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WITCH: Come, children, and listen,
for the story I tell holds a lesson.
So, gather in close and hear me well.
It's the story of the Beautiful Child
Her birth was a gift to her mother and father
she was the most beautiful child.
and it was predicted
that her first winter would be her last.
Her father was not one to take such tidings passively,
and whispers told of an enchantress
with the power to cure any ailment.
All that was required was for her father to be brave
And he was,
and he did.
But when that enchantress took away the illness,
she left in its place a gift.
It came to be that the child had been granted Second Sight.
but then no one wanted to hear what she saw.
For it is only the bitter end
that comes for everyone, anyway.
And she herself made sure of that.
For it was soon clear...
(HORSE GROANS)
...that she was powerful in other ways, too.
(METAL CLANGING)
It seemed she would spare no one.
Not even her own father,
who, for her, had sacrificed so much.
(HORSE WHINNIES)
And so, it was ordered
that the child be returned to the darkness that made her.
She was hidden away, deep in the woods,
all alone,
with no one to play with.
But still, she had her own way
of making friends.
Beware of those that offer them.
And beware of those who are only too happy to take them.
GRETEL: Fairy tales have a funny way
of getting into your head.
that I first heard the story
of the Beautiful Child in her little pink cap.
I wonder how someone gets
their own fairy tale told about them.
And if I'd even want that.
Then most the time, some prince appears
and wakes you up anyway.
But I don't see any princes around here.
There's only my little brother.
But at least he's mine.
Why are you wearing that?
I'm going to meet with John Stripp.
And his wife, if he has one.
But why are your lips so strangely colored?
(METAL CLANGING IN DISTANCE)
Okay.
If I should ever see so much as a crumb of cake,
you'll be the first to know.
Okay? (SNORTS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MASTER STRIPP: Do you read?
Uh... No. Though, I am able to bake and launder.
Your father was a farmer, yes?
GRETEL: Was, yes.
He's gone ahead to his reward.
Uh, Mother's alone now, and does what she can.
I should think she can do precious little
till this terrible pestilence is lifted.
Some say the lands are cursed.
MASTER STRIPP: Only with the incompetence of men,
as so much of everything is.
And really, it's the whole system that's so absurd.
I mean, senselessly, we owe crop to some bishop,
and we're not even permitted to feed our own...
that come out of your mouth.
Yes, sir.
Do something nice for a poor, old man, won't you?
Yes...
That's a good girl.
Now, I have something to ask you.
Have you kept your maidenhood?
I beg your pardon?
You may beg all you want,
Are you...
intact?
Would my palm have stung with pride?
Would I have felt nothing?
To just say "thank you"?
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
He didn't need a housekeeper.
You can't stay here, Gretel.
GRETEL: Why not?
This place is too crowded with ghosts.
Hungry ghosts,
Your father's sits right there.
And mine will be here soon enough.
You'll take your brother, and make haste to the convent.
Throw yourself at the boots of the sisters,
and pray they take you in.
Hansel will never be offered admittance at a convent.
And I would never ask to be admitted.
(SIGHS)
Gretel.
When you and your brother take up your shovels...
dig a hole for Mommy, too.
(MOTHER SNORTS)
(SCREAMING) Be gone!
(GASPS)
Or I'll hack you into tiny, little pieces.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
GRETEL: I pulled my brother from his bed,
and together, we fled the only home we'd ever known.
The door slammed at our backs,
and the big, bad world opened up in front of us...
like a terrible mouth.
Hmm. You ought to have gone with the man in the house.
Quiet about things you don't know.
Why do you always do that?
I don't always do anything. I'm not a clock.
You make trouble.
You would've had your own room.
Nothing is given without something else
being taken away.
who used to give Father eggs before her chickens got sick?
She lives just up ahead.
Perhaps she can give us a bed.
How do your eyes see that far?
I don't have to see things to know that they're there.
HANSEL: Are you sure a woman lives here?
GRETEL: I'm sure a woman used to live here.
HANSEL: Doesn't smell like a woman lives here.
GRETEL: Quiet.
Well, not exactly an iron maiden.
Come on, then.
as long as we're all right.
Gretel,
will we be all right?
If I've got a voice in the matter.
(SHUDDERING)
(MAN GRUNTING)
Brother!
HANSEL: Gretel! Help! Get it off me!
(SCREECHES)
(GROWLING)
Oh, but not really.
(SCREAMING)
Set out to fend for yourselves
with only your clothes and your hides,
which aren't much.
HANSEL: I have an axe.
Oh.
I must say, it hides very well in your shadow, young man.
I mean I have an axe at home. (SIGHS)
THE HUNTER: I'll be happy to direct you to foresters.
Good people.
Plentiful coin. Food, if you can earn it.
They will hand you a new axe,
and show you how to make it work like one.
You, girl,
will learn the ways of the herbs and the earth.
Lest the men of the world find a more obvious use for you.
I mean, you would've eaten it if not for us.
I don't have a taste for rabbit.
"For kindness is its own reward.
"But cruelty is a self-inflicted wound.
"The wicked earn a living by deception,
"but the one who plants righteousness
"gathers a true harvest.
"Indeed, those who do what is right
"will live a good life.
"Those who pursue evil will die."
But everyone dies.
The boy here is so filthy,
he could pass for compost
if it not for the whites in his eyes.
(THE HUNTER CHUCKLES)
GRETEL: Is it safe to trust someone
who appears exactly when you need them?
Or does it feel too much like they've been lying in wait,
THE HUNTER: Keep west for two full days and nights.
Keep to the path I've drawn for you,
and you'll find what you're looking for.
Stray from it, and you can expect to meet wolves.
And if you do, don't stop to talk to them.
but make terrible conversation.
HANSEL: Why couldn't we stay
where we were with the huntsman?
HANSEL: "Made" them? Out of what?
Must I explain all of everything?
HANSEL: But Mother didn't make us.
What a fool I've been all this time.
Yes, and I'm still hungry.
Only the natural result of eating so much.
Oh.
Do you remember Father very much?
No, not very much.
Tell me the fairy tale again.
The one about the Beautiful Child
with the little pink--
It's too scary, and you'll start
It isn't scary for me.
Gretel, I'm scared.
GRETEL: (SOFTLY) There's nothing and nobody out there.
BEAUTIFUL CHILD: (WHISPERS) Gretel.
(CROW CAWING)
GRETEL: I always try to tell my mother
like I was dreaming when I was awake.
and that little girls should never...
(WOOD CLUNKING IN DISTANCE)
What in hell are you doing?
Practicing for when we meet the foresters.
And you said "hell."
Hey!
All this practice is making an unnecessary racket!
I'm sorry.
Because you're a pig.
-You're a bigger pig. -(GRETEL CHUCKLES)
You're right. I am.
HANSEL: When do we eat again?
(ECHOES) Gretel?
Gretel, I'm starving.
HANSEL: Looks like a mushroom.
GRETEL: Yes. But they're as different
from one another as people are.
This one might be unfriendly.
How to tell?
Well, anyhow, here we all are
and pleased to make your acquaintance.
We've been without food for too long now.
And to be completely frankly honest and open about it,
we were thinking of,
very seriously, of supping, well,
on you.
are you kind, or no?
What did it say?
Strange as it might be, I think she said, "Eat me."
(STOMACH RUMBLING)
(LAUGHING)
(DISTORTED LAUGHTER)
BEAUTIFUL CHILD: Follow me.
(HORSE WHINNIES)
Come and find me.
Follow me, sister.
HANSEL: Gretel,
GRETEL: If it isn't, neither are we.
Do you smell that?
Gretel, it smells of cake!
Hey.
HANSEL: Let go of me!
and I'm unable to resist.
Gretel, I need food.
GRETEL: Stay where I can see you.
HANSEL: They have a slide.
It also smells of bacon, you know.
HANSEL: Look in through the window or something.
What is there?
Only heaven.
HANSEL: What?
Gretel, look and see!
Hansel.
You must be the sister I've heard so much about.
Careful with that, dear.
I'd hate for you to start something you can't stop.
"Missus"? Think I'm married?
See you a ball and chain at my heel?
But tell me how you came to be in my woods,
and so charmingly unchaperoned.
Our mother has come upon hardship.
Usually the first thing a mother comes upon.
My sister won't go to the convent.
WITCH: I very much doubt that a convent is the place
for a girl with action in her bones,
even if there's hardly any meat on those action bones.
Aren't you expecting guests?
Guests? I'd rather have roaches.
Just checking,
to be sure you're not crawling with louses
Ouch!
(SNIFFS)
You're clean enough.
Now, eat.
And rest.
Beds have already been made up for you.
But really,
we'll stop briefly but we must be on our way.
WITCH: Milk,
good for bones.
A hair here, a hair there.
(CAT PURRING)
(SIGHS) My eyes too big for my stomach, obviously.
And your mouth is too big for your mouth, obviously.
(STOMACH RUMBLING)
(OWL HOOTING)
(INDISTINCT WHISPERING)
(DISTORTED VOICES)
My mother, she ate me.
Oh, what a pretty bird am I.
CHILDREN: No!
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
WITCH: Your breakfast.
No morning beasts for you, my pretty?
Oh, no, thank you, ma'am.
She can keep all the world's vegetables,
while I eat only meat and grow strong like an ox.
She'll grow strong enough.
Just as the ox, with his vegetable-made bones,
pulls the cart and the fat man who sits atop it.
Well, another one bites the dust. (CHUCKLES)
May I not help you with that?
What's this, dear?
Only to say surely in exchange for your generosity,
I might offer to be the one
out of the two of us to get down on the ground.
Now, that's a new idea.
I can bake and launder,
uh, turn down beds,
or tend to any, um, animals that might need tending.
And I can chop wood.
but in this case it does seem a fair trade.
Only until we set off again
the foresters will have to wait a while.
Finders keepers.
WITCH: The sliding door to your right.
Lyes and vinegars on that shelf.
Soap from animal fat, just there.
And the blade high like this,
then lay it down easy.
Very good.
Once you've gotten the hang of it,
you can move on to the others in the shed.
My, my. Aren't you handsome.
(SNEEZES)
WITCH: Nothing to sneeze at.
you have the onset of a chill.
Here, let me show you something.
Licorice root, garlic, calendula,
and finally, cat's claw.
Here.
You drink it.
(HESITATES) Oh, I don't...
Tomorrow you will be a new girl.
If not tomorrow, then soon enough.
In any case, you will have taken a first step.
in front of the palace of wonders.
Stop with him at the gates, or see what goes on inside.
(GRUNTING)
You're coming with me!
(PANTS)
Idiot trees.
(SIGHS)
Always remember,
the king is afraid, and he should be.
Because the queen can do whatever she wants.
it's naked.
GRETEL: Your go.
-There's a storm coming. -HANSEL: There isn't.
Be quiet.
HANSEL: I was out all day.
I know what rain clouds look like, and there was none.
In any case,
I brought your axe in for you just to be safe.
they're not supposed to.
Don't we, Gretel?
What?
Is she a snake? A frog?
A pig?
(SNORTING)
(RAIN PATTERING)
(THUNDER CRASHES)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(DOOR SLIDES)
CHILD: (WHISPERS) Don't look at us.
Don't look at us here.
Down in our hole in the ground.
We've gotten old down here.
Don't look at us.
(ECHOES) Don't look at us here.
Down in the ground.
We've gotten old down here.
Don't look at us.
(CHILD CRYING ECHOES IN DISTANCE)
(CHILDREN GIGGLING)
GRETEL: Were the dreams I was having
Were they a message?
A warning?
Was I now missing a chance to listen to myself?
(KNOCKING ECHOES)
(CAT YOWLING)
GRETEL: Hey.
We'd be wise to leave before outstaying our welcome.
What?
Yes.
like we said we would.
We've found work to be done here.
You probably noticed the food.
There's something wrong here.
What bad things?
The abundance, for one.
What's that mean?
It means "too much."
There's too much, and it isn't right.
Where are the animals?
From where does she draw milk?
From where does she conjure up her endless parade of cakes?
There are souls trapped in this house, or under it.
Something behind or under? Something hidden?
Because the big, bad world is what it is.
We're safe now from the world. Isn't that what you want?
Perhaps tomorrow you can send me for supplies.
Mother says I have an eye for good produce.
WITCH: That won't be necessary.
Plums only keep for three days out of season.
And that ham is unsalted. It must be going bad.
And yet, it isn't.
(TREES CREAKING)
(CHILDREN SCREAMING ECHOES)
(CHILD CONTINUES WHISPERING)
CHILD: Hansel, Gretel.
(GASPS)
One that's had too much to drink.
You'll find another in the cupboard in the hall.
Towards the back.
When you've found it, let me show you something.
WITCH: The thought in your head is,
"Go look in the shed."
You'll find saws to be sharpened
for the bones of the dead.
You'll find saws to be sharpened
for the bones of the dead.
What eats with its teeth, but never feels fed?
(DOOR CREAKING)
Are you having dreams?
On some nights.
On some nights, I don't sleep at all.
WITCH: Awake,
listening to the woods?
Good.
The air is swirling with abundance.
One need only reach out and pluck it.
to see what is hidden and to take it.
Carves out a little square,
waits to be taken,
never wondering what governs its fate.
Those like me and those like you,
She gives us the seeds of abundance,
and we grow them in our garden.
We harvest it, and with it,
You say "we," but I've not agreed to anything.
It's not for you to agree or disagree, my pretty.
It's already inside of you.
You can either stay asleep to it...
or let it wake up.
(STAFF THUDS)
Now,
the salve.
I see it likes you.
(CHUCKLES)
(THUDS)
Now, tell it what to do.
"Tell it"?
You've talked to things before. I know you have.
It can do more than just lie there like spilled milk.
(WITCH GASPS)
But how did it...
WITCH: Think less, my pretty, and know more.
It awaits its master.
WITCH: The bones of the dead.
The bones of the dead.
(TREES CREAKING, RUSTLING)
(TREE CREAKING)
(CREAKING CONTINUES)
WITCH: Have another bite, won't you?
-(FLY BUZZING) -I don't want another bite.
Even if it bit me, I wouldn't bite it back.
But it's your favorite, my little champion.
I even stuffed the crust.
HANSEL: And it'll be here again tomorrow,
as sure as the sun,
and with even less explanation.
Now bite your tongue and eat your food.
(FLY BUZZING)
HANSEL: What do you do with her all day?
that could make my life.
It's true, she isn't.
She has much to give.
You wouldn't understand. There are many gifts here.
You always say there aren't any gifts in this world.
That nothing is given without something taken away.
So, tell me this,
what is she taking?
I'm scared now,
and I want to go home.
We both know there's nothing there.
But gifts?
Are you forgetting?
Forgetting to be afraid of gifts?
What about the story?
"Once upon a time, a girl was born."
It's not like that.
"that she was the most beautiful child."
You'd do well to shut your mouth.
For I shall write my own story.
Gretel.
You wanna leave?
Let me show you how.
Gretel! Don't leave me!
Gretel!
BEAUTIFUL CHILD: (WHISPERS) Follow me.
(BREATHING SHAKILY)
The desire to be rid of him was very real.
But to send him off alone into the night,
that could never be true.
(WHISPERS) Hansel?
He's out sulking,
for his own weakness.
He's a little boy.
once it gets its way into your boot.
You've taken him on as a burden.
But last night you shrugged it off.
Did I?
Didn't you?
You're not his mother.
And still, you don't remember
He shouldn't be off on his own.
But you definitely should be.
I ought to go to bed,
to be up with the sun to search for my brother.
An excellent plan.
But I do fear a restless night ahead.
Might you prepare for me something to help me sleep?
I'll fix you a sleeper. She always does the trick.
You'll sleep like a baby...
If the baby has just got into her mother's sleepers.
Yes.
Thank you.
WITCH: Careful with a sleeping draft.
A leaf or a twig this way or that,
A soup of nightmares.
(RETCHING)
(COUGHING)
(GRETEL SNORTS)
Come on now. This is no place for you.
Come now and look at me.
(BLOWS AIR)
(CHILDREN WAILING)
(FLESH SQUELCHING)
GRETEL: It didn't matter anymore
if I dreamt it or really lived it.
was proof of what I already knew.
All I could do now was keep calm and play dumb,
only for long enough to outsmart her.
WITCH: Disturbing night, was it not?
I suppose I didn't.
Desired result of my sleeping draft, I'm sure.
You saw there's fresh milk?
I saw.
Yum.
Any sign of our little runaway?
No, none.
Well, I'll keep a nose and an ear out.
You're going somewhere?
It's not regular that nature calls out to me,
Mind the kettle, would you?
Fix me a cup of tea for when I'm back.
That'd be nice.
And leave the food out.
Maybe I'll want to bite something later.
CHILDREN: Bless the day if you dare
to desire to be born again.
(DOOR SLIDES OPEN)
WITCH: I've been thinking,
maybe it's for the best that Hansel isn't with us.
Isn't?
He'll soon come to fear you,
as all men should if they're smart.
And fear so easily turns to hatred.
Better that he remember you as you were,
rather than as you're meant to be.
With all that you're showing me,
will I one day be very powerful?
You will be.
Will I have mastery and dominion over everything?
WITCH: Nearly everything.
We must accept our weaknesses.
Have you one? A vulnerability?
Only that which has taken a part of you.
And to you it will be a poison.
And so you must consume it,
lest it consume you first.
Consume poison?
How else will one develop an immunity?
is that out of everything in the big, bad world,
nothing tastes as sweet.
What did you do with my brother?
I am only moving him out of your way.
He's all I have in this world.
Say that again and I will turn your tongue into a flower,
to remind you of how pretty and dumb,
temporary, you've chosen to be.
Or you may follow the path that I've lit for you.
Do whatever you want with me,
but only if you free him.
I could never do that.
All that is left is to make him delicious.
You can't.
My dear,
I envy you,
standing at the threshold of your own experience,
with everything ahead of you.
To be young again.
(INHALES DEEPLY)
A nice balance.
I admire the application.
But more than anything
it leaves me curious as to why,
why you would try to put me to sleep
when there is so much to be done.
I won't do what you want me to do.
We are made from the same matter,
the same filth.
Otherwise, how would you know my story
without me having to tell it to you?
Your story?
just as she was,
(SNAPS FINGERS)
but you have been telling it wrong.
It's true,
she was a most beautiful child,
But on the inside,
she was rotten to her core
Even I hated her,
(METAL CLANGING)
if I didn't get rid of her first.
So I gave her back to the darkness
and thought that would be the end of it.
But I was wrong.
She stayed with me.
In my thoughts, in my dreams, attached to me like my shadow,
promising me a taste of the powers that she had.
All that was required was for me to be brave
and to trust the darkness.
And I was,
and I did.
And like she had done,
I rid myself of all other attachments.
I cleared my plate.
So hungry was I to realize my own powers,
I hardly even chewed.
I assumed a disguise of old age
to make myself seem kind and weak.
I built for us a house,
one with a proper kitchen and a dining room.
(GASPING)
a darling William
and a precious Elizabeth,
a Paul, a Kate.
And now, just for you,
a Hansel.
Only rid yourself of him and embrace your powers.
Such a sweet boy.
Where is he?
Where is my brother?
WITCH: So stay a while, won't you?
Who knows, you might even enjoy it.
(FIRE ROARING)
I only hope you're hungry.
(THUDS)
Bedtime for you,
little darling.
Go and kiss your sister good night.
Brother, hear me.
I know you're in there. I'm going to get you out.
That is my forever promise to you.
(GRETEL SNORTS)
YOUNG WITCH: That's enough.
There's a good boy.
What a world.
Hansel, hold!
(SCREAMING)
(YOUNG WITCH SCREAMING)
(GRUNTS)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(CAT PURRING)
Gretel.
And you will be, just as long as I got a voice in it.
But what about her?
She doesn't live here anymore.
Gretel, you're scared.
Of the world?
No...
only of myself.
You will always have a part of me, brother.
A part of myself that you have not taken,
It will go with you when you leave.
Without you?
GRETEL: Yes.
The single story that we shared now splits in two,
and we take forking paths.
Yours will lead you to what you need to find.
Mine will carry me up.
I told him to take good care of you.
He'll see to it that you arrive safely.
Gretel, you'll see my face again.
But anyway, where is he taking me?
If he's going to find his way,
I can't very well be standing in it,
just as he shouldn't stand in mine.
and his own courage to live it...
I have my own power to nurture.
I'll help it to grow,
and trust that I'll know what to do with it.
I know that the choice is mine.
I could feed it darkness, or give it plenty of light.
I looked, and I saw,
and I understood.
The captor now gone and her fires all put out,
they were free to go...
and be at peace.
And I was free.
To go and never look back,
or stay to build something new
on top of everything that had been destroyed.
I knew my path would reveal itself,
and that all was required for me was to be brave
and to trust myself.
And I am brave.
And I will trust myself.