A Tale Dark and Grimm
By Adam Gidwitz
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Who should not read this book? Little children
How does the narrator describe Grimm’s fairy tales? Bloody and violent
What is the name of Hansel and Gretel’s kingdom? Grimm (p. 5)
Who is the king’s faithful servant? Johannes (p. 6)
Describe Johannes. One eye, crooked back, bow-legged, and old (p. 6)
What two promises does the old king ask of Johannes? Keep the prince away from the
room with a portrait of the gold princess, and be faithful to his son. (7)
7. How long has Johannes served the royal family? He has been with the family for four
generations. He served the prince’s father, his father’s father, and his father’s father’s
father. (p. 7)
8. How does Johannes serve the kings of Grimm? He under-stands them. (p. 8)
9. What does it mean to under – stand? To bear someone’s burdens and hold them up.
(p. 8) Or, “to plant your feet beneath [someone] and [take] upon their burdens, their
mistakes, their pains.” (154)
10. Why is the golden princess sad? Her soon-to-be-husbands always die, and a fate
worse than death is prophesied for her children. (p. 11)
11. What is the only thing the princess loves? She loves gold. (12)
12. How does the king get the princess to marry him? He kidnaps her and promises her
gold. (14)
13. Who does Faithful Johannes overhear talking about the bad luck that will befall the
king and princess when they arrive in Grimm? Three ravens (16)
14. What does the first raven foresee? The king will ride a chestnut stallion and it will
throw him unless someone kills the horse. (16)
15. If a person kills the king’s horse and tells why they did it, what will happen to them?
They will be turned to stone from the tips of their toes to the knobs of their knees.
(17)
16. What danger does the third raven foretell? The queen’s bridal gown will cause her to
burst into flame. (17)
17. How can someone stop the queen from wearing the gown? They must throw it into
fire and not tell anyone. (17)
18. What will happen to the person who throws the gown into the fire if they tell anyone
their motive? They will be turned into stone from the knobs of their knees to the core
of their heart. (17)
19. What does the second raven foretell? The queen will pass out during the wedding
dance. (18)
20. How can someone stop the queen from dying from the wedding dance swoon? They
must bite her lip and suck three drops of her blood. (18)
21. How does the king react when Johannes kills his stallion and burns his fiance’s dress?
He under-stands him. (19)
22. How does the young king react when Johannes bits his wife’s lip? He sentences him to
death. (19)
23. How does Johannes escape the funeral pyre? He is turned to stone by explaining his
motives. (22)
24. Who are king’s children? Hansel and Gretel (24)
25. Where is Johannes’s statue placed? In the king’s bedchamber (22)
26. How does the king bring Johannes back to life? He cuts Hansel and Gretel’s heads off
and smears the blood on the statue. (27)
27. How does Johannes repay the king for breaking the statue spell? He reconnects
Hansel’s and Gretel’s heads. (27)
28. How did the queen react when she found out what the king did to their children? She
screamed and fainted. (31)
29. Why did Hansel and Gretel runaway? They heard their father say he cut off their
heads. (35)
30. What kind of house did Hansel and Gretel find in the swamp? A house made out of
cake (40)
31. Who owns the cake house? A baker woman who isn’t a witch, but a cannibal. (44)
32. What kind of food does Hansel have hidden in his clothes the day the Baker Woman
puts him in the oven? A goose leg and bacon. (46)
33. When Hansel is cooking, what does he smell like? Chocolate cake (47)
34. In the tale of Seven Swallows, why do the man’s sons turn into birds? The man wished
they would turn into birds and fly away. (54)
35. For what did the father sacrifice his seven sons? A daughter (Gretel) (57)
36. What does the moon say to Hansel and Gretel? “Fee-fi-fo-fesh. I think I smell
children’s flesh!”(59)
37. Why were Hansel and Gretel afraid of the sun? They think she might eat children. (59)
38. Why do Hansel and Gretel leave the kindly man and woman’s house? They realized
that their foster father wished the sons would become birds, and Gretel wants to help
them. (60)
39. Which heavenly bodies help Hansel and Gretel find the way to the swallows? The
stars (60)
40. What do the stars give Gretel? A chicken bone (60)
41. Where are the swallows? Locked in the Crystal Mountain (60)
42. What happened to the chicken bone on the way to Crystal Mountain? It fell out of
Gretel’s pocket. (62)
43. How does Gretel open the door to the Crystal Mountain? She cuts off her own finger.
(63)
44. What causes the brothers to change back into boys? Hansel tells them their father
misses them. (65)
45. Why don’t Hansel and Gretel go back to the kind man and woman? They decide to live
without parents. (66)
46. What does Lebenwald mean(LAY-ben-valt)? The Wood of Life (72)
47. What does the Lebenwald ask of Hansel and Gretel? Do not take more than they need.
(73)
48. How is the Lebenwald different from other trees? It can talk. (72)
49. What does Hansel kill? A rabbit (73)
50. What does Hansel do to upset the Lebenwald? He kills animals. (73)
51. How does Hansel change in the Lebenwald? He grows hairy and behaves like a
monster. (78)
52. Who shoots the animal-like Hansel? The duke (80)
53. What is “the sad part” of the story? When Hansel died, and Gretel is all alone. (81)
54. What does Schwartzwald mean? The Wood of Darkness (85)
55. What is wrong with the Schwartwald (SHVAHTS-vault)? No one ever comes out (86)
56. After Hansel dies, who does Gretel live with next? The silver-haired lady (87)
57. When Gretel lives in the village with the silver-haired lady, who is her crush? The
handsome young man (90)
58. What does the handsome young man have that is magical? A piece of twine (92)
59. Describe what the handsome young man can do with his piece of twine. He can fix
toys, and he fixes Gretel’s head when she gets hurt. (92)
60. How does the handsome young man hurt Gretel’s head? He throws her into a branch.
(92)
61. Where does the handsome young man live? In the Schwartzwald (93)
62. What does the handsome young man leave as a trail for Gretel? Ashes (93)
63. Why doesn’t the widow want Gretel to visit the handsome young man? It’s not right
for a girl to visit a man, and he lives in the Schwartzwald. (94)
64. What does the widow give to Gretel when she can’t stop her from going into the
forest? Lentils (96)
65. What does the rain seem to say to Gretel as she walks towards the handsome young
man’s house? “Go home, little girl, go home; To a murderers home you’ve come.” (97)
66. The birds are singing to Gretel as she approaches the handsome young man’s home.
What are they saying? “Go home, little girl, go home; To a murderers home you’ve
come.” (98)
67. Besides the birds and the rain, who else warns Gretel to stay away from the
handsome young man? The old woman he has in chains (his mother) (101)
68. What does the old woman tell Gretel the young man does to girls? He lures them
home, sucks out their souls, turns them into doves, and eats their bodies. (101)
69. What are the white doves in the handsome young man’s cages? The souls of girls
(102)
70. When Gretel comes back from the handsome young man’s house, who comes to visit
her? The three crows (105)
71. What do the crows tell Gretel? Her bad luck is their fault because they told Johannes
what would happen if the king and queen married. (107)
72. What is the handsome young man? A warlock (111)
73. What phrase does Gretel repeat over and over again while she tells the villagers
about her trip to the woods? “It was only a dream” (111)
74. When Gretel finishes telling her dream, what does she show the villagers? The ring
with the rubies (111)
75. What is the best way to kill a warlock? Cook him in a cauldron of hot oil and
poisonous snakes (112)
76. What happens when the warlock dies? The old woman is set free and the doves turn
into young women. (113)
77. What does animal-Hansel look like when the Duke kills him? Wolf-man; bear-boy
(118)
78. What does the duke do to Hansel? He skins him (119)
79. Why does the huntsman stop skinning the beast? Hansel is still alive inside of the
monster (120)
80. The Lord who skins Hansel has a secret. What is it? He likes to gamble. (123)
81. The night the Lord loses his money to a stranger, what is the last thing he loses?
Hansel (124)
82. Who was the Lord gambling with the night he lost Hansel? The Devil (124)
83. Why doesn’t the Devil like Hansel? He smells too pure (126)
84. Where does the Devil tell Hansel to report? The Gates of Hell (126)
85. When should Hansel report to Hell? In three days’ time (126)
86. What will the Devil do if Hansel doesn’t show up at Hell? He will flood the valley with
fire and kill everyone in it. (127)
87. How can you escape Hell? You must have three of the Devil’s golden hairs. (129)
88. Hansel and the old man travel together to a walled-city. Why doesn’t anyone stay
overnight in the first city? The fountain of wine no longer flows. (129)
89. What problem does the second city have? The tree with golden apples is barren.
(130)
90. Who knows why the tree and fountain no longer produce wine and apples? The Devil
(130)
91. Who does Hansel meet that is stuck on the way to the Gates of Hell? The ferryman
(131)
92. Who is the old man that finds Hansel crying in the woods and leads him to the Gates
of Hell? Faithful Johannes (132)
93. Who does Hansel see being punished in Hell? The Baker Woman (133)
94. How does Hansel react when he sees the Baker Woman in Hell? He originally is glad
she’s being punished, but then he is sorry for her, and asks the demons to stop. (134)
95. Why do the demons let people come back to the surface? So they can hear them
scream. (136)
96. What does Hansel do that annoys the demons? He smiles at them and he doesn’t
scream. (137)
97. What does the Devil’s neighborhood look like? It has black trees, red grass, and red
bushes. (137)
98. Where do the demons take Hansel when he doesn’t scream? To the Devil himself.
(137)
99. What does Hansel see on the Devil’s knocker? The bronzed head of a kitten (138)
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What does the Devil’s house smell like? Sulfur, body odor, and sweat (138)
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Out of what is the Devil’s furniture made? Human skin (139)
102.
Who cooks the Devil’s food? His grandmother (140)
103.
What did the Devil’s grandmother make for dinner? Fingers of sinners spiced
with their guilty tears (140)
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What does Hansel take first from the sleeping Devil? His spectacles (141)
105.
What odd things does the Devil’s grandmother carry down from the attic?
Giant’s feet, a crown with the head still attached, a squid, and a taxi-dermied child
with a lollipop up its nose. (142)
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Where does Hansel lock the Devil’s grandmother? In the attic (142)
107.
What does Hansel do after locking up the Devil’s grandmother? He dresses up
in her clothes and makeup. (145)
108.
How does Hansel steal the Devil’s hair? He pulls it out when he sleeps. (146)
109.
Hansel tells the Devil’s his “bad” dreams. What was the first one? A town with
the wine fountain that won’t flow. (146)
110.
What did the Devil do to stop the wine from flowing? He put a frog under the
fountain. (146)
111.
What is killing the tree with golden apples? A mouse is nibbling on the roots
(147)
112.
Why can’t the ferryman get unstuck? He has to pass the paddle to someone
else. (148)
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When Hansel holds the three golden hairs, what does Hell look like? No fire,
demons, or brimstone – just sinners, writhing on the ground. (149)
114.
Why doesn’t the Devil have any power outside of Hell? He only has power over
those who are damned. (149)
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How does the Ferryman trick the Devil? He paddles slowly, the Devil takes
over, and he jumps out of the ferry. The Devil gets stuck to the boat. (150)
116.
How did the king and queen curse themselves? They sacrificed Hansel and
Gretel; nothing is more precious than children. (153)
117.
Why has a dragon come to Hansel’s kingdom? The weakness and sadness in
the kingdom brought him. It inhabits a person. (155)
118.
Where does the dragon live? Inside of a person (the king) (156)
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What did Hansel put on Johannes’s tombstone? Faithfull (165)
120.
After burying Johannes, what did Hansel do? He killed the frog under the
fountain and the mouse under the tree. (167)
121.
What reward did Hansel get for fixing the fountain? A barrel of wine, a cart of
apples, a cart, and two oxen. (167)
122.
What is funny about Hansel’s oxen? Their names are Betty and Ivy, and oxen
are boys. (167)
123.
How do Hansel and Gretel convince their mother and father that they should
plan the attack on the dragon? They are more qualified because of their trials. (178)
124.
What will Hansel and Gretel use to lure the dragon? The golden apples (194)
125.
What did the dragon do with the barrels of wine? He drank them. (201)
126.
How did Gretel hurt the dragon? She cut off two of his toes. (202)
127.
Where does Gretel go to get away from the wounded dragon? She climbs a
tree. (204)
128.
Who is living in the tree that Gretel climbs to get away from the dragon? The
ravens (204)
129.
When the dragon is about to eat her, how does Gretel avoid death? She jumps
on the dragon’s back. (210)
130.
While she’s flying on the dragon’s back, who tries to eat Gretel? The moon.
(210)
131.
Why doesn’t the moon like the sun? The sun calls him names. (210)
132.
How does Gretel survive the fall from the dragon’s back? She lands on the
ravens. (212)
133.
Why does Gretel think the dragon knew their plan? It took them from behind
and was caught off guard only by the wine. (225)
134.
Who is the dragon? The king (226)
135.
How do Hansel and Gretel figure out the identity of the dragon? The king has a
bandage around his head, and he’s limping. (225)
136.
How does Hansel stop the dragon? He cuts off his father’s head. (229)
137.
What comes out of the king’s head? A small dragon. (229)
138.
How does Gretel fix her father’s head back onto his neck? With the warlock’s
twine (233)
139.
How does the king react when he realizes what Hansel and Gretel killed him?
He under-stands them. (234)
140.
When Hansel and Gretel tell the queen about the king, how does she react? She
cries, and then she under-stands them. (235)
141.
After the dragon’s death, why do the townspeople gather outside of the castle?
They follow the golden smoke. (239)
142.
How did the servants entertain the townspeople? They spied on Hansel and
Gretel’s story, relayed it out of the castle to the town crier, who told everyone in the
kingdom what happened. (242)
143.
After learning that he was the dragon, what decision does the king make? He
gives his crown to Hansel and the queen gives hers to Gretel. (245)