Gretel cried in fear and said to Hansel, “Brother, we don’t know the way, and we can’t get back home. There are beasts in the forest. Even if we don’t starve, we’ll be eaten by the beasts.”
Hansel comforted his sister, saying, “Don’t worry, I have an idea. We’ll definitely find our way back home.”
As he spoke, Hansel picked up small stones along the road and filled his pocket with them.
The next day, as expected, their stepmother took them to the forest and left them there.
Hansel held his sister’s hand and pointed to a trail of small stones on the ground. “These are the stones I dropped along the way. If we follow them, we’ll find our way home!”
“Brother, you’re so smart!”
When they returned home, their stepmother was both shocked and displeased to see them.
But she didn’t give up. Once again, she took them into the forest and left them behind. This time, before setting off, she tore open Hansel’s pocket, emptied the stones, and said angrily, “Still think you can use stones to find your way home? Not a chance!”
But clever Hansel hid some of his breakfast bread. Along the way, he used breadcrumbs instead of stones, dropping them to mark the path.
Their stepmother took them even deeper into the forest and abandoned them again.
She muttered viciously to herself, “This time, I’ve left them farther away, and without stones to guide them. I’ve heard there are tigers here. They’ll never make it back!”
Before she finished speaking, there was a roar, and a tiger leapt out, pouncing on her…
Meanwhile, Hansel held his sister’s hand, intending to follow the trail of breadcrumbs back home, but they couldn’t find them. The breadcrumbs had been eaten by birds.
Without the breadcrumbs, the siblings soon became lost in the forest.
They didn’t know how long they wandered. When they were starving and too weak to walk, a house suddenly appeared before them.
The house was made of candy, bread, cake, and chocolate—a gingerbread house!
Starving and exhausted, they couldn’t resist eating it.
But they didn’t know that an evil witch lived inside the house. She had built it to lure children in so she could eat them.
Hearing the noise, the witch looked out the window and saw the siblings. A sly smile spread across her face.
She opened the door and said, “Who is it? Who’s eating my house?”
Hansel and Gretel were terrified.
They said, “Sorry, our stepmother left us in the forest. We were starving, and when we saw candy and bread, we couldn’t resist eating…”
The witch pretended to be kind and said, “Poor children, come inside, I’ll give you something delicious.”
But the old woman looked very scary, and the siblings were too frightened to enter.
The witch tempted them again, saying, “I’ll give you a feast, much better than candy and bread!”
Gretel wanted to go inside, but Hansel stopped her, saying, “Sister, we don’t know if she’s good or bad. Let’s not go in.”
The witch continued, “Of course, I’m a good person! And there are many wild beasts in the forest, it’s getting dark—aren’t you afraid?”
Hansel thought of the tiger that had just attacked their stepmother, and seeing that his sister looked clearly starving, while his own stomach growled, he decided to agree.
But as soon as they stepped inside, the old woman quickly slammed the door shut and revealed her true nature.
She grabbed Gretel and let out a terrifying laugh, saying, “Did you really think I’d feed you a feast? I’m going to eat you!”
Gretel screamed and struggled, crying.
Hansel tightly held his sister and said to the witch, “Let go of my sister! If you want to eat, eat me!”
But the witch, while stroking Gretel, said disappointedly, “Wait, why are you so skinny?”
The siblings then realized that the witch had poor eyesight and couldn’t tell whether they were fat or thin.
The witch, hearing Hansel’s words, grabbed him next, feeling him up, and still complained, “You’re not much better!”
Hansel quickly said, “Yes, we’re so thin, there’s no meat to eat! Just let us go!”
“Nice try! Even if there’s no meat, I’ll still eat you!”
Saying this, she was about to attack.
Hansel quickly added, “Wait, I have an idea! You can fatten me up first and then eat me.”
The witch nodded and said, “That makes sense. Anyway, once you’re in my gingerbread house, you can’t escape!”
She then set a lavish meal in front of them.
“Here you go, eat up! Once you’ve gained weight, I’ll have my feast.”
Hansel sat down without hesitation and began eating voraciously.
But Gretel couldn’t eat. She said, “Brother, how can you still eat? The more you eat, the fatter you get, and she’ll eat you faster. Stop eating!”
“I’m not going to wait for her to eat me! Sister, we’ll escape later. We need to eat enough to have the strength to run, and we have to be ready to face her. You eat more too.”
When Gretel heard that they could escape, she started eating eagerly, as she was starving.
As night fell, they heard the witch snoring, clearly fast asleep. They quietly got out of bed and went to the door, but neither the door nor the windows would open.
Just as they were getting anxious, they heard a terrifying laugh. Turning around, they saw the witch standing in front of them.
“Trying to escape? This gingerbread house is enchanted. I told you, once you come in, you can’t leave! I warn you, give up on the idea of running away, or I’ll eat you right now!”
In the following days, the witch prepared lavish meals for them every day.
Hansel continued to eat heartily.
Gretel, concerned, said, “Brother, we can’t escape the gingerbread house now. How can you still think about eating?”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan. Besides, we can’t escape if we don’t eat. Eat up! Once we’re full, we’ll figure out a way to defeat the witch!”
After a few days, the witch came to see how much weight they had gained.
“Stretch out your hands, let me see how much you’ve gained.”
Gretel was worried, but saw Hansel stretch out a leftover bone.
The witch, with her poor eyesight, thought it was Hansel’s hand, so she touched it and said disappointedly, “You’ve eaten so much, but you’re still so thin?”
So, she prepared more delicious food for them.
A few days later, she came to check again, and Hansel once again stretched out the bone.
The witch could no longer contain her anger. She snapped, “You’ve eaten so much, but you still haven’t gained any weight! I don’t care anymore, I’m going to eat you both!”
As she spoke, she started a fire in a huge oven and grabbed Hansel, intending to throw him into the flames.
But Gretel bit her, causing the witch to scream in pain and let go of Hansel.
The witch, furious, got up and chased after the siblings.
However, the two children, who had been eating well and were now strong and agile, ran quickly, like slippery eels, and couldn’t be caught. They also threw things at her, and with her poor eyesight, she tripped several times, her rage growing.
But the siblings accidentally ran toward the large oven. Terrified, they looked back at the roaring flames in the furnace and then at the wicked witch blocking their way.
The witch laughed cruelly, “I’ll see where you can run now!”
She lunged at them, but the two siblings nimbly dodged to the sides. The witch missed them and fell straight into the huge oven, where she perished.
Hansel and Gretel found that the gingerbread house was filled with gold, silver, and jewels. They took some with them and went back home, where they lived happily ever after.
Leave a Reply