Hansel and Gretal Story

- Hansel and Gretal -
There once was a poor wood cutter, who lived by the edge of a forest with his children and his new wife.
His two children, a boy and a girl, who called Hansel and Gretal.
The family were very poor, sometimes they couldn't even afford food.
One evening, when they had all gone to bed hungry, the wood cutter said to his wife:
" How can we survive? There isn't enough food for two people, let alone all four of us. I'm afraid we'll all starve!"
"Then we will send the children away," said the stepmother,
" I will take them into the forest and leave them there. They can find food for themselves or find a new family to leave with. Then there will be enough food for the two of us."
The wood cutter didn't want to send his children away, but he finally agreed to the plan.
Upstairs, Hansel has overheard everything, luckily, he had a cunning plan.
As soon as his parents went to sleep, he craved out into the garden and filled his pockets with little white stones.
The next morning, the stepmother shook the two children awake.
"Get up! Get up you lazy children!" she said," we have to go into the forest to look for food!"
The children washed and dressed and followed their stepmother deep into the forest.
After walking for hours, they stopped beneath a large tree.
"You rest here!" said the stepmother," I will find some wood to light a fire, and then I'll be back!"
The children sat beneath the tree, they waited and waited, but of course, the stepmother never came back.
As night began to fall, Gretal started crying.
" She's not coming back!" she sought, " what can we do? We'll never find our way back home!"
" Don't cry sister!" said Hansel," I knew this would happen, and I have a plan, as we walked, I dropped a trail of white stones behind us. When the moon starts to come out, we will see the stones and follow them back to the house."
Sure enough, when the moon came out, the white stones gained brightly against the forest floor, the children follow the trail all the way back to the little cottage.
Their father was delighted to see them, but their stepmother was very angry.
" I don't know how they found their way home," she grumbled," tomorrow I'll leave them even deeper into the forest, I'll make sure they're lost for good this time!"
So, the next morning she shook the children awake even earlier.
" Get up! Get up!" she said," We're going back into the forest."
Each child was given a slice of bread for breakfast, Gretal was starving, so she ate hers hungrily, but Hansel stuffed his slice into his pocket.
As they walked into the forest, he took the bread out of his pocket, and every few steps, he dropped a piece of bread behind him to mark the path.
When they reached the little clearing, the stepmother said:" You sit here, I will find something to eat and them I will be back."
Then, she disappeared into the forest. This time, they both knew she wouldn't be back.
Gretal was very frightened, but Hansel told her about the bread trail.
They waited again for the moon to rise, but when it did, they couldn't see a single chrome of bread.
The forest animals must have eaten is all!
The children wondered through the forest, clinging to each other. It was dark and cold and very scary.
At last, they found a very strange looking cottage.
Its walls were made of gingerbread, its front door was a big slab of chocolate, and its roof was lined with purple sweets.
The children have never seen anything like it, they haven't seen a single sweet for years.
Gretal nailed on the window seal, and Hansel took big bites onto the door frame.
It was delicious!
As the children were feasting, a strange old woman came out of the house.
" Come in, come in," she said," you must be starving, I'll give you a nice big dinner, and then you can go to sleep. You have nothing to fear, I'll look after you."
The children were so relieved, and so tired and hungry, that they eagerly rushed inside, but the minute of the door slammed shut behind them, they realised they have made a mistake.
The old woman was in fact a witch, and she love nothing more than to eat little boys and girls for her dinner.
" Haha!" said the witch," what a treat I have here, I will eat the boy first and the girl can help me cooking."
She locked Hansel up in a cage, and every day she fed in pieces of cake and pie, so that he would grow bigger and fast.
Meanwhile, Gretal was made to clean the witch's house.
One day, the witch decided that Hansel was ready to cook.
" Light the oven!" she ordered Gretal," now check that it is hot enough!"
" How do I do that?" said Gretal.
" You stupid girl!" shouted the witch," can't you do anything? I'll just have to do it myself!"
The witch went to check inside the oven, but as she bent down, Gretal gave her a big push.
The witch bent inside the oven, and Gretal slammed the door behind her.
The witch screamed in a fury, but Gretal ignored her, and hurried over to help Hansel.
She's setting free, and two children ran away as fast as they could.
They ran and ran through the woods, terrified of the evil witch.
As they were running, it seems to if they could hear a voice shouting.
" Hansel! Gretal"
The voice grew louder and louder, then their father appeared before them.
" Thank God you're safe!" he said," I've been looking for you for days! I should never have let your stepmother take you away! She's gone now, and she won't be coming back, it's just three of us now, and I promise I will always look after you."
So, the three of them set off for home.
They were still poor, and there might be hungry times ahead, but they were a family again, and they knew they would always be there to look after each other.
- THE END -