Once upon a time, a brother and sister named Hansel and Gretel lived in a tiny house in the woods with their father, a poor woodcutter. Their mother had passed away when they were very young, and after a few years, their father remarried.
Their new stepmother was very mean and
made life hard for them. She would eat all the good food first, leaving only
scraps for the children. Every day, Hansel and Gretel had to work very hard,
doing all the chores.
Hansel and Gretel tried to tell their
father about their troubles, but he wouldn't listen. He only listened to his
new wife, who always complained about having the children around and wished
they would go away forever.
As days passed, there was less and less
food for Hansel and Gretel, but their stepmother made them work even harder.
One day, Gretel begged her father, "Please, Father! We work all day and
we're so hungry!" But their stepmother slapped her and yelled, "You
ungrateful brats! You eat us out of house and home!"
That night, the stepmother didn't let
them sleep inside the house. Instead, they had to sleep outside in the cold.
They shivered and tried to keep each other warm, but their clothes were so thin
it felt like they had no clothes at all.
The next morning, Gretel said to her
little brother, "Hansel, we can't stay here anymore. We must escape today!
There has to be more to eat in the woods than what we get at home."
"But what if we get lost?"
Hansel asked. "How will we find our way back?"
"I will take bread with us,"
Gretel said. "I'll leave crumbs behind us so we can follow them back if we
need to."
So, the two of them ran away into the
woods, leaving behind their hard life. Gretel carefully dropped crumbs of bread
as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest.
They searched for food in the woods—an
apple tree, a pear tree, some nuts on the ground, even dried-up berries—but
they found nothing. The trees and bushes were all past their time for bearing
fruit. The poor children were hungrier than ever. At last, they decided to
follow the breadcrumbs back home. But when they looked for the trail of
breadcrumbs, there was nothing to be found! A bird flew up into the air with a
large breadcrumb in its beak. Hansel and Gretel were heartbroken. The birds had
eaten all the breadcrumbs!
The sun was setting, and they heard a
wolf howl in the distance. They were lost, hungry, and now very scared.
"Gretel, what will we do?" Hansel whispered. She hugged her little
brother, but didn't know what to say.
Just then, Gretel saw a small light
shining far away. "Look!" she cried. "Someone must live there.
Maybe they will be kind and take us in."
The two children hurried towards the
light. When they got closer, they couldn't believe their eyes. The house was
made entirely of candy! The roof was gingerbread, the walls were covered in
frosting, and there were candies all around.
Before Gretel could say, "Let's
just have a little taste," they were nibbling on the candy house.
Suddenly, a sharp voice called out, "Who is nibbling on my house?"
Hansel and Gretel spun around to see a green old witch staring at them,
frowning.
"If you please, ma'am,"
Gretel said sweetly. "There was so much candy, and we're so hungry."
"Well then," the witch said
in a gentler tone, "come inside. I'll get something for you to eat."
Hansel and Gretel thought everything
would be fine. They would be warm, fed, and safe. They skipped into the witch's
house. She gave them a meal of soup and bread. After they finished eating, they
looked around and saw piles of bones in the corners. Scared, but very tired, they
quickly fell asleep.
When Hansel woke up the next morning,
he found himself locked in a cage. The witch roared at Gretel, "Your
brother will stay there until he's plump enough for me to eat! And you will do
as I say."
Gretel worked hard all day doing chores
for the witch, while Hansel was fed well. Each morning, the witch asked Hansel
to show her his finger to see how plump he was getting. Hansel held out a thin
bone instead, and the witch, who couldn't see very well, thought it was his
finger.
One day, the witch decided she couldn't
wait any longer. She told Gretel to start the fire in the oven. Gretel worked
as slowly as she could. Then the witch said, "Go inside the oven and see
if the fire is hot enough."
Gretel's heart skipped a beat. She knew
if she did that, the witch would push her inside. But then she had an idea.
"I'm not sure how to tell if the fire is hot enough," she said.
"Can you show me first?"
"Stupid girl!" snapped the
witch. Mumbling and grumbling, she stepped inside the oven. The moment the
witch was inside, Gretel quickly slammed the door shut.
"Gretel, you saved us!"
Hansel cried out.
Gretel found the key to Hansel's cage
and freed him. They hugged and laughed. Then they noticed a heavy barrel. It
was filled with precious jewels!
With their pockets full of jewels,
Hansel and Gretel ran out of the witch's house. They found a small path that
led to a wider path, and eventually to a road. They waited by the road until a
horseman trotted by. They waved their hands and offered him a small jewel. The
horseman happily gave them a ride home.
When they arrived home, their father
was overjoyed to see them. He had been worried about them every day since they
left. They also learned that their stepmother had died and would never trouble
them again.
Hansel and Gretel lived happily with
their father in the hut in the woods, and they had many joyful years together.
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