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Brothers Grimm "Gingerbread House" Charles Perrault

Once upon a time there lived a brother and sister, Jean and Marie. Their parents were very poor, and they lived in an old house on the edge of the forest. The children worked from morning to night, helping their father, the woodcutter. Often they returned home so tired that they did not even have the strength to eat dinner. However, it often happened that they had no dinner at all, and the whole family went to bed hungry.

“Marie,” Jean sometimes said, when, hungry, they lay in dark room and couldn’t sleep - I really wanted chocolate gingerbread.

“Sleep, Jean,” answered Marie, who was older and smarter than her brother.

– Oh, how I want to eat a big chocolate gingerbread with raisins! – Jean sighed loudly.

But chocolate gingerbread with raisins did not grow on trees, and Marie and Jean's parents did not have the money to go to the city and buy them for their children. Only Sundays were joyful for children. Then Jean and Marie took baskets and went into the forest to pick mushrooms and berries.

“Don’t go too far,” my mother always reminded me.

“Nothing will happen to them,” her father reassured her. “Every tree in the forest is familiar to them.”

One Sunday, the children, while picking mushrooms and berries, were so carried away that they did not notice how evening had come.

The sun quickly disappeared behind dark clouds, and the branches of the fir trees rustled ominously. Marie and Jean looked around in fear. The forest no longer seemed so familiar to them.

“Marie, I’m scared,” Jean said in a whisper.

“Me too,” Marie answered. - It seems we are lost.

Large, unfamiliar trees looked like silent giants with broad shoulders. Here and there in the thicket, lights sparkled - someone’s predatory eyes.

“Marie, I’m afraid,” Jean whispered again.

It became completely dark. The children, shivering from the cold, huddled together. Somewhere nearby an owl hooted, and from afar came the howl of a hungry wolf. Scary night lasted forever. The children, listening to the ominous voices, never slept a wink. Finally, the sun flashed between the thick crowns of trees, and gradually the forest ceased to seem gloomy and scary. Jean and Marie got up and went to look for their way home.

They walked and walked through unfamiliar places. Huge mushrooms grew all around, much larger than those they usually collected. And in general everything was somehow unusual and strange. When the sun was already high, Marie and Jean came out into a clearing in the middle of which stood a house. Unusual house. Its roof was made of chocolate gingerbread, its walls were made of pink marzipan, and its fence was made of large almonds. There was a garden around it, and colorful candies grew in it, and large raisins hung on small trees. Jean couldn't believe his own eyes. He looked at Marie, swallowing his saliva.

– Gingerbread house! – he exclaimed joyfully.

- Garden of candy! – Marie echoed him.

Without wasting a minute, the hungry children rushed to the wonderful house. Jean broke off a piece of gingerbread from the roof and began to eat it. Marie went into the kindergarten and began to feast on marzipan carrots, almonds from the fence, and raisins from the tree.

– What a delicious roof! – Jean was happy.

“Try a piece of the fence, Jean,” Marie suggested to him.

When the children had eaten their fill of unusual delicacies, they became thirsty. Fortunately, in the middle of the garden there was a fountain in which the water gurgled, shimmering with all the colors. Jean took a sip from the fountain and exclaimed in surprise:

- Yes, this is lemonade!

The delighted children greedily drank lemonade, when suddenly a hunched old woman appeared from around the corner of the gingerbread house. She had a stick in her hand, and very thick glasses sat on her nose.

– Delicious house, isn’t it, kids? – she asked.

The children were silent. Frightened Marie stammered:

- We were lost in the forest... we were so hungry...

The old lady didn't seem angry at all.

- Don’t be afraid, guys. Enter the house. I will give you tastier treats than these.

As soon as the door of the house slammed behind Marie and Jean, the old woman changed beyond recognition. From being kind and friendly, she turned into an evil witch.

- So you got caught! – she wheezed, shaking her stick. – Is it good to have someone else’s house? You will pay me for this!

The children trembled and clung to each other in fear.

-What will you do to us for this? Perhaps you will tell our parents everything? – Marie asked in fear.

The witch laughed.

- Well, not that! I like children very much. Very!

And before Marie came to her senses, the witch grabbed Jean, pushed him into a dark closet and closed the heavy oak door behind him.

- Marie, Marie! – the boy’s exclamations were heard. - I'm scared!

- Sit quietly, you scoundrel! – the witch shouted. “You ate my house, now I’ll eat you!” But first I need to fatten you up a little, otherwise you are too thin.

Jean and Marie cried loudly. Now they were ready to give all the gingerbread in the world to again find themselves in a poor but dear house. But home and parents were far away, and no one could come to their aid.

Then the evil mistress of the gingerbread house approached the closet.

“Hey, boy, put your finger through the crack in the door,” she ordered.

Jean obediently stuck his thinnest finger through the crack. The witch touched him and said displeasedly:

- Yes, just bones. It’s okay, in a week I’ll have you plump and plump.

And the witch began to feed Jean intensively. Every day she cooked for him delicious dishes, brought armfuls of marzipan, chocolate and honey treats from the kindergarten. And in the evening she ordered him to stick his finger into the crack and felt it.

“Oh, my dear, you’re getting fat right before our eyes.”

And indeed, Jean quickly gained weight. But one day Marie came up with this.

“Jean, next time, show her this wand,” she said and stuck a thin wand into the closet.

In the evening, the witch, as usual, turned to Jean:

- Come on, show me your finger, my sweetie.

Jean stuck out the wand that his sister gave him. The old woman touched it and jumped back as if scalded:

- Again, just bones! I’m not feeding you, you parasite, so that you’ll be as thin as a stick!

The next day, when Jean stuck his wand in again, the witch became seriously angry.

“You can’t still be that skinny!” Show me your finger again.

And Jean stuck his wand in again. The old woman touched it and suddenly pulled it with all her might. The wand remained in her hand.

- What is this? What is this? – she shouted in rage. - Stick! Oh, you worthless deceiver! Well, now your song is over!

She opened the closet and pulled out the frightened Jean, who had grown fat and became like a barrel.

“Well, my dear,” the old woman gloated. “I see that you’ll make a great roast!”

The children were numb with horror. And the witch lit the stove, and a minute later it was already on fire. The heat was radiating from there.

– Do you see this apple? - asked the old woman Jean. She took the ripe one from the table juicy apple and threw it into the oven. The apple hissed in the fire, shriveled, and then disappeared completely. - The same will happen to you!

The witch grabbed a large wooden shovel, on which bread is usually placed in the oven, placed plump Jean on it and thrust it into it. However, the boy became so fat that he could not fit into the stove, no matter how the witch tried to push him there.

- Well, get down! - the old woman ordered. - Let's try differently. Lie down on the shovel.

“But I don’t know how to lie down,” Jean whined.

- What a fool! - the witch muttered. - I'll show you!

And she lay down on the shovel. That's all Marie needed. At that very moment she grabbed a shovel and shoved the witch straight into the oven. Then she quickly closed the iron door and, grabbing her frightened brother by the hand, shouted:

- Let's run, quickly!

The children ran out of the gingerbread house and rushed without looking back towards the dark forest.

Without making out the road, they ran through the forest for a long time and slowed down only when the first stars appeared in the sky and the forest gradually began to thin out.

Suddenly, in the distance, they noticed a faint flickering light.

- This is our house! - shouted the out of breath Jean.

Indeed, it was their old, rickety house. Concerned parents stood on his threshold and peered into the darkness with anxiety and hope. How happy they were when they saw the children running towards them - Marie and Jean! And no one else heard about the evil witch who lived in the deep forest. She probably burned in her stove, and her fairy-tale house fell apart into thousands of gingerbread and marzipan crumbs, which were eaten by forest birds.

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There lived a poor woodcutter with two children and his wife in a large forest on the edge of the forest. The boy's name was Hansel, and the girl's name was Gretel. When they ran out of bread, the woodcutter said to his wife: “What a disaster!” How will we feed our children when we have nothing to eat ourselves? And his wife answered him: “Let’s take the children to the very thicket of the forest tomorrow morning and leave them there.” Otherwise we will all die of hunger. - No. I won't do that. What if they get torn to pieces wild animals? She tried to persuade her husband until he agreed. But the children did not sleep and heard everything that the stepmother said. Gretel cried bitterly. “Don’t cry,” said Gemzel. - I'll try to help the trouble. And when his father and stepmother fell asleep, he got dressed and slipped out of the house. Gemzel filled his pockets full of white stones and returned home. At dawn, the stepmother began to wake up the children:

Get up! Let's go to the forest for firewood. Then Oma gave everyone a piece of bread and said: “Here’s bread for lunch, but don’t eat it before lunch, because you won’t get anything else.” Gretel took the bread, since Hansel's pocket was full of stones. Then they headed into the forest. Moving away from home. Hansel slowly threw out a pebble from his pocket onto the road. When they came to the thicket of the forest, the father said: - Well. Children, collect some dead wood, and I’ll light a fire for you so you don’t freeze. They made a fire, and the stepmother said: “Lie down by the fire, children.” Rest. We'll come back for you when we're done.

The woodcutter tied a heavy branch to a branch so that the wind would blow it against the tree and the children would think that their father was chopping wood nearby. When lunch came. Gesel and Gretel ate their bread and, warming themselves by the fire, fell asleep. And when they woke up, it was already deep night. Gretel began to cry: “How can we get out of the forest?” Hansel consoled her: “As soon as the moon rises, we will find the way.” Indeed, when the moon rose, the children saw the white stones scattered by Hansel and found their way home. The stepmother scolded them for sleeping in the forest for a long time, and the father was very happy: he was already tormented by his conscience for
that he left them alone. But soon a terrible need came again, and the children heard their stepmother at night again telling their father that they needed to get rid of them.

The woodcutter's heart was heavy, but he again gave in to his wife. When they fell asleep, Hansel got up and wanted to pick up stones, as the first time, but the door was locked. Early in the morning, the stepmother got the children out of bed and gave them a tiny piece of bread. Along the way, Hansel crumbled his piece and threw the crumbs on the ground. When they arrived in the very thick of the forest, they lit a fire again. “We’ll go chop wood and come back in the evening,” the stepmother told the children. - For now, stay here.

The children fell asleep again, and when they woke up, it was night. Hansel said: “The month will rise, then we will see all the bread crumbs that I scattered along them and we will find the way.” A month appeared, but the children could not find a single crumb, because the birds had pecked them off long ago. They walked for a long time and could not get out of the forest. And at noon they suddenly saw a beautiful snow-white bird on a branch. She spread her wings and flew, and the children followed her until they came to a hut, on the roof of which the bird sat down. Coming closer to the hut, Hansel and Gretel saw that it was built of bread and covered with cookies, and its windows were made of pure sugar. Hansel broke off a piece of the roof for himself, and Gretel went to the window and began to bite off its window frames.

Suddenly the door opened and a decrepit old woman came out of the hut. The children were so frightened that they dropped their treats from their hands. And the old woman shook her head and said: “Who brought you here?” Stay with me, I'm not here
I'm doing you harm. “She took the children by the hand and led them into the hut. There was already milk and sugar cookies, apples and nuts on the table. The old woman fed the children and put them to bed. But she
I just pretended to be kind and affectionate. But in fact, this old woman was an evil witch who built her bread hut only to lure children there.
Early in the morning she put Hansel in a small cage and closed it. And the old woman Gretel shouted: “Get up, lazy one!” Get some water and cook something tastier for your brother: I’ll fatten him up and then eat him.

Early in the morning, Gretel should have hung up the pot of water and lit a fire under it. “First, let’s do the cookies,” said the old woman and pushed poor Gretel towards the oven, from which flames were coming out. - Get in there and see if it's hot enough. However, Gretel realized what was on her mind and said: “But I don’t know how to get inside!” - Stupid! - said the old woman. - But the mouth of the stove is so wide that I could fit in there myself. - And she stuck her head in the stove. At the same moment, Gretel pushed the witch into the oven and bolted the damper.

So the evil witch could not get out. Meanwhile, Gretel freed Hansel and said to him: “Hansel!” You and I are saved: the witch is no more! Oh, how they rejoiced, how they hugged! And then the children found boxes with pearls and precious stones in the witch's hut, and Hansel filled his pockets with them, and Gretel filled their apron full of them. - Now let's go! - said Hansel.

After two hours of travel, the children came to a large lake - There is a white duck swimming there. - said Gretel. - If I ask her, she will help us get to the other side. - And she shouted to the duck: - Ducky, please help us cross! The duck immediately swam up to them and, one by one, transported the children to the other side. Soon the forest began to seem familiar to them, and finally they saw their father's house. Then they started to run, and when they saw their father, they threw themselves on his neck. The poor woodcutter had not had an hour of joy since he left his children in the forest thicket. And the stepmother has already died. And they lived happily and carefree, because they were finally together and there was no need to think about food, because the jewels that Hansel and Gretel obtained lasted a long time.

In a large forest at the edge of the forest lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children: the boy’s name was Hansel, and the girl’s name was Gretel.
The poor man's family was both poor and hungry; and ever since the high prices set in, he sometimes didn’t even have his daily bread.
And then one evening he lay in bed, thinking and tossing from side to side from worries, and said to his wife with a sigh: “I really don’t know what we should do! How will we feed our children when we ourselves have nothing to eat!” “Do you know what, hubby,” the wife answered, “early tomorrow we’ll take the children out into the thicket of the forest; There we’ll light a fire for them and give each one another piece of bread to spare, and then we’ll go to work and leave them there alone. They won’t find their way home from there, and we will get rid of them.” “No, little wife,” said the husband, “I won’t do that. I can’t bear to leave my children alone in the forest - perhaps wild animals will come and tear them to pieces.” - “Oh, you fool, fool! - she answered. “So, wouldn’t it be better if all four of us die of hunger, and you know how to plan the boards for the coffins?”
And until then he was nagged that he finally agreed. “Still, I feel sorry for the poor children,” he said, even agreeing with his wife.
But the children also could not sleep from hunger and heard everything that the stepmother said to their father. Gretel cried bitter tears and said to Hansel: “Our heads are gone!” “Come on, Gretel,” said Hansel, “don’t be sad!” I’ll somehow manage to help the trouble.”
And when his father and stepmother fell asleep, he got out of bed, put on his little dress, opened the door, and slipped out of the house.
The moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles, of which there were many lying in front of the house, glittered like coins. Hansel bent down and put as many of them into the pocket of his dress as he could fit.
Then he returned home and said to his sister: “Calm down and sleep with God: he will not leave us.” And he lay down in his bed.
As soon as it began to get light, the sun had not yet risen - the stepmother came to the children and began to wake them up: “Well, well, get up, lazy people, let’s go into the forest for firewood.”
Then she gave everyone a piece of bread for lunch and said: “Here’s bread for lunch, just make sure you don’t eat it before lunch, because you won’t get anything else.”
Gretel took the bread under her apron, because Hansel had a pocket full of stones. And so they all headed into the forest together.
After walking a little, Hansel paused and looked back at the house, and then again and again.
His father asked him: “Hansel, why are you yawning and falling behind? If you please, pick up your pace." “Oh, father,” said Hansel, “I keep looking at my white cat: she’s sitting there on the roof, as if she’s saying goodbye to me.”
The stepmother said: “You fool! Yes, this is not your cat at all, but a white pipe glistens in the sun.” But Hansel didn’t even think to look at the cat, he just quietly threw out a pebble from his pocket onto the road.
When they came to the thicket of the forest, the father said: “Well, children, collect dead wood, and I’ll light a light for you so that you don’t get cold.”
Hansel and Gretel hauled brushwood and piled it up in piles. The fire was lit, and when the fire flared up, the stepmother said: “Here, lie down by the fire, children, and rest; and we will go into the forest and chop wood. When we finish our work, we will return to you and take you with us.”
Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and when dinner hour came, they ate their pieces of bread. And since they heard the blows of the ax, they thought that their father was somewhere right there, not far away.
And it wasn’t an ax that was tapping at all, but a simple branch that the father had tied to a dry tree: it was swayed by the wind and hit the tree.
They sat and sat, their eyes began to close from fatigue, and they fell fast asleep.
When they woke up, there was dark night. Gretel began to cry and say: “How will we get out of the forest?” But Hansel consoled her: “Just wait a little until the moon rises, then we will find the way.”
And just as the full moon rose in the sky, Hansel took his sister by the hand and walked, finding the way along the pebbles, which glittered like newly minted coins and showed them the way.
They walked all night long and at dawn they finally came to their father’s house. They knocked on the door, and when the stepmother opened the door and saw who was knocking, she said to them: “Oh, you crappy kids, why did you sleep in the forest for so long? We already thought that you wouldn’t come back at all.”
And the father was very happy with them: his conscience was already tormenting him that he had left them alone in the forest.
Soon after that, a terrible need came again, and the children heard their stepmother one night once again begin to tell their father: “We ate everything again; We only have half a loaf of bread left, and that’s the end of the song! The guys need to be sent away; We will lead them even further into the forest so that they will never be able to find the way to the house. Otherwise we will have to disappear along with them.”
My father’s heart was heavy, and he thought: “It would be better if you shared the last crumbs with your children.” But his wife did not want to listen to him, scolded him and expressed all sorts of reproaches to him.
“You called yourself a milk mushroom, so get into the back!” - says the proverb; So he did: he gave in to his wife the first time, he had to give in the second time too.
But the children did not sleep and listened to the conversation. When the parents fell asleep, Hansel, like last time, got out of bed and wanted to pick up pebbles, but the stepmother locked the door, and the boy could not leave the house. But he still calmed his sister down and told her: “Don’t cry, Gretel, and sleep well. God will help us."
Early in the morning the stepmother came and got the children out of bed. They received a piece of bread - even less than what was given to them last time.
On the way to the forest, Hansel crumbled his piece in his pocket, often stopping and throwing the crumbs on the ground.
“Hansel, why do you keep stopping and looking around,” his father told him, “go on your way.” “I look back at my little dove, who is sitting on the roof and saying goodbye to me,” answered Hansel. “Fool! - his stepmother told him. “This is not your dove at all: this is a pipe that turns white in the sun.”
But Hansel, little by little, managed to scatter all the crumbs along the road.
The stepmother took the children even further into the forest, to a place where they had never been before.
Again a big fire was lit, and the stepmother told them: “Sit here, and if you are tired, you can sleep a little: we will go into the forest to chop wood, and in the evening, when we finish work, we will come for you and take you with us.” .
When lunch hour arrived, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hansel, who crumbled his portion along the way.
Then they fell asleep, and it was already evening, and yet no one came for the poor children.
They woke up when the dark night had fallen, and Hansel, consoling his sister, said: “Wait, Gretel, the month will rise, then we will see all the bread crumbs that I scattered along them and we will find the way home.”
But then the month rose, and they got ready to set off on their journey, but they could not find a single crumb, because thousands of birds fluttering in the forest and in the field had long since eaten those crumbs.
Hansel said to his sister: “We’ll find the way somehow,” but they didn’t find the road.
So they walked all night and another day from morning to evening and still could not get out of the forest and were terribly hungry, because they had to eat only berries, which they found here and there along the road. And since they were tired and could barely stand on their feet from exhaustion, they lay down again under the tree and fell asleep.
It was the third morning since they left parents' house. They walked through the forest again, but no matter how much they walked, they only went deeper into its thicket, and if help had not arrived for them, they would have had to die.
At midday they saw a beautiful snow-white bird in front of them; She sat on a branch and sang so sweetly that they stopped and began to listen to her singing. Having sung her song, she spread her wings and flew, and they followed her until they came to a hut, on the roof of which the bird sat down.
Coming closer to the hut, they saw that it was all built from bread and covered with cookies, and its windows were made of pure sugar.
“So we’ll get to work on it,” said Hansel, “and eat.” I’ll eat a piece of the roof, and you, Gretel, can break off a piece from the window for yourself - it’s probably sweet.” Hansel reached up and broke off a piece of the roof for himself to taste what it tasted like, and Gretel went to the window and began to gnaw at its window frames.
Then a squeaky voice suddenly came from the hut:

Knocking noises under the window -
Who's knocking on my door?

And the children responded:

Wind, wind, breeze.
Clear sky son!

And they continued to eat as before.
Hansel, who really liked the roof, broke off a decent piece of it for himself, and Gretel planted a whole round window for herself, sat down at the hut and feasted on it at her leisure - and suddenly the door to the hut swung wide open, and an old, old old woman came out of it leaning on a crutch.
Hansel and Gretel were so frightened that they even dropped their tasty morsels from their hands. And the old woman just shook her head and said: “Uh, kids, who brought you here? Come in and stay with me, I won’t do you any harm.”
She took the children by the hand and led them into her hut. There was already plenty of food on the table: milk and sugar cookies, apples and nuts. And then two clean beds were laid out for the children, and Hansel and his sister, when they lay down in them, thought that they had gone to heaven.
But the old woman only pretended to be affectionate, but in reality she was an evil witch who lay in wait for the children and built her bread hut just to lure them.
When any child fell into her clutches, she killed him, boiled his meat and devoured him, and this was a holiday for her. Witches' eyes are red and not far-sighted, but their sense of smell is as subtle as that of animals, and they sense the approach of a person from afar. When Hansel and Gretel were just approaching her hut, she was already laughing evilly and saying mockingly: “These guys have already been caught - I bet they won’t escape me.”
Early in the morning, before the children woke up, she was already up, and when she saw how sweetly they were sleeping and how the blush was playing on their plump cheeks, she muttered to herself: “This will be a tasty morsel!”
Then she took Hansel in her hard hands and carried him into a small cage, and locked him in with a lattice door: he could scream there as much as he wanted, and no one would hear him. Then she came to her sister, pushed her aside and shouted: “Well, get up, lazy one, fetch some water, cook something tastier for your brother: I put him in a special cage and will fatten him up. When he gets fat, I'll eat him."
Gretel began to cry bitterly, but only wasted her tears - she had to do everything that the evil witch demanded of her.
So they began to cook the most delicious food for poor Hansel, and his sister got only scraps.
Every morning the old woman made her way to his cage and shouted to him: “Hansel, give me your finger, let me feel it, will you be fattened soon?” And Hansel pushed a bone through the bars to her, and the half-sighted old woman could not notice his tricks and, mistaking the bone for Hansel’s fingers, was amazed that he was not getting fat at all.
When four weeks had passed, and Hansel was still not getting fat, then the old woman was overcome by impatience, and she did not want to wait any longer. “Hey, Gretel,” she shouted to her sister, “bring water quickly: tomorrow I want to kill Hansel and boil him - whatever he is, thin or fat!”
Oh, how the poor sister lamented when she had to carry water, and what large tears rolled down her cheeks! “Good God! - she exclaimed. - Help us! After all, if wild animals had torn us to pieces in the forest, at least we would both have died together!” - “Stop talking about nonsense! - the old woman shouted at her. “Nothing will help you anyway!”
Early in the morning, Gretel had to leave the house, hang a pot of water and light a fire under it.
“Let’s make the cookies first,” said the old woman, “I’ve already lit the oven and kneaded the dough.”
And she pushed poor Gretel towards the stove, from which the flames were even gushing out.
“Climb there,” said the witch, “and see if it’s hot enough and if you can plant bread in it.”
And when Gretel bent down to look into the oven, the witch was about to close the oven with a damper: “Let her bake there, then I’ll eat her too.”
However, Gretel understood what was on her mind and said: “Yes, I don’t know how to climb there, how to get into the inside?” - “Stupid! - said the old woman. “But the mouth of the stove is so wide that I could fit in there myself,” yes, she went up to the stove and stuck her head into it.
Then Gretel pushed the witch from behind so that she immediately found herself in the stove, and she slammed the stove damper behind the witch, and even pushed the bolt back.
Wow, how terribly the witch howled then! But Gretel ran away from the stove, and the evil witch had to burn there.
Meanwhile, Gretel rushed straight to Hansel, unlocked the cage and shouted to him: “Hansel! You and I are saved - there is no longer a witch in the world!
Then Hansel fluttered out of the cage, like a bird when the door is opened.
Oh, how they rejoiced, how they hugged, how they jumped around, how they kissed! And since they had no one to fear, they went to the witch’s hut, in which there were boxes with pearls and precious stones in all corners. “Well, these pebbles are even better than pebbles,” said Hansel and filled his pockets with them, as much as he could fit; and there Gretel said: “I also want to take a little of these stones home,” and poured an apron full of them.
“Well, now it’s time to hit the road,” said Hansel, “to get out of this enchanted forest.”
And they went - and after two hours of travel they came to a large lake. “We can’t cross here,” said Hansel, “I don’t see either a pole or a bridge.” “And there is no boat,” said the sister. - But there is a white duck swimming over there. If I ask her, she will, of course, help us cross.”
And she shouted to the duck:

Duck, beauty!
Help us cross;
Not a bridge, not a pole,
Carry us on your back.

The duck immediately swam up to them, and Hansel sat on its back and began to call his sister to sit next to him. “No,” answered Gretel, “it will be hard for the duck; she will transport us both one by one.”
This is what the good duck did, and after they had crossed safely and walked through the forest for some time, the forest began to seem more and more familiar to them, and finally they saw their father’s house in the distance.
Then they started running, ran to the house, burst into it and threw themselves on their father’s neck.
The poor fellow had not had a joyful hour since he left his children in the forest; and meanwhile the stepmother died.
Gretel immediately shook out her entire apron - both pearls and gems They scattered all over the room, and Hansel also began throwing handfuls of them out of his pocket.
Here there was no need to think about food, and they began to live, prosper, and rejoice. (Voices: 1 . Rating: 5,00 out of 5)

Tales of Charles Perrault

Gingerbread house - fairy tale Charles Perrault about two children of poor woodcutters - Jean and Marie, who once got lost in the forest and came across a beautiful gingerbread house, which was all made of various sweets - marzepan, raisins, almonds, sweets. And in the courtyard there was a lemonade fountain. The hungry children began to quickly gobble up the sweets on both cheeks until they had eaten their fill. And soon the owner of the magical gingerbread house appeared and invited them inside. As soon as the children entered the gingerbread house and the door slammed behind them, all politeness fell away from the hostess and she showed her true face. And she was a witch and wanted to eat the little children, but first she decided to fatten them, because they were very thin. And so she locked them in the closet of the gingerbread house and began feeding them plenty of sweets every day so that they would get better. But when the children had eaten enough and the witch wanted to put them in the oven, she couldn’t do anything, the children deceived her and sent her into the oven herself. And they ran away from the gingerbread house to their home, where their beloved parents were waiting for them.

“Marie,” Jean sometimes said when, hungry, they lay in a dark room and could not sleep, “I really want chocolate gingerbread.”

“Sleep, Jean,” answered Marie, who was older and smarter than her brother. - Oh, how I want to eat a big chocolate gingerbread with raisins! - Jean sighed loudly.

Don’t go far, my mother always reminded me.

“Nothing will happen to them,” her father reassured her. - They know every tree in the forest.

One Sunday, the children, while picking mushrooms and berries, were so carried away that they did not notice how evening had come.

The sun quickly disappeared behind dark clouds, and the branches of the fir trees rustled ominously. Marie and Jean looked around in fear. The forest no longer seemed so familiar to them.

“I’m scared, Marie,” Jean said in a whisper.

“Me too,” Marie answered. - It seems we are lost.

Large, unfamiliar trees looked like silent giants with broad shoulders. Here and there in the thicket, lights sparkled - someone's predatory eyes.

“Marie, I’m afraid,” Jean whispered again.

It became completely dark. The children, shivering from the cold, huddled together. Somewhere nearby an owl hooted, and from afar came the howl of a hungry wolf.

The terrible night lasted endlessly. The children, listening to the ominous voices, never slept a wink. Finally, the sun flashed between the thick crowns of trees, and gradually the forest ceased to seem gloomy and scary. Jean and Marie got up and went to look for their way home.

They walked and walked through unfamiliar places. Huge mushrooms grew all around, much larger than those they usually collected. And in general everything was somehow unusual and strange.

When the sun was already high, Marie and Jean came out into a clearing in the middle of which stood a house. Unusual house. Its roof was made of chocolate gingerbread, its walls were made of pink marzipan, and its fence was made of large almonds. There was a garden around it, and colorful candies grew in it, and large raisins hung on small trees. Jean couldn't believe his own eyes. He looked at Marie, swallowing his saliva.

Gingerbread house! - he exclaimed joyfully.

Candy garden! - Marie echoed him.

What a delicious roof! - Jean was happy.

Try a piece of the fence, Jean,” Marie suggested to him.

Yes, this is lemonade!

Delicious house, isn't it, kids? - she asked.

The children were silent. Frightened Marie stammered:

We... we were lost in the forest... we were so hungry...

The old lady didn't seem angry at all.

Don't be afraid, guys. Enter the house. I will give you tastier delicacies than these.

As soon as the door of the house slammed behind Marie and Jean, the old woman changed beyond recognition. From being kind and friendly, she turned into an evil witch.

Here you are! - she wheezed, shaking her stick. - Is it good to eat someone else’s house? You will pay me for this!

The children trembled and clung to each other in fear.

What will you do to us for this? Perhaps you will tell our parents everything? - Marie asked in fear.

The witch laughed.

Well, not just that! I like children very much. Very!

And before Marie came to her senses, the witch grabbed Jean, pushed him into a dark closet and closed the heavy oak door behind him.

Marie! - the boy’s exclamations were heard. - I'm scared!

Sit quietly, you scoundrel! - the witch shouted. - You ate my house, now I will eat you! But first I need to fatten you up a little, otherwise you are too thin.

Then the evil mistress of the gingerbread house approached the closet.

Hey, boy, put your finger through the crack in the door,” she ordered.

Jean obediently stuck his thinnest finger through the crack. The witch touched him and said displeasedly:

Just bones. It’s okay, in a week I’ll have you plump and plump.

And the witch began to feed Jean intensively. Every day she prepared delicious dishes for him, bringing armfuls of marzipan, chocolate and honey treats from the kindergarten. And in the evening she ordered him to stick his finger into the crack and felt it.

My dear, you are getting fat right before our eyes.

And indeed, Jean quickly gained weight. But one day Marie came up with this.

Jean, next time, show her this wand,” she said and stuck a thin wand into the closet.

In the evening, the witch, as usual, turned to Jean:

Well, show me your finger, my sweetie.

Jean stuck out the wand that his sister gave him. The old woman touched it and jumped back as if scalded:

Just bones again! I’m not feeding you, you parasite, so that you’ll be as thin as a stick!

The next day, when Jean stuck his wand in again, the witch became seriously angry.

You can't possibly still be that skinny! Show me your finger again.

And Jean stuck his wand in again. The old woman touched it and suddenly pulled it with all her might. The wand remained in her hand.

What is this? - she shouted in rage. - Stick! Oh, you wicked deceiver! Well, now your song is over!

She opened the closet and pulled out the frightened Jean, who had grown fat and became like a barrel.

Well, my dear,” the old woman gloated. - I see that you will make an excellent roast!

The children were numb with horror. And the witch lit the stove, and a minute later it was already on fire. She was so hot.

Do you see this apple? - asked the old woman Jean. She took a ripe, juicy apple from the table and threw it into the oven. The apple hissed in the fire, shriveled, and then disappeared completely. - The same will happen to you!

Come on, get down! - the old woman ordered. - Let's try differently. Lie down on the shovel.

But I don’t know how to lie down,” Jean whined.

What a fool! - the witch muttered. - I'll show you!

Let's run quickly!

The children ran out of the gingerbread house and rushed without looking back towards the dark forest.

Without making out the road, they ran through the forest for a long time and slowed down only when the first stars appeared in the sky and the forest gradually began to thin out.

Suddenly, in the distance, they noticed a faint flickering light.

This is our house! - shouted the out of breath Jean.

Indeed, it was their old, rickety house. Concerned parents stood on his threshold and peered into the darkness with anxiety and hope.

How happy they were when they saw the children running towards them - Marie and Jean!

And no one else heard about the evil witch who lived in the deep forest. She probably burned in her stove, and her fairy-tale house fell apart into thousands of gingerbread and marzipan crumbs, which were eaten by forest birds.

“Marie,” Jean sometimes said, when, hungry, they lay in a dark room and could not sleep, “I really want chocolate gingerbread.”

“Sleep, Jean,” answered Marie, who was older and smarter than her brother.

– Oh, how I want to eat a big chocolate gingerbread with raisins! – Jean sighed loudly.

“Don’t go too far,” my mother always reminded me.

“Nothing will happen to them,” her father reassured her. “Every tree in the forest is familiar to them.”

One Sunday, the children, while picking mushrooms and berries, were so carried away that they did not notice how evening had come.

The sun quickly disappeared behind dark clouds, and the branches of the fir trees rustled ominously. Marie and Jean looked around in fear. The forest no longer seemed so familiar to them.

“I’m scared, Marie,” Jean said in a whisper.

“Me too,” Marie answered. - It seems we are lost.

Large, unfamiliar trees looked like silent giants with broad shoulders. Here and there in the thicket, lights sparkled - someone’s predatory eyes.

“Marie, I’m afraid,” Jean whispered again.

It became completely dark. The children, shivering from the cold, huddled together. Somewhere nearby an owl hooted, and from afar came the howl of a hungry wolf.

They walked and walked through unfamiliar places. Huge mushrooms grew all around, much larger than those they usually collected. And in general everything was somehow unusual and strange.

- Gingerbread house! – he exclaimed joyfully.

- Garden of candy! – Marie echoed him.

– What a delicious roof! – Jean was happy.

“Try a piece of the fence, Jean,” Marie suggested to him.

- Yes, this is lemonade!

– Delicious house, isn’t it, kids? – she asked.

The children were silent. Frightened Marie stammered:

- We... we were lost in the forest... we were so hungry...

The old lady didn't seem angry at all.

- Don't be afraid, guys. Enter the house. I will give you tastier delicacies than these.

As soon as the door of the house slammed behind Marie and Jean, the old woman changed beyond recognition. From being kind and friendly, she turned into an evil witch.

- So you got caught! – she wheezed, shaking her stick. – Is it good to have someone else’s house? You will pay me for this!

The children trembled and clung to each other in fear.

-What will you do to us for this? Perhaps you will tell our parents everything? – Marie asked in fear.

The witch laughed.

- Well, not that! I like children very much. Very!

And before Marie came to her senses, the witch grabbed Jean, pushed him into a dark closet and closed the heavy oak door behind him.

- Marie! – the boy’s exclamations were heard. - I'm scared!

- Sit quietly, you scoundrel! – the witch shouted. “You ate my house, now I’ll eat you!” But first I need to fatten you up a little, otherwise you are too thin.

Then the evil mistress of the gingerbread house approached the closet.

“Hey, boy, put your finger through the crack in the door,” she ordered.

Jean obediently stuck his thinnest finger through the crack. The witch touched him and said displeasedly:

- Just bones. It’s okay, in a week I’ll have you plump and plump.

- My dear, you are getting fat right before our eyes.

And indeed, Jean quickly gained weight. But one day Marie came up with this.

“Jean, next time, show her this wand,” she said and stuck a thin wand into the closet.

In the evening, the witch, as usual, turned to Jean:

- Well, show me your finger, my sweetie.

Jean stuck out the wand that his sister gave him. The old woman touched it and jumped back as if scalded:

- Again, just bones! I’m not feeding you, you parasite, so that you’ll be as thin as a stick!

The next day, when Jean stuck his wand in again, the witch became seriously angry.

“You can’t still be that skinny!” Show me your finger again.

And Jean stuck his wand in again. The old woman touched it and suddenly pulled it with all her might. The wand remained in her hand.

- What is this? – she shouted in rage. - Stick! Oh, you wicked deceiver! Well , now your song is over!

She opened the closet and pulled out the frightened Jean, who had grown fat and became like a barrel.

“Well, my dear,” the old woman gloated. “I see that you’ll make a great roast!”

The children were numb with horror. And the witch lit the stove, and a minute later it was already on fire. She was so hot.

– Do you see this apple? - asked the old woman Jean. She took a ripe, juicy apple from the table and threw it into the oven. The apple hissed in the fire, shriveled, and then disappeared completely. - The same will happen to you!

- Well, get down! - the old woman ordered. - Let's try differently. Lie down on the shovel.

“But I don’t know how to lie down,” Jean whined.

- What a fool! - the witch muttered. - I'll show you!

- Let's run, quickly!

The children ran out of the gingerbread house and rushed without looking back towards the dark forest.

Without making out the road, they ran through the forest for a long time and slowed down only when the first stars appeared in the sky and the forest gradually began to thin out.

Suddenly, in the distance, they noticed a faint flickering light.

- This is our house! - shouted the out of breath Jean.

Indeed, it was their old, rickety house. Concerned parents stood on his threshold and peered into the darkness with anxiety and hope.

How happy they were when they saw the children running towards them - Marie and Jean!

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