and he lay down again in his bed.

    When day dawned, but before the sun had risen, the woman came and awoke the two children, saying “Get up, you sluggards! we are going into the forest to fetch wood.”

    She gave each a little piece of bread,