C1The brother took his sister's hand and said to her, "Since our mother died we have had no good days; our stepmother beats us every day, and if we go near her she kicks us away; we have nothing to eat but hard crusts of bread left over; the dog under the table fares better," he gets a good piece every now and then. If our mother only knew, how she would pity us! Come, let us go together out into the wide world!" So they went, and journeyed the whole day through fields and meadows and stony places, and if it rained the sister said, "The skies and we are weeping together." In the evening they came to a great wood, and they were so weary with hunger and their long journey, that they climbed up into a high tree and fell asleep.The next morning, when they awoke, the sun was high in heaven, and shone brightly through the leaves. Then said the brother, "Sister, I am thirsty; if I only knew where to find a brook, that I might go and drink! I almost think that I hear one rushing."So the brother got down and led his sister by the hand, and they went to seek the brook. But their wicked stepmother was a witch, and had known quite well that the two children had run away, and had sneaked after them, as only witches can, and had laid a spell on all the brooks in the forest.小弟弟拉著小姐姐的手說："自從媽媽死了之后，我們没有過過幸福的日子。繼母天天打我們，而且只要我們走到她的跟前，她就用腳把我們踢開。我們每天吃的都是硬梆梆的剩面包皮，連桌子下面的小狗吃的都比我們好，因為她常常丟一些好吃的東西給它。願上帝可憐我們，讓我們的媽媽知道就好了！走，我們一起逃出去吧。"他們在草地、田野和石岩中整整走了一天。突然天下起了雨，小姐姐便說："看哪，天在和我們的心一起哭泣呢。"傍晚，他們來到了一片大森林，由於傷心和饑餓，再加上走了這麼長的路，他們累壞了，便鑽進一棵空心大樹，躺在里面睡著了。當他們第二天醒來時，太陽早已高高地掛在了天上，溫暖地照進了這棵空心大樹。小弟弟說："姐姐，我口渴。要是知道哪里有條小溪，我就去喝點水。我好像聽到小溪的流水聲了。"弟弟站起來，拉著小姐姐的手，走過去找那條小溪。可是他們那壞心腸的繼母是個女巫，知道兩個孩子逃跑了，便和所有的女巫一樣，偷偷地跟在他們的后面，把森林里所有的小溪都使了妖術。