Hansel and Gretel

Once upon a time, at the edge of a great, dark forest, there lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and his two children, a boy named Hansel and a girl named Gretel. The family was so poor that some nights there was barely enough bread for everyone to share.

One evening, Hansel and Gretel lay in their small beds and overheard their parents talking in worried voices. There simply wasn't enough food for the whole family. Gretel's eyes filled with tears, but Hansel took her hand gently.

"Do not cry, dear Gretel," he whispered. "I will think of a way to help us."

The Trail of Pebbles

That night, while everyone slept, Hansel slipped outside into the moonlit yard and filled his pockets with small white pebbles that shimmered like stars. The next morning, when their parents led them deep into the forest, Hansel secretly dropped a pebble every few steps, leaving a silvery trail behind him.

When their parents left them alone among the trees, Gretel began to cry. But Hansel squeezed her hand. "Wait until the moon rises," he said. "You will see the way home."

Sure enough, when night fell, the pebbles glowed softly in the moonlight, and hand in hand, the brother and sister followed the shining trail all the way back to their cottage door. Their father wept with joy to see them safe again, though times remained hard.

The House of Candy

Not long after, hunger returned to the little house, and once again the children found themselves led into the forest. This time, Hansel had only breadcrumbs to mark their path, for there had been no pebbles to gather. As he dropped the crumbs behind him, he did not know that hungry birds were following, eating every last piece.

When night came and the children turned to find their way home, the trail was gone. "Do not be afraid, Gretel," Hansel said softly, though his own voice trembled. "We will find a way, together."

The two children walked and walked, deeper into the woods than they had ever gone, until, tired and hungry, they came upon the most astonishing sight — a little house with walls made of gingerbread, a roof of cake, and windows of clear, sparkling sugar.

"Oh, Hansel," Gretel gasped, "surely we may eat just a little, we are so very hungry."

Together they broke off pieces of the sweet walls and ate hungrily — until the door creaked open, and out stepped an old woman leaning on a cane, who smiled a strange, crooked smile and invited them inside.

Courage and Cleverness

The old woman seemed kind at first, feeding the children soft beds and warm milk. But she was in truth a wicked witch who had built her sweet house to lure hungry children. She locked poor Hansel in a small cage and made Gretel work hard, planning a terrible feast.

But Gretel did not lose hope, and neither did Hansel, even from behind the cage bars. Each day, the witch checked to see if Hansel had grown fat enough, and each day, clever Hansel held out a thin old bone instead of his finger, fooling the witch, whose eyes were too weak to see clearly.

At last, the witch grew impatient and decided to cook Hansel that very day. She asked Gretel to check if the oven was hot enough. But brave Gretel, thinking quickly of her brother, said, "I do not know how — will you show me?"

When the witch bent down to look inside the oven, Gretel found her courage at last, and with all her strength, she pushed the wicked witch inside and shut the heavy door.

Gretel ran at once to free her brother. "Hansel, we are free!" she cried, and the two children hugged each other tightly, tears of joy on their cheeks.

Inside the witch's house, they found chests full of pearls and jewels, which they gathered into their pockets before setting off through the forest together. This time, with courage guiding their steps, they found their way home at last, where their father wept to see them, for he had missed them every single day.

From that day on, the family never went hungry again, and Hansel and Gretel never forgot how their love for one another had carried them safely through the darkest of woods.

Lesson: When we hold tightly to the ones we love and keep our courage close, even the darkest forest cannot keep us lost for long.

Attribution: Adapted from The Brothers Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812) — public domain.