Once upon a time a very poor woodcutter lived in a tiny cottage in the forest with his two children named Hansel and Gretel. His wife had died due to illness so he got remarried. His second wife did not treat the children well. She always used to scold them shout at them and even beat them.
"There is not enough food in the house how will it feed us all. We must get rid of the two brats," she said. And she kept on trying to convince her husband to leave his children in the forest. The depressed woodcutter didn't know what to say and what to do. One evening, Hansel heard all his parents' conversation. He went back to Gretel and told him everything. He also consoled Gretel by saying that "Don't worry! If they do leave us in the forest, we'll find the way home”. Then he went out of the house and filled his pockets with little white pebbles.
The whole night the woodcutter's wife harped on and on at him till he took Hansel and Gretel away into the forest. But as they went into the depths of the forest, Hansel dropped one white pebble on the ground. Soon Hansel and Gretel were left alone in the forest. They began crying. As the moon was full the white pebbles that Hansel had thrown on the way gleamed in the moonlight. He took Gretel hands on his hands and began following the pebbles. Hansel and Gretel soon reached home. They slowly came inside the house and slipped into bed.
The next day, when their stepmother found Hansel and Gretel back home she became red in anger. She locked them in their room and didn’t give them anything to eat or drink. All night, husband and wife quarreled. The next morning woodcutter again led the children out into the forest. Before leaving the kids in the forest the woodcutter had given them bread to eat. Gretel ate it quickly but Hansel remained hungry. Hansel this time managed to threw small crumbs of bread on the way. But the little boy had forgotten about the hungry birds that lived in the forest. The woodcutter had left the children deep inside the forest.
Gretel started crying so Hansel told her that "I've left a trail, like last time!" so don’t worry. The kids managed to spend the night in the forest under a large tree. In morning they started searching the bread crumbs but got nothing. They kept walking till suddenly they came across a strange cottage. The walls of the cottage were made of chocolates and icing so the kids without waiting for a while started eating it. "Isn't this delicious?" said Gretel. The kids had never tasted anything so nice. Suddenly the door opened and an old woman entered the room. The sugar candy cottage belonged to that old woman who actually was a wicked witch. The witch always tried to catch unwary victims for her dinner. Hansel and Gretel didn’t know that they had reached a nasty place.
The witch locked Hansel into a cage and said that she would fatten him up and then eat. Looking at Gretel she said that "You can do the housework then I'll make a meal of you too. But…unluckily the witch had very bad eyesight.
Daily she used to check Hansel’s finger and see if he was getting fatter or not. One day suddenly she ordered Gretel to light the oven. "We're going to have a tasty roasted boy today!" she said. She was feeling very hungry so she again asked Gretel to check if the oven was hot or not. Gretel returned, whimpering: "I can't tell if it is hot enough or not." Angrily, the witch screamed at the little girl: "Useless child! All right, I'll see for myself."
When the witch bent down to check the heat in the oven, Gretel gave her a good push and closed the oven door. Gretel immediately ran to set her brother free. The witch had died. Hansel and Gretel also found great treasure from the cottage so they took it went back home. Luckily this time they reached home safely and without much problem. They found their father outside the home weeping so Hansel and Gretel asked him “What happened”. His father replied “your stepmother is no more”. He hugged the children and they lived happily forever.
