Once upon a time, there were a brother and sister named Hansel and Gretel. They lived with their father and stepmother in a small cottage at the edge of the woods. Their father was a good man who loved his children more than anything else in the world. His wife, however, was a mean and selfish woman who became jealous of the affection her husband showed his children.
Their father was a woodcutter and did all he could to provide for his family, but due to a recent famine spreading across the land, times were hard for peasant families in the kingdom. Food was scarce, and many worried about surviving the approaching winter.
“If we don’t do something, we’ll starve!” the wife told the woodcutter one night before bed. “We barely have enough food for the two of us. We must get rid of Hansel and Gretel if we want to survive.”
“I could never get rid of my children,” the woodcutter said. “They mean everything to me!”
“It’ll be easy,” said the wife, who had already devised a plan. “Tomorrow, we’ll take Hansel and Gretel deep into the forest and leave them there. They’re so young, they won’t be able to find their way home. They’ll get lost and a hungry pack of wolves will find them. We’ll never have to worry about feeding them again.”
“I would rather starve than abandon my children,” the woodcutter said. “I won’t hear another word of this. We will find another way to get through the winter.”
Despite her husband’s wishes, the wife was convinced her plan was the only solution. Luckily, Hansel and Gretel were still awake and heard their father and stepmother’s conversation through the thin walls of their cottage.
“What will we do, Hansel?” Gretel asked her brother. “Our stepmother will surely try to abandon us in the woods while Father is away chopping wood tomorrow.”
“Don’t fret, Gretel,” Hansel said. “I’ll gather white pebbles tonight while they sleep and create a trail to follow back home.”
So Hansel snuck outside while his father and stepmother slept and gathered as many white pebbles as he could find. The next morning, once the woodcutter left to chop down trees, his wife led the children into the woods.
“Where are we going?” Gretel asked.
“To collect firewood,” their stepmother said. “Now be quiet and follow me.”
She led them deep into the heart of the forest, farther than Hansel and Gretel had ever gone before. Hansel dropped a white pebble every few steps, leaving a trail behind them. They traveled the whole day and came to a stop just as the sun began to set.
“Now look around and help me gather wood,” their stepmother said. But before she finished her sentence, she dashed back in the direction from which they had come, leaving her stepchildren all alone in the woods.
Hansel and Gretel followed the trail of white pebbles to their cottage. The forest became so dark after nightfall, the small white stones were the only thing they could see. By the time they returned, their father was worried sick about them.
“Thank the Lord you’re all right,” the woodcutter said and embraced his children tightly. “Where is your stepmother?”
To Hansel and Gretel’s surprise, they had arrived home before their stepmother. Without a trail of pebbles, the woodcutter’s wife had a hard time navigating through the woods and returned several hours after her stepchildren. She was furious to see that Hansel and Gretel had found their way back to the cottage.
“What happened?” the woodcutter asked his wife.
“We went to retrieve firewood,” the wife said. “I turned my back for one minute and they were gone.”
“I pray it doesn’t happen again,” the woodcutter said.
“Don’t worry, it won’t,” the wife said and glared at her stepchildren when her husband wasn’t looking.
That night, the wife locked Hansel and Gretel in their room so they couldn’t sneak out to collect any more white pebbles.
“Oh, Hansel, what are we to do now?” Gretel asked her brother. “Our stepmother will surely try to abandon us again tomorrow.”
“Don’t fret, Gretel,” Hansel said. “Tomorrow morning at breakfast, we’ll save our crusts of bread and use bread crumbs to make a trail.”
Just as predicted, as soon as their father left the next morning, their stepmother led Hansel and Gretel back into the woods. They walked even longer this time, traveling farther into the trees than ever before. Hansel left crumbs behind them as they went and nearly ran out by the time they stopped.
“Now gather up some wood,” their stepmother said.
Once again, she dashed back toward the cottage and left Hansel and Gretel all alone in the woods. It was so late that Hansel and Gretel decided to sleep in the woods and wait for morning to follow the bread crumbs home. Unfortunately, by the time they awoke, the morning birds had eaten all the bread crumbs they’d left behind!
Hansel and Gretel walked through the woods in what they hoped was the right direction, but there were so many trees, it was impossible to tell. They walked for hours and hours, never finding a familiar part of the forest.
They finally found a friendly white bird and followed it through the woods, hoping it might lead them home. The longer they followed the bird, the more a wonderful aroma filled the air. It was a sweet smell, as if something delicious was baking in an oven nearby.
Hansel and Gretel came upon a clearing in the middle of the woods. They were delighted to see, in the center of the clearing, a house made entirely of food. It had gingerbread walls, a fence made of candy canes, and a garden of gumdrop shrubs. The roof was covered in frosting, and the windows were made of clear sugar panes.
“I’ve never seen something so delicious!” Gretel exclaimed.