Hansel and Gretel

By Brothers Grimm

Retold by Rika Lesser/Paul O. Zelinsky

《糖果屋》的故事有各種藝術演繹：歌劇、芭蕾舞劇、兒童劇、廣播劇、偶戲、動畫、交響曲、繪畫……繪本只是其中的一小項。

民間故事背後常常隱藏一些駭人聽聞的社會現實，例如：《糖果屋》裡面的後母可能是親生母親，因為不忍易子而食，無可奈何之下選擇將小孩丟棄在森林裡……在飢荒的年代，易子而食一定不是新聞。這種故事就用各種變形存留下來，變成不同的道德訓示。從現代人的眼光看來，「不可貪食陌生人的食物」當作這個故事的警示一點說服力也沒有；「把女巫推進灶裡燒死」和「將女巫所有的珠寶帶回去送給爸爸」這種以暴制暴的行徑和黑吃黑的江湖律法更是不可取。讀者都知道這種縝密的敘述裡頭另外還有令人留戀的東西……

Zelinsky 這本繪本畫得非常細緻，封面的這張圖是全景敘述，讀者一眼就看到遠方的誘惑和危險，但是彷若舞台的場景裡，這兩個小孩還是天真的玩耍。

兩小孩被父母丟到森林裡，第一次 Hansel 還偷聽到父母談話，有時間撿石頭沿路做記號跑回家，第二次匆忙中撕了麵包就上路，麵包屑全讓小鳥吃光。好不容易得到的好運馬上消失。Hansel 邊走邊停下來回頭看，父親的沮喪和後母的冷漠都寫在臉上。Zelinsky 將全家畫得蒼白，看起來不是飢餓絕望而是惡意，氣氛詭異。

我要是餓昏了小孩，看到這些餅乾百分之百會湊過去吃呀！這兩個小孩假如看到這幻像還不會受到吸引，他們就不是純真的小孩啦！

瞧這鬆餅屋頂多麼好吃呀！

接近尾聲了，這兩頁應該列為禁書！再怎麼說，這行為也是不對的！窮昏了的年代才會講出這樣的故事來吧？

Further reading:

〈糖果屋〉

HANSEL AND GRETEL 格林童話《糖果屋》原故事開頭

Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little to bite and to break, and once when great dearth fell on the land, he could no longer procure even daily bread. Now when he thought over this by night in his bed, and tossed about in his anxiety, he groaned and said to his wife: 'What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children, when we no longer have anything even for ourselves?' 'I'll tell you what, husband,' answered the woman, 'early tomorrow morning we will take the children out into the forest to where it is the thickest; there we will light a fire for them, and give each of them one more piece of bread, and then we will go to our work and leave them alone. They will not find the way home again, and we shall be rid of them.' 'No, wife,' said the man, 'I will not do that; how can I bear to leave my children alone in the forest?—the wild animals would soon come and tear them to pieces.' 'O, you fool!' said she, 'then we must all four die of hunger, you may as well plane the planks for our coffins,' and she left him no peace until he consented. 'But I feel very sorry for the poor children, all the same,' said the man. ……

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2591/2591-h/2591-h.htm#2H_4_0020

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20027