Hansel and Gretel

18 Dec, 2009

Madhu

Fairy Tale – Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel lived in a small house near a large wood. Their father was a poor woodcutter. Their mother died and their father married again. Their stepmother was very cruel.

One night the father said that there was not much money left. “Then we must take Hansel and Gretel deep into the woods and leave them there”, said his wife.

The father was very sad, but in the end he agreed.

The children had heard their stepmother’s cruel words. So the next day, as they walked to the woods, Hansel dropped pebbles along the path. When they came to the middle of the forest, their stepmother told the children to wait there while she and their father gathered wood.

But when their parents did not come, they found their way home with help of the pebbles. Their father was happy to see them, but their stepmother did not like it. “Tommorow we must take Hansel and Gretel deeper into the woods”, she said.

That night, when Hansel went to gather some pebbles, he found the door locked. The next day, they went to the woods again. Their stepmother had given them some bread. This time Hansel dropped breadcrumbs along the path. Once more, they were told to wait while their parents gathered wood. Once more, their parents did not return. But this time they could not find their way home. The birds had eaten up all the crumbs.

A witch lived in the house. She heard the noise. She locked Hansel in a cage and made Gretel cook the food. The witch wanted to make Hansel fat and then eat him. Every day, she asked Hansel to show her his finger, and Hansel showed her a bone. “You are not fat yet”, said the witch, who could not see very well.

Hansel and Gretel walked all day. They stopped when they came to a house. It was made of bread, sugar and cake. Hansel ate a piece of the wall and Gretel ate a piece of the window.

Their father was very happy to see them. Their stepmother had died. One day the witch said, “I shall eat Hansel today. Gretel light the fire to heat the oven”. When the witch leaned over to see if the oven was hot enough, Gretel quickly pushed her into it. Hansel and Gretel took all the gold in the House and went home.