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A long time ago and far away, there lived a poor woodcutter and his family. Times were very hard and the wood cutter was finding it very difficult to feed his wife and children.
One night, the woodcutter's wife spoke to him.
"Husband," she said slowly. "If the children were not here, would there be enough food for us?"
"Yes," said the woodcutter, wondering what his wife was going to say.
"If we take them into the forest," she said, "someone will probably find them."
"Are you suggesting that we just leave them there?" asked the woodcutter. "I can't do that."
"We will all die if we don't do something," said his wife.
"I can't do it," said the woodcutter, and he turned over and went to sleep.
Hansel had heard the whole conversation and he was very worried. When his father and stepmother were asleep, he crept outside and collected lots of small white stones.
The next night the woodcutter and his wife had the same argument. Both children listened.
"What are we going to do?" Gretel whispered.
"It's all right," Hansel said. "I've already done something."
For a whole week the woman argued with the woodcutter, until finally he gave in.
"Come children," called the stepmother the next morning. "We're going deep into the forest for wood today."
The family set out, but Hansel seemed to be walking slowly.
"Come along, Hansel," said his stepmother. "We have a long way to go."
"I'm saying good-bye to my cat," said Hansel.
"You don't have a cat," said his stepmother. "Come along."
Hansel walked slowly behind for the whole journey. They went deep into the forest, much further than the children had been before and after a while they were quite lost.
They reached a clearing, and their stepmother gave them their lunch.
"Don't eat all of it now," she laughed. "Just have a short sleep. We'll be working just beyond the clearing."
The children were very tired, so they ate some of their lunch and lay down for a sleep.
They could hear their father's saw in the background and they felt quite safe.
When they awoke it was almost dark.
"Father! Father!" called Hansel, hearing the sound of the saw.
The children went to look and saw that the saw had been tied to a tree, and the wind had been moving it.
"Don't worry, Gretel," said Hansel. "Just wait until the moon comes up and then we can find our way home."
"Sure enough, the moonlight shone on all the little white stones that Hansel had been dropping since they left the cottage. They followed the trail, and by early morning they were standing outside the door of the cottage.
Their father was delighted to see them.
"How did you get so lost?" asked their stepmother, who pretended to be glad to see them. "We looked everywhere."
"We were exactly where you left us," said Gretel.
"Well, never mind, you're home safe now," said the stepmother.
The children were home, but things had not changed. There was still very little food.
The stepmother talked to the woodcutter every night --- this time they must take the children so far into the forest, they would never find their way out again.
Again, the woodcutter reluctantly agreed. Hansel heard and when the woodcutter's wife was asleep, he went to go outside. The door was locked and the only key was on a string around her neck.
The next morning the family left for the forest again. Instead of dropping stones, Hansel tore his bread into tiny pieces.
They went deep into the forest. Again the children were left to sleep while their parents worked.
"Don't worry," said Hansel. "We'll find our way home when the moon shines."
The moon shone, but there was no trail to follow. All the bread had been eaten by birds. The children were lost, deep in the forest.
They walked in the moonlight, and when the moon went down they found somewhere to sleep. The next morning they walked on. As they walked, a little bird seemed to be following them. Then it chattered to them, as if telling them to follow it.
The children followed the bird and they came to a clearing. In the middle was the most amazing house they had ever seen. It seemed to be made of gingerbread and marzipan, candy sticks and lumpy toffee. licorice and jellies. The children were very hungry and rushed up to it, tearing off handfuls of gingerbread and eating it.
"This is delicious!" cried Gretel.
"Who's that outside my door?" came a croaky voice. An old woman appeared. "On, you poor children. Come in and have some fresh lemonade," she said. "And after that you must have a sleep on the beds."
"Thank you," said the children.
When they woke up, things were very different. Hansel was in a cage, the gingerbread house was a shabby cottage and the old woman was obviously a witch.
"Ha! Ha!" she shrieked. "Just what I like --- children. But you're a little too skinny for me. I'm going to fatten you up."
The children were terrified. Gretel could only do what the old witch told her to do. And Hansel was locked in the cage day and night.
Every morning the old witch went to the cage and told Hansel to put out his finger so she could feel how fat he was. But witches do not have very good eyesight, and each morning Hansel put out a rounded stick for her to feel.
"Bah!" she cried. "All your sister's lovely cooking and you're just skin and bone."
Gretel had to clean the cottage from top to bottom, and she found all sorts of treasures --- boxes of gold and jewels!
The witch was growing impatient.
"I've waited long enough," she said to Hansel one day. "You should be fat by now. Gretel can get the big oven burning, and I will cook you tomorrow."
By noon the next day a pan was bubbling furiously on the hob, and oven was alight.
"Check the oven," the witch told Gretel.
"How will I know if it is hot enough?" said Gretel.
"Oh let me do it," shouted the witch. "Get out of my way and I'll show you."
Gretel stood behind the witch as she bent down to look at the oven.
"Yes, the temperature is just right," said the witch. But before she could stand up again, Gretel gave her an enormous push, shoving her right into the oven. Then she slammed the door.
"Let me out!" shrieked the witch. "Let me out!"
""No!" yelled Gretel, running to free Hansel.
They hugged each other. The witch was dead and they were free.
"Let's go home," said Hansel.
"Wait a moment," said Gretel, and she ran into the cottage and found some of the gold and jewels.
"When we get home we'll be rich." said Gretel. "Father need never work again."
The children walked for the whole day, but be evening they reached a part of the forest that they knew. Soon they were running down a familiar path.
"Father! Father!" they called, as they caught sight of the cottage. "We're home!"
Their father was working outside the cottage when he heard the children. He was very sad. He had lost his children and his wife had just died. He looked up when he heard their voices.
"I must be dreaming," he said, and then he saw them. He was so happy to have them home again.
"I'll never, never send you away again," he told them, as he hugged them.
"Everything will be all right," said Gretel, and she and Hansel emptied their pockets. With all the jewels, they would never be hungry again. |
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