A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz Read Free Book Online

magnificent tree,” she said.
    â€œThank you,” the tree replied.
    Now you might have expected Gretel to jump, or Hansel to fall backward over a conveniently placed log, but neither did. The tree’s voice was so gentle that neither child was startled at all.
    â€œWelcome to my wood,” she went on. “It is called the Lebenwald, the Wood of Life.”

    That’s pronounced LAY-ben-vault. Go ahead and say it. German is fun.
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    â€œPlant something,” the tree went on, “and watch it sprout before your eyes. Spy on the wild beasts, and see them leap and bound and grow. You, too, will grow here, and live, and be happy.” Her woody eyes drifted over them, and then she asked, invitingly, “Do you plan to stay?”
    Hansel looked to Gretel. She nodded and said, “If you don’t mind.”
    â€œI don’t mind.” The tree smiled, and then added, “But I ask of you one thing. Please, take no more than you need. Life here exists in a delicate balance. Do not upset it.” Then she told them that, less than a league hence, lay a lovely spot where they could build their home. The children thanked the tree, because it is always best to thank talking trees. Then they bid her farewell and started for the place she had told them of.
    They soon came to a small clearing. Some large stones were partially buried in the earth there, and nearby a brook burbled and babbled over smooth rocks. The sun shone in through the green leaves. Hansel and Gretel agreed that this was the place the tree must have meant. They gathered fallen branches and fronds of fern and laid them against the great rocks so that a little hut was formed, half green, half gray. They gathered more ferns, as well as moss and leaves, and made two little beds for themselves, side by side. Then Gretel gathered seeds to begin a garden, and Hansel gathered nuts and berries for supper. That night, they feasted.
    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.
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    Yeah, right.
    (Oh, did I say that out loud?)
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    The next day, Hansel was out gathering food for dinner as Gretel tended their garden. He walked beneath the towering trees, and heard the birds singing as they flitted by, and he thought, What life! What excitement! I want to be part of it all! Just then, a brown rabbit ran across his path. Hansel felt his legs twitch. Before he knew it, he was pursuing the rabbit through the underbrush.
    As the sun set that evening, he walked back into the clearing, exhausted but as happy as the chirruping birds. He had the rabbit in his hand. It was dead. He placed it before Gretel on the ground. “Now we must make a fire,” he said, “and eat . ”
    But Gretel was upset. “Why did you do it?” she asked. “We don’t need this!” Suddenly Hansel felt sorry for having killed the small beast, though he had enjoyed hunting it so. They made a fire and cooked the rabbit and ate it so it would not go to waste. But Gretel made him promise not to kill any more animals. “We have everything that we need right here,” she said. “Remember what the tree told us.” He felt bad, and promised.
    But the next day, as he walked through the woods looking for nuts and berries, he saw a tiny baby fawn, nosing a stand of fern. His legs began to twitch again, and his heart began to race. He remembered what his sister had made him promise. He told himself to turn away. But there was something about the air here, the color of the green, the musty scent of the wood, that made him want to burst as he watched the tiny fawn among the fronds of fern. He couldn’t help it. In a flash, he lit off after the frightened creature.
    As the sun set that evening, he walked back into the clearing,