Hansel and Gretel
Two children, a trail of white pebbles, and a little house made of sweets
Page 1
At the edge of a great forest, so wide and deep that no one knew where it ended, there stood a tiny woodcutter's cottage. In it lived a poor woodcutter, his second wife, and his two children — a boy named Hansel and his little sister Gretel. They had almost nothing, for the woodcutter could barely sell enough wood to buy bread, and that year the whole land was hungry. But the children were happy enough, because they had each other, and because at the end of every hard day their father still had a song and a story for them by the fire. On this bright evening they were stacking kindling by the door while the huge green forest whispered behind them, and neither child knew that this was the last ordinary day they would have for a long while.
Page 2
That night, when the children lay on their straw beds, they heard the stepmother talking low and worried by the fire. There was not enough food for four, she said, and if something was not done they would all starve. In the morning they must take the children deep into the forest and leave them there, for at least then the two grown-ups might live. The woodcutter protested — he could never do such a thing — but hunger is a hard master, and at last he fell silent. In the dark, Hansel squeezed Gretel's hand and whispered that she must not cry, for he had already thought of a plan. When the cottage was quiet, he slipped outside, where the moon had turned the ground silver, and filled his pockets with small white pebbles.
Page 3
At first light they all set out into the forest together. The stepmother had given each child a little piece of bread for later, and told them to save it. As they walked deeper and deeper along the winding path, Hansel kept stopping and looking back toward the cottage. Every few steps, when no one was watching, he quietly dropped one of his little white pebbles on the ground behind him, so that they shone in a line on the path. His father thought the boy was looking back for his cat; but Hansel was really laying a trail that would lead them home again. Gretel walked close beside him, clever enough to see what he was doing, and said not a word.
Page 4
Deep in the forest the grown-ups built the children a little fire and told them to rest, promising to come back for them. But they did not come back. Hansel and Gretel waited until the moon rose, round and bright, over the treetops. Then Hansel took Gretel by the hand and showed her his secret: all along the path, his little white pebbles shone in the moonlight like a trail of tiny silver coins. Step by step, pebble by pebble, the two children followed them back through the whole great forest, and just as the sun came up they reached their own cottage door. Their father wept for joy to see them, for he had been sorry the whole time; and for a little while, all was well again.
Page 5
But the hungry times did not end, and before long the children were led deep into the forest a second time. This time Hansel had not been able to gather any pebbles, so as they walked he crumbled his little piece of bread and dropped the crumbs along the way instead, trusting them to show the path home. What he did not know was that the birds of the forest — the sparrows and the thrushes and the little robins — came hopping down behind them and ate up every single crumb. So when the moon rose that night, there was no trail to follow at all. The two children were truly lost now, deeper in the great forest than they had ever been, with only each other and the morning birdsong for company.
Page 6
For a day and a night they wandered, growing hungry and tired, until they came to a sight that made them rub their eyes. There, in a sunny glade, stood the strangest little house either of them had ever seen. Its walls were made of warm gingerbread, its roof was tiled with slabs of chocolate and sugar, and its windows were panes of clear spun barley-sugar. All around the garden grew lollipops like flowers and little bushes hung with candied fruit. The two starving children could not help themselves — Hansel broke a piece of gingerbread from the wall and Gretel nibbled a corner of the sweet windowsill, and both of them laughed out loud for the first time in days, sure that they had found the kindest house in the whole world.
Page 7
The door of the sweet house opened, and out came a small, round old woman leaning on a twisty candy-cane stick, with round spectacles on her hooked nose and a crooked pointed hat. She seemed so friendly, clucking and smiling, that the children were not afraid at all. She invited them inside, sat them down, and gave them a supper of pancakes and milk and sugar — more food than they had seen in weeks. But this old woman was really a sly, greedy witch who had built her house of sweets on purpose, to tempt hungry children in. That night, while they slept, she rubbed her hands and made a plan: she would keep the boy and fatten him up on treats, and set the girl to work in her kitchen.
Page 8
For days the witch kept Hansel in a cosy little room and fed him treats, while Gretel scrubbed and swept and watched and thought. Every morning the witch, whose eyes were too weak to see well, asked Hansel to poke a finger through the door so she could feel how plump he was growing — and clever Hansel held out a thin chicken bone instead, so she grumbled that he was still far too skinny. At last the greedy witch lost her patience and told Gretel to climb into the big oven to see if it was hot enough for baking. But Gretel had guessed her trick. 'I don't know how,' she said sweetly, 'will you show me?' And the moment the witch leaned in to look, Gretel gave the oven door a push, shut it fast, and turned the key — and that was the end of the witch's wicked plans.
Page 9
With the witch shut safely away in her pantry, the children searched the sweet little house and found her hidden treasures — small chests of pearls and bright precious stones tucked in every corner. They filled their pockets and Gretel's apron until they jingled, took one last look at the strange candy house, and hurried out into the forest as fast as their legs would carry them. This time they did not stop to nibble anything or follow any trail; they simply kept the morning sun on their faces and walked, and walked, their hearts still thumping from their narrow escape but lifting with every step, because they knew that somewhere ahead, beyond the great trees, their father and their own little cottage were waiting.
Page 10
At last, through the trees, they saw it — their own little cottage at the edge of the great forest, exactly where they had left it. Their father was outside chopping wood, and when he looked up and saw his two children running toward him across the clearing, he dropped his axe and ran to meet them, laughing and crying both at once, and gathered them up in his arms. The hard, hungry winter was over, and with the witch's treasure spilled out shining on the table, the little family would never go hungry again. From that day on, the three of them lived happily together in the cottage at the edge of the forest, and Hansel and Gretel never once grew tired of telling the tale of the little house made of sweets.
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
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