Prevod

There was once a cook named Gretel who wore shoes with red heels, and whenever she went out in them, she would turn this way and that, feeling very merry and thinking, ‘You really are a pretty girl.’ When she came home, she would take a sip of wine to keep her spirits up, and since wine also sharpens the appetite, she would taste the best of whatever she was cooking until she had eaten her fill, saying, ‘A cook must know how the food tastes.’

One day her master said to her, ‘Gretel, I have a guest coming this evening. Prepare two chickens for me, and make them nice and tasty.’ ‘I’ll see to it, sir,’ Gretel answered. So she killed the chickens, scalded and plucked them, put them on the spit, and, as evening drew near, set them by the fire to roast. The chickens began to turn brown and were nearly done, but the guest had still not arrived. Gretel called to her master, ‘If the guest isn’t coming, I’ll have to take the chickens off the fire. But it would be a crying shame if they weren’t eaten soon, while they’re at their juiciest.’ ‘Then I’ll go and fetch him myself,’ said her master. As soon as he had turned his back, Gretel set the spit with the chickens aside and thought, ‘Standing by the fire so long makes you hot and thirsty. Who knows when they’ll come! Meanwhile, I’ll just run down to the cellar and have a sip.’ Down she ran, raised a jug to her lips, said, ‘God bless you, Gretel,’ and took a good long draught. ‘One sip of wine calls for another,’ she went on, ‘and it’s no good stopping halfway,’ and she took another hearty draught. Then she went back, set the chickens over the fire again, basted them with butter, and merrily turned the spit. But the roast smelled so good that Gretel thought, ‘There might be something missing. It must be tasted!’ She licked her finger and said, ‘My, how good these chickens are! It’s a sin and a shame not to eat them at once!’ She ran to the window to see whether her master and his guest were coming, but there was no one in sight. Going back to the chickens, she thought, ‘That one wing is burning. I’d better eat it.’ So she cut it off and ate it, and it tasted delicious. When she had finished, she thought, ‘The other one will have to come off too, or the master will notice something’s missing.’ Once she had eaten both wings, she went to look for her master again, but still saw no sign of him. ‘Who knows,’ she thought, ‘perhaps they aren’t coming at all and have stopped somewhere else to eat.’ Then she said, ‘Come, Gretel, cheer up! You’ve already started on this one, so have another drink and finish it off. Once it’s all gone, you’ll have nothing more to worry about. Why should God’s good gift go to waste?’ So she ran down to the cellar once more, took a generous draught, and ate up the first chicken with great relish. When that chicken was gone and her master had still not returned, Gretel looked at the other and said, ‘Where one has gone, the other must follow. The two belong together; what’s right for one is fair for the other. I don’t suppose another drink would do me any harm.’ So she took another hearty draught and sent the second chicken after the first.

Just as she was eating with the greatest enjoyment, her master came home and called, ‘Hurry, Gretel! The guest will be here any moment.’ ‘Yes, sir, I’ll have it ready,’ Gretel answered. Meanwhile, her master checked that the table was properly laid, took the large knife he meant to carve the chickens with, and sharpened it in the passage. Just then the guest arrived and knocked politely at the front door. Gretel ran to see who was there, and when she saw the guest, she put a finger to her lips and said, ‘Hush! Hush! Get away as quickly as you can! If my master catches you, you’ll be in trouble. He may have invited you to supper, but all he means to do is cut off both your ears. Just listen to him sharpening the knife!’ The guest heard the sharpening and hurried back down the steps as fast as he could. Gretel wasted no time, but ran to her master, crying, ‘What a fine guest you’ve invited!’ ‘Why, Gretel? What do you mean?’ ‘Well,’ she said, ‘he took both chickens off the dish just as I was about to serve them, and ran away with them.’ ‘That’s a fine way to behave!’ said her master, grieving for the lovely chickens. ‘If only he’d left me one, so I’d have had something to eat!’ He called after the guest to stop, but the guest pretended not to hear. Then he ran after him, still holding the knife, and shouted, ‘Just one! Just one!’ He meant that the guest should leave him one chicken rather than take both, but the guest was certain he meant him to give up one of his ears, and ran as though there were a fire at his heels, determined to get them both safely home.