Language through Literature

Hänsel und Gretel — Hansel and Gretel


Brüder Grimm, 1857 · 2676 words in German · part of the library.

How long «Hänsel und Gretel» is, and how hard

Length in German 2676 running words · 123 sentences · about 11 printed pages
Time to read about 24 minutes at a learner's pace, with the glosses to hand
Different words 555 dictionary words, averaging 21.8 words a sentence
Words glossed 555 of 555 — every one that appears in the tale
Words that appear once 265 — 48%. A word met once is a word you will not learn from this text alone
Where it stands 8 of 8 by length in the German room

422 of this tale's own 555 words, most frequent first, carry 95% of it; 163 carry 80%.

How it begins

Vor einem großen Walde wohnte ein armer Holzhacker mit seiner Frau und seinen zwei Kindern; das Bübchen hieß Hänsel und das Mädchen Grethel.

In front of a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and his two children; the little boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel.

That first sentence is the free sample, and the only one: «Hänsel und Gretel» is part of the library — the eight German tales and the fifteen Russian books, every word glossed, sentence-by-sentence English — for €5 a month or €39 a year, cancel whenever you like, one subscription for both shelves. What the library costs. «Der süße Brei» is free, entire, if you would rather taste the room first.

Shorter and longer in the same room

Rothkäppchen — 1264 wordsDer Froschkönig — 1291 words

All eight German tales · the fifteen Russian ones