The young king sadly inclined his head and said, “Speak.”
And so Johannes spoke. He told of seeing the three ravens on the ship. He told of hearing them speak. He told of their prophecy of the chestnut stallion.
And as he told it, he turned to stone, from the tips of his toes to the knobs of his knees.
All the spectators gasped. But Johannes went on.
He told of the ravens’ prophecy of the bridal gown.
And as did, he turned to stone, from the knobs of his knees to the core of his heart.
In the crowd, mouths fell open.
Finally, he told of the ravens’ prophecy of the wedding dance.
And when he had, he turned to stone, from the core of his heart to the top of his head.
And he died.
A great wail went up from all assembled. For they had learned, too late, that Johannes had been faithful to the very end, and had given his life for his king.
The king and the queen, in an effort to honor his memory, took Faithful Johannes, grotesque even in stone, and placed him beside their bed so that every morning when they woke up, and every evening when they lay down, they would be reminded of his faithfulness, and the great debt they owed him.
The End
Well, not really.
More like, The Beginning. For it is here that the tale of Hansel and Gretel truly begins.
The king and the queen soon had a pair of beautiful twins, a girl and a boy. They named the boy Hansel and the girl Gretel. They were the light of their parents’ lives. Hansel was dark like his father, with black curly hair and charcoal eyes. Gretel was fair like her mother, with hair that looked like it was spun from pure gold thread and eyes that shone like the sea. They were happy children, full of play and mischief and joy. So happy were they, in fact, that they nearly made their parents forget the faithful servant who had saved their lives, and how they had betrayed him.
Nearly. But not quite.
And one day, as the king played with Hansel and Gretel at the foot of his bed, and the queen was off in chapel praying, he began to cry. “He under-stood me,” the king said, “though I did not under-stand him.” He fell to the foot of the statue and wept. When his tears touched the stone, something miraculous happened. Johannes spoke.
“There is a way, king,” the stone Johannes said, “to rescue me from this rock, if you truly wish it.”
“Oh, I do!” the king cried. “I’ll do anything! Anything!”
And Johannes said ...
There are no young children in the room, right? You’re certain? Okay ...
And Johannes said, “You must cut off the heads of your children, and smear my statue with their blood. And then, and only then, will I return to life.”
Remember what I told you would happen when Hansel and Gretel finally showed up?
The king collapsed on the bed, weeping. But he felt he had no choice. “You under-stood me always, no matter what,” he said. “So I will under-stand you.” He stood, beckoned Hansel and Gretel to his side, drew a sword from its place on the wall, and cut off their heads. Their lifeless bodies dropped to the floor.
See?
The king took their blood on his hands and smeared it on the statue. Just as he had foretold, Johannes returned to life, covered in the children’s blood. And the king, despite the blood, and through his tears at his own children’s deaths, threw his arms around his faithful servant, Johannes.
The End
Nearly.
Johannes smiled his sweet, crooked smile and said, “You have under-stood me, at the greatest cost.” And he placed little Hansel’s head back on his body, and little Gretel’s head on hers, and instantly they began to leap and play as if nothing had happened, and as if they were not covered in blood. And the king threw his arms around them, and then again around Johannes, and they all laughed with joy.
The End
Almost.
For just then, the king heard the queen’s footsteps echoing in the hall. He looked at Johannes, back from the dead, and their children, covered in blood. “Quickly!” he said, and hurried them all into a wardrobe.
When the queen came into the room, he asked her how her prayers had gone. And she replied, “I can barely pray. I think only of Johannes, and how we failed him.”
And the king replied, “What if I told you, dear queen, that there was a way to repay our debt to Johannes, and to bring him back to life, but that it was a terrible way, and it would cost us everything that is most dear to us. What would you say?”
“Anything!” the queen cried. “Anything we can do, we must do! We owe it to him!”
“Even if it meant killing our two children?” the king asked.
The queen gasped. She fell to the floor and wept bitterly. At last she said, “I would never do it. I could never do it. But I know we should. We owe him our lives.”
“I couldn’t agree more!” the king exclaimed. “And that’s why ...” As he said this, he opened the wardrobe doors, and out came their two beloved children, all covered in blood, followed by a living, breathing Johannes. The queen screamed and fainted. The king threw a basin of water in her face, and she woke up and screamed again. Then the king explained it all to her, and she wept and laughed and threw her arms first around her children and after around Johannes, and then she held them all at once and wept and laughed some more.
The End
Sort of.
You see, the way the Brothers Grimm tell it, that is the end. But it isn’t really. Not at all.
For as the king recounted what had happened to his wife, Hansel and Gretel heard. And understood.
Late that night, they lay in their beds, unable to sleep.
“Hansel,” Gretel said.
“Yes, Gretel?”
“Did you hear what Father said?”
“Yes.”
“He cut off our heads to save that ugly old man.”
Hansel was silent.
“And Mommy was glad that he did. Do you think they hate us?”
Hansel was silent still.
“I think we should run away,” Gretel said. “In case they want to do it again.”
“That’s just what I was thinking,” Hansel answered. “Just what I was thinking....”
Hansel and Gretel
Once upon a time, two children left their home and walked out into the wide, wild world.
The land was dark as Hansel and Gretel made their way across the level turf beyond the palace moat. They had never left the palace by themselves before, and they knew little of the great world beyond its walls. But they had been frightened by what their father had done. And they believed firmly in their little hearts that parents should not kill their children, and they were resolved to punish theirs by going out and finding a family that was as nice as a family should be.
How to find such a family, though? They had no option but to walk, and walk, and walk, until they came across one.
So they did walk, on and on and on, until the firm ground became softer under their feet. Soon they found themselves in the midst of a muck-thick swamp, where will-o’-the-wisps danced and bullfrogs croaked. They became frightened. But on they went.
When the sun came up the next morning, and the swamp still showed no sign of coming to an end, Gretel began to worry. “I think we’ll be lost forever!” she said.