Hansel and Gretel

Once upon a time, on the edge of a dense forest, there lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children, Hansel and Gretel. The family was so poor that they barely had enough food to survive. One night, as the children lay in bed, they overheard their stepmother (in some versions, their mother) speaking to their father. "We cannot feed the children anymore," she said. "Tomorrow, we will take them deep into the forest and leave them there. It is the only way we can survive."

The woodcutter was heartbroken, but he felt he had no choice. Hansel and Gretel, hearing this, were terrified. Hansel, the older and more resourceful of the two, comforted his sister. "Don't worry, Gretel," he whispered. "I will find a way to save us."

That night, while the house was quiet, Hansel sneaked outside and collected as many small white pebbles as he could carry. He returned to bed, clutching the pebbles tightly.

The next morning, the stepmother woke the children early. "We are going into the forest to gather wood," she said. She gave them each a small piece of bread for breakfast. As they walked deeper into the forest, Hansel dropped the pebbles one by one, marking a trail that would lead them back home.

After hours of walking, the stepmother and father stopped in a clearing. "Wait here," the stepmother said. "We will go and gather more wood." But the parents did not return. They had abandoned the children, as planned.

As night fell, Hansel and Gretel grew frightened. But Hansel remembered the pebbles. "Look, Gretel," he said, pointing to the trail glinting in the moonlight. "We can follow this path back home." The two children walked through the night, guided by the pebbles, and by morning, they had returned to their cottage.

Their father was overjoyed to see them, but their stepmother was furious. She scolded the woodcutter, and they decided to try again. This time, they locked Hansel and Gretel in their room the night before, so Hansel could not collect pebbles. The next morning, the family set off into the forest once more. This time, Hansel had only his breadcrumb to drop as a trail.

But as they walked, birds swooped down and ate the breadcrumbs. When the children were abandoned again, they had no way to find their way home. They wandered through the forest for days, growing hungrier and more desperate.

One day, they stumbled upon a strange house in the woods. It was unlike any house they had ever seen—its walls were made of gingerbread, its roof of cake, and its windows of sugar. Starving, the children began to eat pieces of the house.

As they feasted, an old woman emerged from the house. She seemed kind at first, inviting them inside and offering them food and a warm bed. But the old woman was actually a wicked witch who had built the house to lure children. She captured Hansel and Gretel, locking Hansel in a cage and forcing Gretel to do chores.

The witch planned to fatten Hansel up and eat him. Every day, she would check his finger to see if he had gained weight, but Hansel, clever as ever, held out a thin bone instead of his finger, tricking the witch into thinking he was still too thin to eat.

Meanwhile, the witch forced Gretel to cook and clean. She grew impatient and decided to eat Hansel anyway. She ordered Gretel to prepare the oven. Sensing her chance, Gretel pretended not to know how to check if the oven was hot enough. "You do it," she said to the witch.

When the witch leaned into the oven, Gretel pushed her inside and slammed the door shut. The witch was defeated.

Gretel freed Hansel from the cage, and the two children searched the witch's house. They found treasure—jewels, gold, and precious stones. They filled their pockets and set off to find their way home.

After a long journey, they finally reached their cottage. Their father, who had been grieving their loss, was overjoyed to see them. Their stepmother, however, had died in their absence. With the treasure they had brought, the family was never poor again. They lived happily ever after, free from hunger and fear.