There was once a cook named Gretel, who wore shoes with red heels, andwhen she walked out with them on, she turned herself this way and that,was quite happy and thought: 'You certainly are a pretty girl!' And whenshe came home she drank, in her gladness of heart, a draught of wine,and as wine excites a desire to eat, she tasted the best of whatever shewas cooking until she was satisfied, and said: 'The cook must know whatthe food is like.'

It came to pass that the master one day said to her: 'Gretel, there is aguest coming this evening; prepare me two fowls very daintily.' 'I willsee to it, master,' answered Gretel. She killed two fowls, scalded them,plucked them, put them on the spit, and towards evening set them beforethe fire, that they might roast. The fowls began to turn brown, and werenearly ready, but the guest had not yet arrived. Then Gretel called outto her master: 'If the guest does not come, I must take the fowls awayfrom the fire, but it will be a sin and a shame if they are not eatenthe moment they are at their juiciest.' The master said: 'I will runmyself, and fetch the guest.' When the master had turned his back,Gretel laid the spit with the fowls on one side, and thought: 'Standingso long by the fire there, makes one sweat and thirsty; who knowswhen they will come? Meanwhile, I will run into the cellar, and take adrink.' She ran down, set a jug, said: 'God bless it for you, Gretel,'and took a good drink, and thought that wine should flow on, and shouldnot be interrupted, and took yet another hearty draught.

Then she went and put the fowls down again to the fire, basted them,and drove the spit merrily round. But as the roast meat smelt so good,Gretel thought: 'Something might be wrong, it ought to be tasted!'She touched it with her finger, and said: 'Ah! how good fowls are! Itcertainly is a sin and a shame that they are not eaten at the righttime!' She ran to the window, to see if the master was not coming withhis guest, but she saw no one, and went back to the fowls and thought:'One of the wings is burning! I had better take it off and eat it.'So she cut it off, ate it, and enjoyed it, and when she had done, shethought: 'The other must go down too, or else master will observe thatsomething is missing.' When the two wings were eaten, she went andlooked for her master, and did not see him. It suddenly occurred toher: 'Who knows? They are perhaps not coming at all, and have turned insomewhere.' Then she said: 'Well, Gretel, enjoy yourself, one fowl hasbeen cut into, take another drink, and eat it up entirely; when it iseaten you will have some peace, why should God's good gifts be spoilt?'So she ran into the cellar again, took an enormous drink and ate up theone chicken in great glee. When one of the chickens was swallowed down,and still her master did not come, Gretel looked at the other and said:'What one is, the other should be likewise, the two go together; what'sright for the one is right for the other; I think if I were to takeanother draught it would do me no harm.' So she took another heartydrink, and let the second chicken follow the first.

While she was making the most of it, her master came and cried: 'Hurryup, Gretel, the guest is coming directly after me!' 'Yes, sir, I willsoon serve up,' answered Gretel. Meantime the master looked to see thatthe table was properly laid, and took the great knife, wherewith he wasgoing to carve the chickens, and sharpened it on the steps. Presentlythe guest came, and knocked politely and courteously at the house-door.Gretel ran, and looked to see who was there, and when she saw the guest,she put her finger to her lips and said: 'Hush! hush! go away as quicklyas you can, if my master catches you it will be the worse for you; hecertainly did ask you to supper, but his intention is to cut off yourtwo ears. Just listen how he is sharpening the knife for it!' The guestheard the sharpening, and hurried down the steps again as fast as hecould. Gretel was not idle; she ran screaming to her master, and cried:'You have invited a fine guest!' 'Why, Gretel? What do you mean bythat?' 'Yes,' said she, 'he has taken the chickens which I was justgoing to serve up, off the dish, and has run away with them!' 'That's anice trick!' said her master, and lamented the fine chickens. 'If he hadbut left me one, so that something remained for me to eat.' He called tohim to stop, but the guest pretended not to hear. Then he ran after himwith the knife still in his hand, crying: 'Just one, just one,' meaningthat the guest should leave him just one chicken, and not take both. Theguest, however, thought no otherwise than that he was to give up one ofhis ears, and ran as if fire were burning under him, in order to takethem both with him.