Hansel and Gretel

From wicked queens and fearsome beasts to sneaky witches and terrible giants, An Illustrated Collection of Fairy Tales for Brave Children illustrated by Scott Plumbe is a stunning collection of darkly magical fairy tales which gathers together stories of children who show true courage and face their fears.

These stories are perfect for sharing as spooky season arrives! Read on to enjoy the emboldening story of Hansel and Gretel by renowned storytellers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Is that a gingerbread house in the distance…

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel lived in a large forest with their father, who was a woodcutter, and their stepmother. They had always been poor, but things got worse and a time came when there wasn’t enough bread to share.

The woodcutter lay awake worrying. “How can we feed my poor children?” he said. “We barely have food for ourselves.”

His wife answered, “Listen. Tomorrow we’ll take the children deep into the forest and give them each a piece of bread. Then we’ll leave them there.”

The man protested that he couldn’t leave his children to the dangers of the forest, but she insisted he must or they would all starve, and she argued until he agreed.

Lying awake, hungry, the children overheard their stepmother. Gretel began to cry, but Hansel comforted her, “Don’t worry, Gretel, I have a plan.”

When the others were asleep he crept outside and collected pocketfuls of bright white pebbles.

The next day the stepmother said they would all go into the forest to find wood. She handed Hansel and Gretel a piece of bread each, telling them not to eat it too soon: “This is all there is for lunch.” Gretel put the bread in her apron, because Hansel’s pockets were full of pebbles.

As they walked through the forest Hansel quietly dropped a bright white pebble at every turn along the path.

They went a long way before their father told them to stop. He made a fire, then the stepmother said, “Children, you stay here and rest. We will go deeper into the forest to chop wood. When we’re finished we’ll come back for you.”

Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire. At midday they ate their bread.

They heard the strokes of an axe and thought their father was nearby. But it wasn’t an axe, it was a branch he had tied to a dead tree, so it would sound like chopping when the wind blew it.

As the afternoon drifted on, the children fell asleep waiting, and when they woke it was night. Gretel cried, sure they would never find their home, but Hansel said, “When the moon rises, we’ll see the path.” Sure enough, the white pebbles he had dropped shone in the moonlight and showed them the way back.
They reached the house at dawn. Their stepmother scolded them for being out all night, but their father was overjoyed to see them.

Soon, though, there was not enough food to go round once more. The stepmother again argued with the woodcutter. “The children must go,” she said. “We’ll take them even further this time.” He felt it would be better to be hungry together, but the stepmother insisted, and he gave in a second time.

The children heard the argument. When his father and stepmother were asleep, Hansel tried to slip out to collect pebbles as he had before, but his stepmother had locked the door. Still he comforted his sister: “Don’t cry, Gretel, I will think of something.”

The next day as they walked deeper into the forest, Hansel broke his bread into little pieces and dropped the crumbs to mark turns in the path.

They walked all morning, and then their father again made a fire and their stepmother told them to wait: “Rest here, and when we’ve collected wood we will come back for you.” At midday, Gretel shared her piece of bread with Hansel, because his was scattered along the path. As the afternoon drifted on they fell asleep.

When they woke it was dark and no one had come for them. Hansel said, “Wait till the moon rises and the white breadcrumbs will show us the way home.”

But they didn’t find any breadcrumbs because the birds of the forest had eaten them all.

They walked all night and all the next day and night, but could not find their way home. They kept walking until they were so weak they couldn’t go on much further.

They heard a small bird singing beautifully and stopped to listen. Following the music, they found a house in the forest made of gingerbread and sparkling sugar.

“Let’s eat some,” said Hansel, for they were desperately hungry. He broke a chunk off the roof and Gretel bit the window ledge.

Then a voice from inside called,
Nibble nibble, little mouse,
Who’s that nibbling at my house?
The children answered, “It is only the wind.”

An old woman hobbled out, saying, “Hello dear children! Don’t be afraid, come inside.”

She gave them a meal of pancakes, apples and nuts, and Hansel and Gretel thought they were in heaven.
But the old woman was only pretending to be kind. Really, she was a wicked witch who tempted children into her house so she could cook them and eat them up.

The witch bundled Hansel into a shed and locked it. She shouted at Gretel, “Lazy child! You must fetch water and cook. We will fatten up your brother, then I shall eat him!”

Every morning the witch went to the shed to feel how fat Hansel was growing. She told him to hold out his finger, but he stuck out a bone instead. Witches can’t see well, and she couldn’t tell the difference.
As days passed, she grew tired of waiting and decided to boil him up, fat or not.

“Before the boiling, we’ll do some baking,” she told Gretel, stoking a blazing fire.

“You lean into the oven to check whether it’s hot enough.”

The witch was planning to shut Gretel in the oven and roast her. But Gretel guessed her thoughts and said, “I don’t know how.”

“Stupid child,” cried the witch. “It’s simple. Look.” And she stuck her head in the oven door. Gretel seized her chance. She gave the witch a great push, closed the oven and fastened its bolt. The witch screeched horribly.

Gretel ran from the kitchen and went straight to free her brother. She opened the door of the shed and cried, “Hansel, we’re saved! The old witch is dead!”

Hansel hopped out of his prison like a bird from a cage.

How happy they were to be free of the wicked witch! They hugged and kissed each other and danced round and round in celebration.

Now there was nothing to be afraid of, they went back into the witch’s house and found boxes overflowing with shining pearls and glittering jewels hidden in the attic. Hansel stuffed his pockets full of them.

Gretel said, “I’ll take some too,” and filled her little apron with as many as would fit.

“We’d better leave now,” said Hansel, “and find a way out of this bewitched forest.”

They left the witch’s gingerbread house behind and walked for mile after mile, until they came to a wide lake. “How will we get across?” wondered Hansel. “There’s no bridge.”

“And there’s no boat, either,” said Gretel, “but over there I see a white duck. I think she’ll help us if we ask.”

She called to the duck, and sure enough, she took them over the lake, one at a time, on her feathery white back.

When the children were safely across, and had walked further still, the forest looked more familiar, until at last they saw their home in the distance. They began to run, and they flew into the house and threw themselves into their father’s arms.

He had been desperately unhappy ever since leaving them in the forest, and in the meantime his wife had died. Seeing his children in front of him now, he was overjoyed.

Gretel opened out her little apron, and the shining pearls and precious stones spilled onto the kitchen table, and Hansel reached into his pockets and pulled out handful after handful of glittering jewels. Their days of hunger and worry were finally over, and together they lived happily ever after.

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