Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville

Author:Eliza Granville [Granville, Eliza]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780241967355
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2014-02-06T05:00:00+00:00

Sometimes, however hard we look and however long we seek, some of our friends hide themselves so well we can’t find them and never see them again. One after another they disappear. It’s like a game of Ten Green Bottles.

‘Zehn grüne Flaschen, die an die Wand anklammern,

Ten green bottles, hanging on the wall,

And if one green bottle should accidentally fall –’

I stop because Daniel pulls faces and doesn’t join in with my singing. ‘I had a book about a magic door into a mountain,’ I tell him. ‘The Pied Piper took other children there. Perhaps Casimir and Aisha and the others have found the way on their own. We should look for it, because there’s a wonderful place behind that door.’

Daniel shrugs. ‘They’ve gone, like my little sister did. They won’t come back. I told you already, that’s what happens here.’

Sometimes, when I’m very sad, I visit Uncle Hraben in his tower. He lets me put on one of my nice frocks and gives me paper and crayons so I can draw pictures. Once he brought me ice cream, but usually it’s cake or Apfelstrudel. I don’t mind so much any more. One Sunday, he came to the shed to find me because there were new baby rabbits. Daniel ran away when he saw him. All the others shrank back and made themselves look very small. When I come back, Erika and Cecily make me tell them everything.

‘Were you in a room alone with him?’

‘Not today.’ I tell them about the baby rabbits. They don’t seem very interested. ‘When I go to his special tower, he gives me nice things to eat. And I can change into my other clothes.’

They look at each other. Erika shakes her head. ‘From now on, you will come to work with me. At least I can keep an eye on you there.’

‘Why?’

‘So that he doesn’t lure you into his tower again. You mustn’t go there.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because he’s not a nice man.’

‘But Uncle Hraben knew Papa. They were friends. He is nice. He says he wants to be my new father.’

‘You and I must have a long talk about … certain things,’ says Erika. ‘Innocence is not the same as ignorance.’

‘Keep out of his way,’ advises Cecily. ‘Hide when you see him coming. Take nothing. If you do, there will be a high price to pay.’

‘He is feeding you up,’ says Lena, who’d been pretending to be asleep. ‘He is fattening you for the kill.’

‘That’s silly,’ I say. ‘He’s not a witch.’

Lottie thinks Uncle Hraben might be a witch in disguise because he pinches my bottom and squeezes my legs and arms exactly like the witch did to Hansel when she put him in the cage. We argue then, because I know why Lottie doesn’t like him. He says she’s ugly and he’ll buy me a new doll if I throw her away. In the end I call her Charlotte and put her back in her hiding place.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.