"On the night their stepmother told her husband
her wicked plan and persuaded him to do it, both
children woke from their dreams. Gretel told her
brother she had dreamed of angels circling the moon.
Hansel had awakened before his sister and heard
what their father and stepmother meant to do. He
told Gretel what he had overheard.
She began to cry."
While my daughter has long been a devoted fan of Stephen King's books, I have not. Though she tried to convince me to give one a try, I was not amenable to her recommendations. Too hard on my head and heart, I thought. When we read that Mr. King's newest book would be one for children (and a fairy tale, to boot), we were both intrigued. To also learn that the illustrations for the book would be those crafted by Maurice Sendak for the Humperdink opera of Hansel and Gretel, was the icing on the cake for the two of us. I have read the book a few times; she has not yet had the pleasure. She soon will.
Of those Sendak images, Mr. King writes in his introduction:
"Two of the pictures in particular spoke to me. One was of the wicked witch on her broom with a bag of kidnapped children riding behind her; the other was of the infamous candy house becoming a terrible face."
This is a more frightening version of the original Brothers Grimm story; one that should not truly surprise readers. The family is in dire straits as the story opens. Famine and drought are knocking at the door of the woodsman and his wife. The stepmother remains evil and perfectly content to lie about how bad it is when she talks her husband into taking the children into the woods and leaving them there, lest all four die together.
The forest is dark and very scary for the children who follow their parents. Luckily, this first attempt to leave them for the wolves is aborted when Hansel, having heard them making the plan, is smart enough to leave tiny white pebbles along the path they take. Those pebbles lead them home that first time. The next time, they are not so fortunate. Left on their own, frightened and hungry, the children wander about trying to find a familiar route out of the darkness.
They come across a delectable candy house; the old woman there invites them in. Finally, they are safe! So they think. In fact, she does what every witch in every Hansel and Gretel tale does. She feeds Hansel to fatten him up, while Gretel is tasked with numerous chores. The description of the house while the children are sleeping will send chills down the spines of readers.
"Once they were asleep, the pleasant aromas became the smells of rotting fruits and vegetables, the walls started dripping with slime, and the kindly face once more became the evil face of Rhea. Her yellow eyes peered nearsightedly at the sleeping children."
Easy to trick because of her extremely poor eyesight, Gretel is able to push Rhea into the hot oven, free Hansel from his cage, and tell her brother about the trunk she had noticed under the witch's bed. You surely know what they found inside, and what they did with it.
"They lived happily ever after."
There are horrors here as any fairy tale enthusiast will be expecting. The tone is bleak and desolate. Older readers and fans of the two creators will appreciate this new version of a very old fairy tale. Fabulous art and a familiar story told with all the good parts left in. Bravo!
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