A Tale Dark and Grimm

“Maybe you know something about young people, and maybe you don’t. I, having been one myself once upon a time, know a few things about them. One thing I know is that if you don’t want one to do something—for example, go into a room where there’s a portrait of an unbearably beautiful princess—saying ‘It might cost you your life’ is about the worst thing you could possibly say. Because then that’s all that young person will want to do.”

The narrator comically interjects after Johannes tells the new king that entering the room with the golden princess’s portrait might result in his death. This passage comments on both youth and fairy tales. The narrator notes that telling a young person not to do something is an almost foolproof way to make them want to do it, showing how a quality may be both a strength and weakness. The narrator suggests that younger people tend to be staunchly stubborn in pursuing what they want. They get results, but advice may not always be heeded. These lines show how simple plot devices—such as an older character telling a younger character what to do—are used to jumpstart plot and conflict.

“The End

Well, not really.

More like, The Beginning. For it is here that the tale of Hansel and Gretel truly begins.”

Throughout A Tale Dark and Grimm, Gidwitz uses “once upon a time” and “the end,” two phrases made famous by fairy tales, to signal the openings and closings of chapters and smaller stories within them. This example of “the end” follows Johannes revealing the curse and turning to stone, toward the end of Chapter 1 and right before Hansel and Gretel are born. The original tale of Johannes does not end here; Gidwitz uses “the end” to show how story beginnings and endings are arbitrary—they could occur anywhere, even if that is not how the author intended. Gidwitz’s use of “the end” also signals to the reader that the stories in the novel may begin and end in places different from the original versions, even while the stories themselves are familiar.

“Parents are supposed to help their children to grow wise and healthy and strong. The baker woman was doing the opposite, plying the children with so much food and giving them so little to do that they could not help but become weak and heavy and dull instead.”

Here, the narrator comments on the role of parents, which relates to the theme of Growing Up and Responsibility. The narrator believes a parent’s primary role in their child’s life is as a caretaker, making sure a child is equipped with the skills to survive and navigate the world. The narrator holds the baker woman up as an example of a poor parent who puts her own desires above those of her children. The narrator also comments on the responsibility of a child. While a parent should provide for their children, children should be aware of the world around them. Hansel and Gretel ignore suspicious signs from the baker woman because they want to believe she would be a better parent than the ones they left. As a result, they don’t realize the woman’s intentions until she is about to eat them. While locking a poor parent in an oven is not an appropriate response, this shows how Hansel and Gretel are capable of taking matters into their own hands.

“‘Please? Please! I could die in here! I could die!’

Hansel began to feel sorry for her. But he certainly wasn’t going to let her out.”

Hansel has just locked the baker woman in the oven. The baker woman is being hypocritical—she had no problem leaving Hansel in the oven to cook, but now that she’s in the oven, she is desperate to get out. She was fine with subjecting others to a terrible fate, so long as she was not subjected to that terrible fate herself.

Hansel’s response shows the difference between empathy and sympathy. Even though the baker woman was going to cook him alive, Hansel feels for her, believing no one should have to undergo such torture. He also realizes that if he lets her out, she will just get him back into the oven. It’s possible that being trapped would change the baker woman’s outlook, but Hansel isn’t willing to take that chance. He empathizes with her situation, but he doesn’t feel badly enough to put himself in danger.

“In time, one of the children of the town told Gretel the whole story, and a few other children, wide-eyed and earnest, confirmed it. Everyone in a little town knows everything about everybody.”

This passage appears during the tale of the seven swallows. The man and woman have chosen not to tell Hansel and Gretel about the curse the father inadvertently placed on their sons, and Hansel and Gretel have just learned the truth from the village children. The narrator highlights the problem with keeping secrets. Hansel and Gretel find out about the curse from a third party, making them feel betrayed by the parents they were hoping to trust. It’s possible they would have felt unsafe and chosen to leave if the man and woman were honest from the start, but it’s also possible that an honest conversation would have helped Hansel and Gretel understand, leading to a secure relationship.

“She began to weep, and her tears fell into the shimmering lake. When they landed, they shook the reflection of the stars on the water, waking them from their glittering sleep.

‘Whose tears have woken us?’ the stars asked. At first Hansel and Gretel were scared. Did stars eat children, too? But the shining stars seemed far nicer than the blistering sun or the creepy moon.”

Hansel and Gretel search for the seven swallows. Previously, they asked the sun and moon for help, finding both to be problematic. In contrast, the stars are kind and helpful. This illustrates the pattern of three, with the stars being the third entity the siblings ask for help.

Magically, Gretel’s tears wake the stars, showing how both tears and stars have power in fairy tales. When girls cry in fairy tales, this often leads to extraordinary circumstances and a happy ending for the girls in question. Stars are typically afforded great power, often in the form of granting wishes.

“Once upon a time, a brother and a sister clasped hands (one of which was missing a finger) and strode out of the white mountains, across green hills, and into a large and wonderful wood.”

This opening to Chapter 4 is one example of how Gidwitz uses “once upon a time” in the fairy tale tradition. It begins the next installment in Hansel and Gretel’s story. As is often true in fairy tales, it sets the characters in a specific place under certain circumstances, in this case brother and sister leaving the mountains to enter a wood. The parenthetical about Gretel’s missing finger subverts the “once upon a time” trope by detracting from the benign magic inherent in story openings. Rather than a moment of happy beginnings and adventure, this is a moment in a long line of moments, some of which have produced great hardship.

“Gretel swore that nothing could make her happier, and Hansel agreed. They decided that they needed nothing else—certainly not parents—and that they would be able to live happily, just like this, for the rest of their lives.”

Here, Hansel and Gretel have made a home in the Lebenwald and sworn to take no more than they need. The siblings feel content for the first time, a sign in fairy tales (and stories in general) that things are about to go terribly wrong. Their decision about no longer needing parents foreshadows how they ultimately return home and how their outlook on parents changes. By the end of the story, they’ve realized they don’t “need” parents, but they “want” their family and the warmth that comes with having people they love.

“But it didn’t help. It never does. It still hurts when a character you love dies, and another is left all alone in the world.”

This interjection from the narrator comes when Gretel believes the hunters have killed Hansel. Prior to this, the narrator says they used to think of the dark sections of the story as the “sad part,” and that they tried to remember that things would get better. The observation that such mind tricks don’t work suggests both the nature of stories and the book’s theme of Growing Up and Responsibility. As a child, the narrator hoped that thinking things would get better would make the darkness less dark. As an adult, the narrator realizes that the darkness is dark no matter what, and the only thing to do is acknowledge the darkness and experience the feelings it causes. By their nature, stories contain light and dark parts, and these opposing qualities balance one another out. The lighter parts are made so by the presence of darkness, and the darkness makes the lighter parts happier.

“Now, dear reader, I seem to detect in you a growing unease about this handsome young man. I must say, I think that is very unfair of you.

Do you suspect a flower, just because it is beautiful?

Or a doctor, for his mysterious healing power?

Or the postman, because you don’t know where he sleeps at night?

Very unfair indeed.”

Here, the narrator teases the reader for their perception of the handsome young man. The narrator is being coy, calling the reader out for being suspicious of the man when the narrator is the one who has described the man in a suspicious way. This is an example of how the narrator creates comic moments in the midst of suspense and peril and aims to connect with the reader by speaking to them directly.

These lines show how the way information is presented can bias us. The narrator points out that judging someone when we don’t know much about them is unfair. People may give off a vibe that is at odds with who they are, and judging them based on this may lead to making false assumptions. However, suspicious judgments are accurate here. While it’s important to reserve judgment, it is equally important to listen to one’s gut feelings and intuition.

“No, of course it can’t. The moon can eat children, and fingers can open doors, and people’s heads can be put back on.

But rain? Talk? Don’t be ridiculous.

Good thinking, Gretel dear. Good thinking.”

Here, the narrator comments on the strangeness of fairy tales, how we convince ourselves of things we want to believe, and how intelligence doesn’t always mean making good decisions. This interjection comes while Gretel is on her way to the handsome man’s house in the dark wood. Though she has experienced strange things on her adventures—such as the moon talking or using her finger to open a door in a mountain—she pushes away them aside because she doesn’t want to believe the rain is warning her away. Her feelings for the handsome man keep her from acknowledging the truth, even as the wood becomes darker and more threatening. Up until this point, Gretel has used critical thinking to puzzle her way out of situations and find solutions where there seemingly were none. Here, she makes the poor choice to enter the wood, showing how desire can block logic. The narrator chides Gretel sarcastically, adding humor.

“Haven’t you ever had that enchanting friend—the coolest boy, the older girl—and he or she seemed to like you? Of all people, you?

Imagine that he or she is in that house. Waiting for you. For no one but you.

What would you do?

What wouldn’t you do?”

In this passage, the narrator again addresses the reader directly, discussing the folly of temptation and the danger of giving one’s self-worth to someone else. Gretel has just arrived at the handsome man’s eerie, dilapidated house, and as has been established, her reason is obscured by her desire. The narrator makes this relevant for a modern audience by comparing it to situations readers may have experienced—gaining the attention of someone we admire and wanting to keep it.

The last two lines speak to the trouble of letting admiration dictate our actions. When we look up to someone too much, we give them the power to influence us, and we allow that influence to affect how we make choices. Gretel has given her self-worth and need for approval to the handsome man; she is willing to do anything to earn his attention, including putting herself in danger.

“‘Had we kept our black beaks shut, none of this would have happened.’

Gretel scrunched up her face. ‘Because my parents would have died before Hansel and I were born?’

‘Exactly!’

‘That doesn’t seem much better,’ Gretel pointed out.”

This conversation takes place between Gretel and the three ravens after they tell her the story of Johannes and the curse that led the king and queen to behead her and Hansel. The ravens wonder if saying nothing would have created a better outcome by preventing the tragedies Hansel and Gretel have faced as a result of running away. Gretel’s response calls to how every choice, even ones that seem positive, opens us up to potentially negative outcomes. If the ravens hadn’t conversed in hearing distance of Johannes, the king would have likely died upon arriving home with the golden princess. Hansel and Gretel would not have been born, and Grimm may have fallen victim to any number of unfortunate events as a result of the king’s death. As it turns out, surviving the curses in Chapter 1 means the king is later possessed by the dragon, but if he had died, something worse may have happened. It’s also possible things would have been better if the king had died, but no one can know. These lines suggest that there are no clear paths that lead to positive outcomes, only convoluted ones, their destination uncertain.

“And then, one night, as he lay in bed and tossed and turned and sweat, he thought, I will never do anything like that ever again. I will find Gretel and make things right with her. I will be responsible. I will be good. I swear it.

And because he wanted it so, so badly, he was.

And he felt better.”

Hansel ruminates when he is returned to human form after being captured by the duke’s hunters. Without the curse of the beast driving him to think of nothing but hunting, Hansel can see the truth of what happened to him, and he realizes how badly he hurt Gretel. Hansel has undergone a transformative experience, one where he feels he has treated someone he loves poorly and has no choice but to make things right. This calls to the power of will. Hansel could have chosen not to care about Gretel and go back to hunting, but through his desire to right his wrongs, he chooses to do things differently. This suggests that choosing what feels right can have an instant effect on how one feels. Hansel knows he still has work to do, but choosing to do the work feels good and lets him emotionally recover.

“Hansel swallowed hard. He held his head high. He stared straight into the demon’s eyes. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘I’ve forgiven her. Stop punishing her now.’

For a moment, the demon looked paralyzed. Then he glanced at Hansel’s demon guides. The corners of his mouth broke into a smile. And he said, ‘Nice try, kid. But it doesn’t work like that.’”

Here, Hansel’s demon guards escort him to the pit of fire where he is to spend eternity. On the way, he encounters the baker woman being dunked into her own pit of fire as punishment for her wrongs in life. Hansel’s reaction to seeing the woman suffer calls to both the power and limits of forgiveness. By forgiving the woman, Hansel shows compassion and growth, but his forgiveness has no effect on how the demon treats the woman. This suggests how forgiveness can be a powerful transforming force for an individual, like Hansel, but it may or may not do anything for the people one forgives.

“Pain. Greater pain than he could ever have imagined. Burning so terrible and unnatural that every inch of Hansel’s body screamed to get out of the fire. He began to kick frantically, struggling to get to the surface. Finally he rose above the flames, and there was a split second of relief, as if perhaps the pain was coming to an end. But instantly he felt the sting of pitchforks on his neck and his face, thrusting him back under. He went down again and burned and burned, and the burn was worse this time for having felt, just for an instant, the sweet, cooling relief of the surface.”

This passage shows Hansel’s experience with Hell’s pits of fire. The pain is the greatest pain he’s felt up until this point, even more than being beheaded or the agony of feeling betrayed by his parents. The pit is heightened when Hansel experiences relief and is then plunged back into the fire, suggesting that hope makes torture even worse: Relief feels wonderful in the moment, but when it ends, the return of pain is even worse because he knows what life could be like without the pain.

Following this scene, Hansel realizes the pain of hurting Gretel was worse, and decides not to let the fire’s pain control him, which allows him to overcome it, suggesting that pain is partially a mental experience. One cannot always control what happens, but as Hansel does, one can control one’s response.

“To his surprise, he discovered that the fire and the pits and the demons with the pitchforks had disappeared. All he saw now were poor sinners, writhing on the floor of a great cave, screaming in sorrow and remorse for all the pain they had caused. Holding the three golden hairs, he knew that he was seeing the truth—Hell as it really was.”

Hansel runs through Hell after retrieving three of the devil’s hairs. Instead of pits of fire, he sees people suffering without actively being punished; this speaks to how pain and regret affect us. The pits of fire are an illusion conjured to give people context for their pain. In truth, they don’t need the pits to feel sorrow or regret. The empty cave full of suffering people symbolizes how our own thoughts are the most potent prison and torture. By blaming ourselves for what we’ve done in the past, we torment ourselves in the present. The past can’t be changed, but we can learn from our mistakes and do better in the future, rather than carrying forward the pain and letting it torment us again and again.

“It’s true that they’ve been nearly eaten by a cannibalistic baker woman; and they’ve talked to the fiery sun and to the child-eating moon and to the kind stars; and they’ve journeyed to the Crystal Mountain; and that Gretel has cut off her own finger, and caused somebody to be boiled alive; and that Hansel has been turned into a beast and been shot and skinned and gambled away; and that he went to Hell and dressed up like the Devil’s grandmother; and that he’s been chased by the Devil himself and has held an old man’s hand as he died.

It’s true they’ve done all those things.

But sometimes, coming home is the hardest thing of all.”

This passage calls to how simple things can be the most difficult. The narrator lists all the challenges Hansel and Gretel have faced, as well as what they’ve done in response to those challenges—traumatic actions that have fundamentally changed who they are. Even after, Hansel and Gretel struggle most with returning home because, while they have dealt with the problems of others, they have not come to terms with their own experiences. Their time away has only let them avoid dealing with being beheaded, and while they have grown stronger, coming home makes them vulnerable and reminds them of who they were when they fled.

The first paragraph begins each clause, with the exception of the first, with “and,” creating a breathless feeling and emphasizing all the things that Hansel and Gretel have done.

“The king laughed at himself, and the queen laughed some more. Hansel and Gretel began to smile. It was the first crack in their armor their parents had yet seen. The king and the queen, laughing and tearful, reached out their arms to their children.

But with that, the children’s smiles died away. After a moment, the king and queen lowered their arms.”

Hansel and Gretel have returned home and told their parents everything they’ve gone through. The laughter and small smiles seem at first to be a turning point in their reunion, and while it foreshadows the family coming back together, it is not yet time. The king and queen are desperate for Hansel and Gretel to forgive them, but they don’t realize how badly their actions affected their children. Hansel and Gretel still need time to deal with what has happened; the king and queen attempting to hug their children symbolizes the danger of rushing recovery. The novel suggests that the timeline of healing is up to those who need to heal, not those who want them to heal and forgive them.

“‘But that is no reason to cower. Until we stand up to him, our lives will remain shattered, our hearts will remain divided against themselves, our heads will remain severed from our bodies. [...] But we will soon be healed,’ she went on. ‘We will be healed. There will be blood first. But then there will be tears of joy.’”

Gretel gives this speech to the subjects of Grimm before they go into battle against the dragon. Her words call to how any positive outcome is worth fighting, and sometimes suffering, for. If the people of the kingdom want to rid themselves of the dragon, they have to be willing to face bloodshed. Her opening lines call to the power of fear and danger to divide people. The threat of the dragon makes people care only about themselves and their own safety. To overcome the danger, they need to come together and think of everyone, not just themselves. Gretel compares the situation to how her parents fought to restore Johannes by beheading Hansel and Gretel. To save Johannes, the king and queen needed to be willing to suffer, but once they did and helped their friend, they were rewarded by getting their children back.

“Not even the dragon on the cover of this book, dear reader.

Go ahead, take a look.

That dragon, you see, was designed to alert you to the presence of a dragon in these pages.”

The narrator’s interjection serves two purposes. First, it is a comical dig at the publishing industry and how book covers are created. The dragon in the story looks nothing like the dragon on the cover, but the book was given this cover because it fits the book’s genre, is visually interesting, and, as a marketing tool, will draw in the intended audience. Accuracy matters less than aesthetics with book covers. Second, these lines call to how appearances can be deceiving. The book cover shows a dragon, but it doesn’t prepare the reader for the exact dragon in the story.

“The ravens? In this very tree? Gretel could barely believe it. In fact, had it not been for all the strange, incredible things that had happened to her already, perhaps she wouldn’t have. But after eating a house, and talking to the stars, and all the rest of it—well, she believed it just fine.”

This passage echoes Chapter 5, where Gretel didn’t believe the rain was trying to warn her away from the handsome man’s house. Then, she chose not to believe because she wanted the man to like her. Here, she has experienced more and learned that her desires can get in the way of her logic, showing that she has grown. Instead of trying to reason out how and why the ravens are here at this exact moment, she simply chooses to believe because she’s experienced stranger things. This passage is also a nod to the convenience of storytelling. With all the trees in the forest and the multiple forests in the book, the odds of the ravens’ nest being in the tree Gretel happens to climb are unlikely, but it is good storytelling and brings the story elements together.

“You see, to find the brightest wisdom one must pass through the darkest zones. And through the darkest zones there can be no guide.

No guide, that is, but courage.”

The narrator speaks again to darkness and how it is essential to heighten the light. Hansel and Gretel have faced incredible dangers and circumstances, which have given them the tools they need to defeat the dragon and restore their family. Courage is the one common factor in all their decisions. Running away from home, if an act of avoidance, required bravery to enter the unknown. After that, they needed more to find the sons who were turned to swallows, realize they’d treated one another poorly, and to return home. Courage comes in many forms, but regardless of how it appears, it is the same.