| Clever Gretel | |
|---|---|
 "And he ran as fast as his legs could carry him!" - illustration by Arthur Rackham for Grimms' Fairy Tales (1900) | |
| Folk tale | |
| Name | Clever Gretel |
| Aarne–Thompson grouping | ATU 1741 |
| Country | Germany |
| Published in | Grimms' Fairy Tales |
Clever Gretel (German : Das kluge Gretel) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, KHM 195. It is Aarne-Thompson type 1741 - Trickster Wives and Maids and was first published in the second edition of Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1819. [1]
There once was a cook called Gretel who wore shoes with red heels and red rosettes, and when she went out wearing them she would turn this way and that way admiringly, giving herself great airs and saying, "You really are a beautiful girl, Gretel!" And this made her happy, so when she got back to her master's house she would have a sip of wine, which would make her hungry, so she would taste whatever she had cooked for dinner until she wasn't hungry anymore and then she would say to herself, "The cook has to know how the food tastes."
One day her master said to her, "Gretel, this evening a guest is coming for dinner. Cook two chickens as well as you can."
"Yes, sir," said Gretel. And taking two chickens she killed them, and scalded the skin and plucked them, and then she roasted them as well as she could. The chickens were thoroughly cooked, but the master's guest had not arrived.
Gretel called out to her master, "Sir, the chickens are done and are perfect but if they are not eaten soon they will spoil."
Her master said, "You are right. They must not spoil. I will quickly go and fetch my guest myself." And with that he rushed out of the house.
As soon as he was gone Gretel put the chickens to one side and said to herself, "All this slaving over the oven has made me hot and thirsty. Who knows how long they will be? While I'm waiting I'll just go down into the cellar and have a little sip of wine." So down she went to the cellar where she raised the jug of wine to her lips and had a big swig, saying to herself, "God bless you, Gretel."
Then she said to herself, "Really, the wine shouldn't be separated", and she took another healthy swig. Then going back upstairs she put the chickens back in the oven and basted them with butter. The aroma from the roasted chickens was delicious, and Gretel said to herself, "They smell fine but they may not be cooked properly. I'd better taste them." And she pinched one with her fingers, which she licked. "My", she said to herself, "that chicken is perfect. I'd better check the other one too." And she did the same again. Gretel said to herself, "These chickens are perfect now, but if they aren't eaten soon they will spoil", and she ran to the window to look for her master and his guest, but they were nowhere to be seen.
Turning back to the chickens she said, "That wing is burning, so I'd better eat it," and she cut it off and ate it, and it was delicious. Then she said, "I'd better eat the other wing too, or my master will notice something is wrong." And she did just that, and it was as delicious as the other wing.
Then Gretel ran to the window to look for her master and his guest, but they were nowhere to be seen. Then she said to herself, "Perhaps they are not coming? Perhaps they have found somewhere else to eat? Well, I've already started on this one so I might as well finish it for it is wrong to refuse God's gift." And so saying, she finished the chicken and washed it down with more wine. Then Gretel turned her attention to the other chicken, and said to herself, "The two should not be separated. Where one has gone the other must follow." And she ate the second chicken, washing it down with wine, as before.
Just as she was finishing her meal she heard her master's voice calling, "Hurry, Gretel, for my guest is right behind me!"
Wiping her mouth Gretel said, "Yes, sir. The chickens are ready." Her master went into the kitchen where he picked up the large carving knife and took it to the hallway, where he began to sharpen it, ready to carve the chickens. The guest arrived and knocked on the door, which Gretel quickly opened. Holding a finger to her mouth, she whispered to her master's guest, "Shh! Shh! You must run away from here at once, for my master has tricked you into coming with this talk of dinner. Really he wants to cut off your ears. See, there he is sharpening the knife to make it ready." The guest looked past her into the hallway where he saw her master sharpening the knife and he turned and ran down the street as fast as his legs could carry him.
Then Gretel ran to her master and cried, "What sort of friends do you invite as your guest? He has seized both chickens from the platter as I was about to serve them and he has run off with them!"
"Well," said her master. "that's a fine thing, for I am very hungry. He could have left me one!" With that he ran into the street after his guest, waving the carving knife and calling out, "Just one! Just one! Let me have just one!" But the guest thought he wanted to cut off one of his ears, and he ran as if the ground beneath his feet was on fire. [1]
Clever Gretel is a tale where a greedy but crafty servant outwits her master. It was first published in the second edition of Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1819, undergoing only slight stylistic revisions in later editions including the final edition (Berlin, 1857), listed as no. 77. The Gretel in the story is not to be confused with the character in Hansel and Gretel .
The Grimms' obtained the tale from Andreas Strobl's Ovum paschale oder neugefärbte Oster-Ayr (Salzburg, 1700, pp. 23–26] and from various other printed and oral sources. [1] Clever Gretel is one of only two tales in the Grimms' collection that are titled after a clever female protagonist, the other being Clever Else . Both are comic stories, but only in this tale does the woman come out on top. The story plays on the fears of the employers of servants as to what those maids and cooks get up to when their backs are turned. [2] In other stories of the clever woman type the male is the woman's husband or a priest, while in tales similar to Clever Gretel it is not the guest's ears that are at risk of being cut off but his testicles! [3]
The tale begins by introducing Gretel as being rather different to other servants of the time, for Gretel delights in her appearance and happily twirls in her red shoes in the street before going home to drink her master's wine. The story has no moral or lesson for its audience, for Gretel is not caught and therefore does not face any consequences for her lies and her theft, and possibly for her alcoholism. In Strobl's original version Gretel is caught and ends up living a miserable existence after her master throws her out. The Grimms rewrote the tale, leaving out the moralising conclusion. [4]
We are invited to admire Gretel's cleverness in outwitting her master; or we may feel sorry for him while his cook steals from him and loses him a friend, no doubt damaging his reputation at the same time.
A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse.
"Hansel and Gretel" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister.
Hansel and Gretel is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a Märchenoper. The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel". It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the "Abendsegen" from act 2.
The Sisters Grimm is a children's fantasy series written by Michael Buckley and illustrated by Peter Ferguson. The series features two sisters, Sabrina Grimm and Daphne Grimm, and consists of nine novels that were published from 2005 to 2012.
A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is largely used as a kitchen or butcher knife and is mostly intended for splitting up large pieces of soft bones and slashing through thick pieces of meat. The knife's broad side can also be used for crushing in food preparation and can also be used to scoop up chopped items.
No Rest for the Wicked is a fantasy webcomic by Andrea L. Peterson. The characters are loosely based on characters from traditional fairy tales, including those by Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm. The plot revolves around a princess who has been an insomniac since the disappearance of the moon and her journey to restore the moon to the sky. As of August 2007 it is on the fourth chapter, with a total of 200 pages thus far. The story has a generally elegiac mood, an undercurrent of sadness leavened with humor throughout. No Rest for the Wicked is now also available in Italian, German, and Japanese.
Hansel and Gretel is a 2002 American fantasy comedy film based on the fairy tale of the same name by Brothers Grimm. The film is directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe and produced by Steve Austin and Jonathan Bogner. Jacob Smith and Taylor Momsen portray the eponymous characters, alongside Howie Mandel, Alana Austin, Delta Burke, Lynn Redgrave, Bobcat Goldthwait, and Sinbad. The film follows siblings Hansel and Gretel as they try to escape from the Magic Forest and a witch's gingerbread house with the help of the Sandman and the Wood Fairy.
"The Juniper Tree" is a German fairy tale published in Low German by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812. The story contains themes of child abuse, murder, cannibalism and biblical symbolism and is one of the Brothers Grimm's darker and more mature fairy tales.
The Iron Stove is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, as tale number 127. It is Aarne–Thompson type 425A, "The Animal (Monster) as Bridegroom". Dorothea Viehmann prepared the story for the Grimms' collection.
"Bearskin" is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. A variant from Sicily, "Don Giovanni de la Fortuna", was collected by Laura Gonzenbach in Sicilianische Märchen and included by Andrew Lang in The Pink Fairy Book. Italo Calvino included another Italian version, "The Devil's Breeches" from Bologna, in his Italian Folktales.
"Foundling-Bird" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 51.
The Two Brothers is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 60. It is Aarne-Thompson type 303, "The Blood Brothers", with an initial episode of type 567, "The Magic Bird Heart". A similar story, of Sicilian origin, was also collected by author and folklorist Andrew Lang in The Pink Fairy Book.
"Donkey Cabbages" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 122. A man shoots birds in a forest and gains magical objects. By also ingesting the heart of one of the bird he shot, he acquires an inexhaustible source of wealth. Later on, his magical abilities and items are stolen by a trio of witches, but regains thanks to a magical herb that causes a transformation into donkeys.
"The King of the Golden Mountain" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales.
"Clever Hans" is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm about a boy who ruins his engagement with a girl through a variety of comedic events. The title is claimed by most people to be ironic. It is Aarne-Thompson type 1685 and 1696.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a 2013 American fantasy film that stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the siblings from the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" who are now grown up and work together to exterminate witches for hire. The film is written and directed by Tommy Wirkola. The film also stars Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare as the supporting cast.
Hansel & Gretel is a 2013 American direct-to-video dark fantasy horror film produced by The Asylum and directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, starring Dee Wallace, Brent Lydic and Stephanie Greco. The film is a modern retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale of the same name, taking place in Candlewood, New Jersey and follows the eponymous pair of adolescent siblings who find themselves kidnapped by a cannibalistic bakery-owning witch who devours human meat as a way to rejuvenate her youth.
"Clever Elsie" is a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. In the original 1812 edition, story #32 was called Hanses Trine. It was removed after the first edition and replaced by Die Kluge Elise in the 2nd edition.
The Six Servants is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 513A.
Gretel & Hansel is a 2020 dark fantasy horror film based on the German folklore tale "Hansel and Gretel" by the Brothers Grimm. The film is directed by Oz Perkins, and produced by Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, and Dan Kagan, with a screenplay by Rob Hayes. Sophia Lillis and Sam Leakey portray the titular characters, alongside Alice Krige and Jessica De Gouw. The story follows Gretel and Hansel as they enter the dark woods in order to find work and food, and then stumble upon the home of a witch.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
