Hansel and Gretel's escape from Rumpelstiltskin's wife was an exciting tale wrought with adventure, close calls, and an ultimately happy ending. However, the lives of Hansel and Gretel were understandably altered from their experience. Gretel, who did the physical work for the old woman, suffered from severe back pain from lugging around heavy cooking utensils and pots of water for the woman's sweets, and she had nightmares for years after the fact. Hansel's suffering was internal; after being locked in a small cage for weeks on end with little sleep and lots of stress, his mental state deteriorated. At first, he was so withdrawn that he would go weeks without talking to anyone; eventually, Gretel helped him regain some socialization, but he remained reserved and isolated himself frequently.
Other than their apparent pain from their captivity, the siblings were very well off financially. The diamond hairpin, which Hansel's father sold for a large sum of money, provided for the family. When the children grew up and found spouses to marry, they had enough money to buy two more houses and live comfortably: the father kept Hansel and Gretel's childhood home, Gretel found a beautiful cottage, and Hansel bought a secure, modest home. These houses were within walking distance from each other; after all the family had been through, the relationships they held with each other were the most important parts of their lives.
As they grew up, Hansel and his wife and Gretel and her husband both had healthy sons within a year of each other. These sons grew up together just like Hansel and Gretel, and the families stayed tightly bonded. Gretel's son, Jacob, grew up with all the love and attention he could want. Hansel's son, Wilhelm, who was the older of the two, had a hard time growing up; because his father still frequently withdrew with no warning, he learned to hold in his emotions and not expect parenting from Hansel. While Gretel and his own mother tried to be there for Wilhelm, it wasn't the same as his own father's presence.
One day, Hansel was having one of his good days and was out for a stroll. He liked walking around the woods where he was once captured; it gave him a sense of reclaimed power and helped clear his head. He heard an announcement from the king, a descendent of Cinderella's, and came home excitedly to relay the news to his whole family.
"Everyone, I just heard that there's a wild animal loose in the kingdom! It's been mauling livestock, and it's reportedly killed a few people. The king just offered his daughter in marriage to the man who can bring back evidence that he killed it. I say you boys go try to hunt it!"
Wilhelm heard the news and immediately wanted to prove himself. Maybe if he killed the boar, Hansel would be proud and would want to be around the family more! He hastily agreed to go, but Jacob was more hesitant. Finally, he decided to hunt, against Gretel's wish that he stay home. Jacob's intentions were pure; he knew that the animal was hurting the people of his town, and he wanted to put an end to it.
The boys set out to the woods near their house, where Hansel and Gretel had been lost all those years ago (luckily, there was never any wild animal back then, or Hansel and Gretel might not have made it out of the woods at all!).
"Hey, let's split up. You go around the back of the woods, and I'll take the front. That way, we'll cover more ground," Wilhelm suggested, already planning on killing the animal and taking it to the king without Jacob. If he was going to prove himself to his father, he needed to do it alone.
Suspecting nothing, Jacob agreed. They went their separate ways; a little ways into the woods, Wilhelm spotted a dwarf.
"Do you want this weapon? It will surely kill the wild animal," the dwarf asked Wilhelm, holding up a black spear.
"No, I don't need any help; I can do it on my own," Wilhelm responded, going on his way.
Later, Jacob came across the same dwarf, who offered him the black spear as well. This time, the dwarf saw that Jacob's intentions were good, and the weapon would help him kill the animal quickly. Jacob accepted the spear.
After a few days, Jacob finally ran into the wild animal. It was a boar that had been killing the animals and terrorizing the town; it charged toward Jacob, but Jacob held up the black spear. The boar ran directly into the spear and instantly died.
Jacob collected the boar's body and headed out of the woods in the direction of the king's castle. On his way there, Wilhelm intercepted him. Desperate to find the boar but with no success, Wilhelm had been camping out near the edge of the woods, waiting for Jacob to come by with the dead animal.
"Jacob! Congratulations on catching the animal--why don't we walk together to give it to the king?" Wilhelm asked, an evil idea forming in his mind. "I'll hold that spear for you so you can carry the boar."
Jacob, thinking nothing of his request, agreed. As they came across a bridge, Wilhelm motioned for Jacob to go first. When he got to the middle of the bridge, Wilhelm struck Jacob with the blunt end of the spear on the back of the head. Jacob fell down, dead, and Wilhelm quickly buried the body and took the boar the rest of the way to the king.
When he presented the animal to the king, the king agreed to uphold his promise and gave his daughter to marry Wilhelm. Wilhelm returned to his home with his new wife, lamenting to Hansel and Gretel about how the boar killed Jacob before Wilhelm was able to kill it. The families mourned, and Gretel never really got over her sorrow.
Years later, Hansel was on one of his strolls through the woods when he came across a white bone underneath a bridge. Thinking that it looked like a mouthpiece, Hansel picked it up and blew into it. To his surprise, the bone began to sing.
"O, dear wanderer,
You are blowing on the bone
Of your nephew
Killed by your son
My cousin struck and buried me
Years ago
To claim the boar
And make you proud."
Hansel, filled with rage, went home and played the singing bone for his whole family. Wilhelm's wife, stricken by the news, brought Wilhelm before the king. The king demanded Wilhelm be executed for murder.
The next day, Wilhelm was put to death with a blow to the back of his head, the same way he betrayed his family. Jacob's bones were buried in the woods near Hansel and Gretel's houses.
Author's Note: Source- "The Singing Bone" from The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman.
Image information: pixabay uploaded by darksouls1
For this last story, I wanted to focus on a Grimm story that was lesser-known. This is, in my opinion, one of the more violent Grimm stories with a merciless villain.
I wanted to give Hansel and Gretel some realistic problems one might have after being kidnapped and held hostage. I also made Hansel and Gretel the parents of the main characters in this story; my story has a lot more backstory than the original, which just begins with details about the boar and focuses on two brothers hunting it. I made my characters not blood siblings either; in my story, they are cousins. I added in the details about Wilhelm and Hansel's relationship; I also gave the two cousins names, Jacob and Wilhelm (which are the Grimm brothers' names). I kept the part of the original story about the king offering his daughter in marriage to whoever could kill the boar.
I also know that Wilhelm doesn't have any need to prove himself to Hansel, but I figured that with his relationship with his somewhat absent father, he would desire to have some sort of affirmation or recognition (and, in a twisted way, he would think that achieving some big feat like this would make his father not damaged and fully present in his own life).
I kept the dwarf presenting the spear to Jacob, but I also had him present it to Wilhelm first (and wrote it so that Wilhelm's pride kept him from accepting help). I also kept the way the one brother killed the other-- with a blow to the head-- the same. Originally, a shepherd found the bone, but I made Hansel find it. I also changed the song the bone sang: here is the original:
"Oh, my dear shepherd,
You are blowing on my little bone.
My brother killed me,
And buried me beneath the bridge
To get the wild boar
For the daughter of the king."
I changed the brother's punishment as well. In the original, he is sewn into a sack and drowned, but I had him die the same way he killed Jacob. I also had Jacob's bones buried in the woods instead of a churchyard.