A/N: I don't own any of these stories. These have either been created, or popularized by the Grimm Brothers story tales.
In the orphanage, all of the kids were sitting in front of a theatrical stage the titans have made themselves for a first taste of free theater. Up front were the Tween Titans, now a little older each after the titans have noticed everyone has grown a bit. The 14 year old Steve, 13 year old Lynn, 12 year old Devrie, 11 year old Lizzy and a 10 year old Sophie. All 2 years older than when they first started as the Tween Titans.
"I can't believe that the titans are going to provide us a show!" Lizzy said with restrained giddiness as she clapped her hands softly yet fast and repetitively as she bounced in her seat.
"Yawn." Lynn responded with a bored look, but Steve gently elbowed him.
"They haven't even started yet!" He quietly hissed. "Just hold on until they actually get something done first."
"I'm-I'm fine with whatever they do." Sophie commented. "It seems rather interesting if they're going through this much effort." Devrie nodded. Soon, the lights went out, a spot light was turned on, and Robin came out dressed as a bard as he played a pan flute.
"Hark, what have we-eth here?! My, it is but a play we have thought of sharing with you all! Tales to share-eth and lessons to learn-eth." Most of the kids were snickering at his poor attempt of trying to sound old timey English. "Now, let this humble bard weave-eth you five stories that each of my friends will reenact. Hopefully you've brought-eth snacks, because our first story is about two children who love snacks so much, they almost died. Lend me your ears and listen ye well, to the magical tale that I shall now tell! A story with large appetites, cast out into the forest on the coldest of nights! Near a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter and his wife, and his two children; the boy's name was Hansel and the girl's Gretel." The curtain opened, and what should the children see? The guest star titans of Red Arrow and Bumblebee! With Best and Cyborg as Hansel and Gretel respectively, whom they thought they looked silly in their German style clothes of the time period. Especially Cyborg in his really big costume of what should be a little girl since he lost the picking straws. "They had very little to bite or to sup, and once, when there was great dearth in the land, the man could not even gain the daily bread. As he lay in bed one night thinking of this, and turning and tossing, he sighed heavily, and said to his wife,
"What will become of us? we cannot even feed our children; there is nothing left for ourselves." Red Arrow bemoaned dramatically, maybe a little too much so.
"I will tell you what, husband," Answered Bumblebee. "we will take the children early in the morning into the forest, where it is thickest; we will make them a fire, and we will give each of them a piece of bread, then we will go to our work and leave them alone; they will never find the way home again, and we shall be quit of them."
"No! All of the children responded. Even Lynn was taken aback by that, his heart stricken by something personal.
"No wife." Said the husband. "I cannot do that; I cannot find in my heart to take my children into the forest and to leave them there alone; the wild animals would soon come and devour them."
"Oh you fool." Bumblebee mocked. "Then we will all four starve; you had better get the coffins ready," and she left him no peace until he consented. "But I really pity the poor children," said the man. The children in the audience were growing distressed, thinking that Hansel and Gretel were going to be thrown out just like they were, but only to be eaten by animals. Robin briefly spoke,
"The two children had not been able to sleep for hunger, and had heard what their step-mother had said to their father. Gretel wept bitterly, and said to Hansel,
"It's all over for us bro!" Cyborg wept.
"Do be quiet Gretel." Said Garfield. "And do not fret. I will manage something." Robin continued.
"And when the parents had gone to sleep he got up, put on his little coat, opened the back door, and slipped out. The moon was shining brightly, and the white flints that lay in front of the house glistened like pieces of silver. Hansel stooped and filled the little pocket of his coat as full as it would hold. Then he went back again, and said to Gretel,
"Be easy, dear little sister, and go to sleep quietly; God will not forsake us."
"Hansel laid himself down again in his bed. When the day was breaking, and before the sun had risen, the wife came and awakened the two children, saying,"
"Get up, you lazy bones; we are going into the forest to cut wood." Then she gave each of them a piece of bread, and said, "That is for dinner, and you must not eat it before then, for you will get no more."
"Grethel carried the bread under her apron, for Hansel had his pockets full of the flints. Then they set off all together on their way to the forest. When they had gone a little way Hansel stood still and looked back towards the house, and this he did again and again, till his father said to him,
"Hansel, what are you looking at? take care not to forget your legs."
"How's can I forget when they're attached to me?" Beast asked, which caused the kids to chuckle despite the grave situation. Even the amateur titan actors couldn't help but crack a grin. But going back to script Garfield said, "O Father, I am looking at my little white kitten, who is sitting up on the roof to bid me good-bye."
"Oh you young fool." Bumblebee responded. "That is not your kitten, but the sunshine on the chimney-pot."
"Of course Hansel had not been looking at his kitten, but had been taking every now and then a flint from his pocket and dropping it on the road. When they reached the middle of the forest the father told the children to collect wood to make a fire to keep them, warm; and Hansel and Gretel gathered brushwood enough for a little mountain and it was set on fire, and when the flame was burning quite high the wife said,
"Now lie down by the fire and rest yourselves, you children, and we will go and cut wood; and when we are ready we will come and fetch you."
"So Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire, and at noon they each ate their pieces of bread. They thought their father was in the wood all the time, as they seemed to hear the strokes of the axe: but really it was only a dry branch hanging to a withered tree that the wind moved to and fro. So when they had stayed there a long time their eyelids closed with weariness, and they fell fast asleep. When at last they woke it was night, and Gretel began to cry, and said,
"How shall we ever get out of this wood?" Victor asked, But Garfield comforted him, saying,
"Wait a little while longer, until the moon rises, and then we can easily find the way home."
"And when the full moon got up Hansel took his little sister by the hand, and followed the way where the flint stones shone like silver, and showed them the road. They walked on the whole night through, and at the break of day they came to their father's house. They knocked at the door, and when the wife opened it and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel she said,
"You naughty children, why did you sleep so long in the wood? we thought you were never coming home again!"
"But the father was glad, for it had gone to his heart to leave them both in the woods alone. Not very long after that there was again great scarcity in those parts, and the children heard their mother say at night in bed to their father,
""Everything is finished up; we have only half a loaf, and after that the tale comes to an end. The children must be off; we will take them farther into the wood this time, so that they shall not be able to find the way back again; there is no other way to manage." Red Arrow felt sad at heart, and he thought,
"It would better to share one's last morsel with one's children."
"But the wife would listen to nothing that he said, but scolded and reproached him. He who says A must say B too, and when a man has given in once he has to do it a second time." The children started booing at the mother for being so heartless.
"Quiet! Quiet down now!" Robin raised his hands up, and waited for all the children to become silent. "Thank you." Coughing, he continued. "But the children were not asleep, and had heard all the talk. When the parents had gone to sleep Hansel got up to go out and get more flint stones, as he did before, but the wife had locked the door, and Hansel could not get out; but he comforted his little sister, and said,
"Don't cry, Gretel, and go to sleep quietly, and God will help us."
"Early the next morning the wife came and pulled the children out of bed. She gave them each a little piece of bread, less than before; and on the way to the wood Hansel crumbled the bread in his pocket, and often stopped to throw a crumb on the ground."
"Hansel, what are you stopping behind and staring for?" Asked Red Arrow.
"I am looking at my little pigeon sitting on the roof, to say good-bye to me," At this the kids were confused. Was Hansel confused about what animals looked like?"
"You fool," Said Bumblebee. "that is no pigeon, but the morning sun shining on the chimney pots."
"Hansel went on as before, and strewed bread crumbs all along the road. The woman led the children far into the wood, where they had never been before in all their lives. And again there was a large fire made, and the mother said,"
"Sit still there, you children, and when you are tired you can go to sleep; we are going into the forest to cut wood, and in the evening, when we are ready to go home we will come and fetch you."
"So when noon came Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, who had strewed his along the road. Then they went to sleep, and the evening passed, and no one came for the poor children. When they awoke it was dark night, and Hansel comforted his little sister, and said,
"Wait a little, Gretel, until the moon gets up, then we shall be able to see the way home by the crumbs of bread that I have scattered along it."
"So when the moon rose they got up, but they could find no crumbs of bread, for the birds of the woods and of the fields had come and picked them up. Hansel thought they might find the way all the same, but they could not. They went on all that night, and the next day from the morning until the evening, but they could not find the way out of the wood, and they were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but the few berries they could pick up. And when they were so tired that they could no longer drag themselves along, they lay down under a tree and fell asleep. It was now the third morning since they had left their father's house. They were always trying to get back to it, but instead of that they only found themselves farther in the wood, and if help had not soon come they would have been starved. About noon they saw a pretty snow-white bird sitting on a bough, and singing so sweetly that they stopped to listen. And when he had finished the bird spread his wings and flew before them, and they followed after him until they came to a little house, and the bird perched on the roof, and when they came nearer they saw that the house was built of bread, and roofed with cakes; and the window was of transparent sugar.
"Food!" Both of the titans dressed like children yelled in excitement, and began to eat pieces of it, like part of the roof or windows. Then they heard a thin voice call out from inside,
"Nibble, nibble, like a mouse, who is nibbling at my house?"
"And the children answered,"
"Nevermind, it is the wind."
"Funny, you don't sound like wind." Jinx exited the house, leaning upon a crutch, wearing a wig of black hair and looked like a German witch.
"Hansel and Grethel felt very frightened, and let fall what they had in their hands. The old woman, however, nodded her head, and said,"
"Ah, my dear children, how come you here? You must come indoors and stay with me, you will be no trouble."
"So she took them each by the hand, and led them into her little house. And there they found a good meal laid out, of milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples, and nuts. After that she showed them two little white beds, and Hansel and Gretel laid themselves down on them, and thought they were in heaven. The old woman, although her behavior was so kind, was a wicked witch, who lay in wait for children, and had built the little house on purpose to entice them. When they were once inside she used to kill them, cook them, and eat them, and then it was a feast day with her." The audience gasped. "The witch's eyes were red, and she could not see very far, but she had a keen scent, like the beasts, and knew very well when human creatures were near. When she knew that Hansel and Gretel were coming, she gave a spiteful laugh, and said triumphantly,
"I have them, and they shall not escape me!"
"Early in the morning, before the children were awake, she got up to look at them, and as they lay sleeping so peacefully with round rosy cheeks, she said to herself,"
"What a fine feast I shall have!"
"Then she grasped Hansel with her withered hand, and led him into a little stable, and shut him up behind a grating; and call and scream as he might, it was no good. Then she went back to Gretel and shook her, crying,"
"Get up, lazy bones; fetch water, and cook something nice for your brother; he is outside in the stable, and must be fattened up. And when he is fat enough I will eat him."
"Gretel began to weep bitterly, but it was of no use, she had to do what the wicked witch bade her. And so the best kind of victuals was cooked for poor Hansel, while Gretel got nothing but crab-shells. Each morning the old woman visited the little stable, and cried,
"Hansel, stretch out your finger, that I may tell if you will soon be fat enough."
"Hansel, however, used to hold out a little bone, and the old woman, who had weak eyes, could not see what it was, and supposing it to be Hansel's finger, wondered very much that it was not getting fatter. When four weeks had passed and Hansel seemed to remain so thin, she lost patience and could wait no longer."
"Now then Gretel." Jinx said to Cyborg. ""be quick and draw water; be Hansel fat or be he lean, tomorrow I must kill and cook him."
"Oh what a grief for the poor little sister to have to fetch water, and how the tears flowed down over her cheeks!"
"Dear God, pray help us! if we had been devoured by wild beasts in the wood at least we should have died together!"
"Spare me your lamentations!" Jinx scolded him. "They are of no avail." Early next morning Gretel had to get up, make the fire, and fill the kettle. "First we will do the baking. I have heated the oven already, and kneaded the dough.
"She pushed poor Gretel towards the oven, out of which the flames were already shining." The fake oven was filled with a paper cut out of a fire which the audience could see. "Creep in, and see if it is properly hot, so that the bread may be baked."
"And Gretel once in, she meant to shut the door upon her and let her be baked, and then she would have eaten her. But Grethel perceived her intention, and said,
"I don't know how to do it: how shall I get in?"
"Stupid goose." Jinx complained. "The opening is big enough, do you see? I could get in myself!"
"And she stooped down and put her head in the oven's mouth. Then Gretel gave her a push, so that she went in farther, and she shut the iron door upon her, and put up the bar. Oh how frightfully she howled! but Gretel ran away, and left the wicked witch to burn miserably."
"Yay!" The children of the audience cheered.
"Gretel went straight to Hansel, opened the stable-door, and cried,
"Hansel, we are free! the old witch is dead! Booyah!"
"Then out flew Hansel like a bird from its cage as soon as the door is opened. How rejoiced they both were! How they fell each on the other and danced about! And as they had nothing more to fear they went over all the old witch's house, and in every corner there stood chests of pearls and precious stones.
"Dude, these are better than flint stones!"
"And they filled all their pockets with as much as they could carry, and after that they went on happily, until they came to the wood, and the way grew more and more familiar, till at last they saw in the distance their father's house. Then they ran till they came up to it, rushed in at the door, and fell on their father. The man had not had a quiet hour since he left his children in the wood; but the wife was dead due to weakness and illness. And when Gretel opened her apron the pearls and precious stones were scattered all over the room, and Hansel took one handful after another out of his pocket. Then was all care at an end, and they lived in great joy together. Especially when they got a second step-mother." Replacing Bumblebee, Argent came to stand with Red Arrow, Beast and Cyborg. "My tale is done, there runs a mouse, whosoever catches it, may make himself a big fur cap out of it." The curtains closed, and from the sides stepped out from the left Cyborg, Beast and Bumblebee, and from the right Red Arrow, Jinx and Argent. They each held hands and bowed and all the children celebrated.
"Yay! I'm so glad Hansel and Gretel survived!" Lizzy clapped loudly.
"I was so scared for them." Sophie shivered, but was helped to calm down by Steve and Devrie.
"It's okay Sophie." The Tween Titan leader said. Devrie nodded. Sophie smiled in response.
"I... didn't think I'd be so invested." Lynn was perplexed by that.
"I think that story got to all of us at the beginning." Steve chuckled. Robin then took center stage again.
"Now, this next story is about a girl in a tower. Lend me your ears and I will tell you a tale, of a tower and within it, a maiden so fair, who's blessed with long luxurious hair!" Then the titan leader cut the theatrics for a moment. "Although just to let you know we tweaked the story since Raven and Jinx didn't like it, so we're going off script of the old story." Coughing, Robin resumed in his bard like speech. "There once lived a man and his wife, who had long wished for a child, but in vain." It was Red Arrow and Bumblebee again. "Now there was at the back of their house a little window which overlooked a beautiful garden full of the finest vegetables and flowers; but there was a high wall all round it, and no one ventured into it, for it belonged to a witch of great might, and of whom all the world was afraid. One day that the wife was standing at the window, and looking into the garden, she saw a bed filled with the finest rampion; and it looked so fresh and green that she began to wish for some; and at length she longed for it greatly. This went on for days, and as she knew she could not get the rampion, she pined away, and grew pale and miserable." Bumblebee was lying in bed, wearing make up to look like she was ill. "Then the man was uneasy, and asked,
"What is the matter, dear wife?" Red Arrow asked her.
"Oh, I shall die unless I can have some of that rampion to eat that grows in the garden at the back of our house."
"The man, who loved her very much, thought to himself,"
"Rather than lose my wife I will get some rampion, cost what it will."
"So in the twilight he climbed over the wall into the witch's garden, plucked hastily a handful of rampion and brought it to his wife. She made a salad of it at once, and ate of it to her heart's content. But she liked it so much, and it tasted so good, that the next day she longed for it thrice as much as she had done before; if she was to have any rest the man must climb over the wall once more. So he went in the twilight again; and as he was climbing back, he saw, all at once, the witch standing before him, and was terribly frightened, as she cried, with angry eyes,
"How dare you climb over into my garden like a thief, and steal my rampion! it shall be the worse for you!" The witch was Jinx again, helping to save time back stage.
"Oh, be merciful rather than just, I have only done it through necessity; for my wife saw your rampion out of the window, and became possessed with so great a longing that she would have died if she could not have had some to eat." Then the witch said,
"If it is all as you say you may have as much rampion as you like, on one condition - the child that will come into the world must be given to me. It shall go well with the child, and I will care for it like a mother."
"In his distress of mind the man promised everything; and when the time came when the child was born the witch appeared, and, giving the child the name of Rapunzel (which is the same as rampion, plus the baby was a doll), she took it away with her. Rapunzel was the most beautiful child in the world. When she was twelve years old the witch shut her up in a tower in the midst of a wood, and it had neither steps nor door, only a small window above. When the witch wished to be let in, she would stand below and would cry,
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let me up into the tower!"
"After they had lived thus a few years it happened that as the King's son was riding through the wood, he came to the tower; and as he drew near he heard a voice singing so sweetly that he stood still and listened." The King's son is being played by Beast Boy, and he hide behind a bush. "It was Rapunzel in her loneliness trying to pass away the time with sweet songs. The King's son wished to go in to her, and sought to find a door in the tower, but there was none. So he rode home, but the song had entered into his heart, and every day he went into the wood and listened to it. Once, as he was standing there under a tree, he saw the witch come up, and listened while she called out,
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let me up into the tower!"
"The king's son thought to himself,"
"Since that is the ladder I will climb it, and seek my fortune."
"And the next day, as soon as it began to grow dusk, he went to the tower and cried,"
"Hey yo, Rapunzel! Let me up into that tower, guurl!" What appeared to be platinum blonde hair came down, but when he grabbed hold of it, it was he was confused. "Hark, what tresses these locks be?"
"Unknowst to the King's son until the end, he would find that Rapuzel was blessed with long healthy and very curly finger nails." Beast would pretend to be in shock as he saw the nails having grown 20 feet from Raven's hands from the tower to the ground. The audience both said 'Ew!" in disgust or laughed from how unorthodox the situation was. Garfield fell to the ground, which where a mattress was thrown underneath him at the right time.
"Oh come on Prince! Are you going to rescue me or not!" The half-demon girl questioned her boyfriend.
"Nah, I'm good, yo."
"It's the nails, isn't it?"
"Can't you just cut them?!"
"What would you use to climb up and rescue me?!"
"Ugh, they're just so gnarly!"
"You princes are worthless!" Raven went back into the room of her tower, which a spotlight operated by Mas y Menos at the moment showed as she stood high above everyone else on a platform except them. "Forget this. If I'm going to escape I'll just have to do it myself." Using clippers to cut her nails down to a foot each, she then sharpened them at the ends so that they were sharp like an arrow. Refashioning her dress so that it suited a more independent and adventurous woman, Raven used her nails to glide down the tower, and upon reaching the bottom, the tower fell down in long strips of sixths. Aqualad as a prince approached her.
"Milady, I would ask for your hand in marriage. Also, I brought you this nail file." Angered, she 'slashed' through his clothes, Raven's nails intangible to his body, but not his clothes as they went to shreds on his body except his underwear, causing the prince to gasp and cover himself.
"No one's going to cage this bird again." Raven said. Then a projector turned on to show clips of adventures while Starfire and Cyborg stood with Raven on stage. "And so Rapunzel went on to live an awesome life of adventure and intrigue using only her rad fingernails to slice and dice her way to fame and fortune. So, the moral of the story is "Forget boys. Get paid!" Raven created to black hands f energy making it rain hundred dollar bills which the children were trying to get at. The Tween Titans were especially pleased with the story.
"Yeah, girls rule!" Lizzy stood and pumped her fists in the air, which Lynn scoffed at while rolling his eyes with his arms crossed.
"Of course she'd go for that."
"Let her have this." Steve whispered.
"Hey, I don't care what she does, so long as she doesn't grow up to be one of those hyper aggressive feminist warriors and tries to beat me over the head with it."
"Treat her nicely and you won't have to." Lynn rolled his eyes, but did consider that if he wanted to keep his sanity he'd let her do what she wants. Robin went to the center of the stage again.
"We will take a 30 minute break, then we'll continue with two more stories."
A/N: What do you think guys? Please review this chapter below