Ansel found his way back to the village.  He ignored the stares of the people as he walked his way down the dirt path to the little house he and Gerta had shared all these years.  He ignored the whispers as he passed his neighbors.  He ignored that his strides were much longer.  Ansel also ignored that people he once had to look up upon had to now look up upon him.  Ansel did not want to be stopped; he only wanted to see his ailing Gerta.

Ansel ignored that the door handle was now much lower than when he had left on his journey or that it seemed smaller in his hand.  Ansel just opened the door and proceeded to step in.  It was only then that Ansel realized the extent of the enchantment as he hit his head on the top of the door.  “Oww,” Ansel said as he rubbed his head and stepped back to see that he is now eye level with the top of the door that he could comfortably pass through at one time.

“I have grown,” Ansel mumbled to himself as he looked down at his newly tall and slender form.  “I thought the elixir turned me back to what I once was?”

A strange and beautiful laugh tickled Ansel’s ears; it was the laugh of the witch.  I only stopped the effects of the forest.   I cannot reverse it, Ansel the carpenter.  You are not a giant but a very large and youthful man now.  I have filled your cask with the waters of the forest to heal your wife.  Give her a goblet of it every night before she sleeps.  It shall heal her and make her strong again.  On the fifth night, give her the elixir so that she may be as you, the voice said and disappeared in the sweet sound of laughter.  Ansel looked at his canteen and felt that the nearly empty cask is now full.

“Thank you, great witch.  I shall do as you say,” Ansel said to the air.  He ducked his now much larger frame and entered his home…

Jakob and Marta found their way to the woods around their old home.  The midday sun shone on the small mud and thatch house like a dream.  Everything is as it once was except for the large wooden barn and the many animals in the pasture.  Father had done well for himself.

Jakob and Marta looked at the barn and saw that it was big enough for the both of them but it was still going to be snug and tight as they could see no way of standing up straight once inside the structure.  So they decided to wait till nightfall to claim the barn as their temporary home…

“Gerta?  Gerta?  Gerta it is I, your husband,” Ansel said as he walked into the house.

“Ansel,” Ansel heard his wife moan from the bed they shared.  “Is it really you my husband?”  Gerta sounded weak.  She coughed and moaned.

“It is,” Ansel said as he made his way to their room.  Ansel stopped at the door, looking straight ahead at the top of another doorway he entered once upon a time without hitting his head.  Ansel stood there for a moment wondering about his wife’s reaction to his newer, bigger, and younger form.  Will she scream or even die from the mere sight of him?  What of their children who are hiding among tree that they are no taller than?  Maybe the sickness has stolen her of her sight as the village doctor said would happen?  Ansel held his head down and looked around a room that at one time he could fit comfortably in.  Ansel then realized that he wasn’t the same man anymore.

Ansel slowly opened the door and entered their bed chamber.  “Ansel is that you,” Gerta said as she stared blindly ahead.  Ansel let out a small sigh of relief and felt guilty for it.  Gerta is blinded by her illness.

“Aye, it is I my dear wife,” he said quietly as he walked to her bedside.  Ansel frowned at the sight of his small and underfeed wife.  Her cheeks looked hallow and her green eyes looked like glass.  She coughed and wheezed, barely able to catch her breath.  Her once golden locks are now gray and straw like.  Ansel held back his tears.

“I haven’t been able to leave my bed for two days because of my sight.  I see nothing but black and the doctor refuses to come until we give him payment.  Oh Ansel, tell me you have happier news,” Gerta said as she held out her hand.  Ansel took her small fragile hand and kissed it.  He also looked at how much smaller her hand is now that he has returned.

“I have found our children and a cure,” Ansel responded.

“Jakob and Marta, my little ones.  Where have they been?” Marta asked.

“They are well.  They have both built a life for themselves,” Ansel said, avoiding the question.  “Now I must give you the cure, my wife.  Drink well of it, for it will make you strong again,” Ansel said as he poured the water into the goblet.  He held the goblet to Gerta’s mouth and she slowly began to drink the pure, sweet water.

“Water?  It is like none I have ever drunk of before.  Where did you find this cure?” Gerta asked.

“A beautiful and powerful witch.  Now sleep my dear.  You will feel much better in the morning, I promise,” Ansel said as he fluffed his wife’s pillow and took the goblet from her weak hands.

“Tell me more of your adventure,” Gerta said with a yawn, fighting the sleep.

“In the morning.  You need your rest.  Perhaps I shall prepare you a feast, my love,” Ansel said and kissed her forehead.  Gerta fell fast asleep…

“Jakob?  Marta?” Ansel whispered into the trees, keeping his voice as low as possible.  He knew his children could hear him with their extraordinary ears.  Their size had given them many great gifts.

“We are here, papa,” Marta said as darkness filled the sky.

“Good, now we must move to the barn.  Your mother is asleep.  Try not to wake her,” Ansel said as he looked up at the two giants.  Jakob and Marta nodded.

Marta crawled into the small door first and stood up the best she could and then Jakob followed.  Both the giants held onto the ceiling beams as they slouched to fit in.

“It is a little small but I think it will do, papa,” Jakob said.

“I’ll have to keep the animals out to pasture until you are ready to move on,” Ansel said looking up at the two giants.  Ansel felt big in his home but around his children, he was no longer a big man.

“I shall build a small barn for the animals, papa.  I can start work tonight.  I will be quiet so I do not wake mother,” Jakob said as he put down his pack.  Ansel noticed that his son packed his handmade tools.

“That will be wonderful, son,” Ansel said with a smile.

“How is mother?” Marta asked and Ansel then frowned.

“Not well, my dear one.  Your mother was blind and starving today.  Death looked as though it was knocking on her door,” Ansel managed to say.  Marta held her head low and a large tear puddled onto the barn’s dirt floor.  Then another fell.  Jakob put his arm around his weeping sister.

“Mother is dying,” Marta chocked out as Jakob patted her shoulder.  “We must see her.”

I have feed her the water of the forest, just as the witch said to do.  I have faith she will pull through,” Ansel said.  “I don’t want her to see you and your brother until she is well.”  Ansel patted Marta’s knee.

“But papa…”  Marta said.  Then she understood as she looked down at the small man.  “We are…monsters,” Marta then chocked out as the tears began to fall steadily.  Marta fell to her knees on the soft hay.  Ansel felt the earth shake under his feet as his daughter did this.  Ansel reached up and touched his daughter’s moist cheeks.  He did his best to wipe her tears away.

“You are not monsters.  You are my daughter just as Jakob is my son.  I want you to see her well and happy,” Ansel said in a gentle tone.  Marta’s large white slender hand engulfed Ansel’s hand.  “I will bring her to you once she is well enough to walk.  I have faith,” Ansel then said as he moved a stray hair from Marta’s pale sad blue eyes.  Marta gently squeezed Ansel’s small hand and gave him a sad smile.

“I have faith too, papa,” Marta whispered as she used her size to pull her father into a hug.  She lifted Ansel off the ground as he put his arms around her neck.  Jakob patted his sister’s back as he knelt down next to her.  Tears fell from his pale blue eyes as well.  He put his chin on his sister’s shoulder and pulled Marta into a hug.  He held Ansel as well as the two giants wept for their ailing mother.