There was a time when two siblings resided in the forest along with their father, a squatter woodcutter, and their stepmother. The stepmother was very difficult for Hansel and Gretel both children. There was no food allowed until the stepmother had removed everything she wanted off of the plates. The majority of the time there was just the bread’s crust remaining.
Hansel as well as Gretel tried to inform their father that they needed food, but their father could not believe it. The only person that he would listen to his wife was him. The only thing the stepmother spoke about was the trouble it was to have kids in the hut, and how much she would like to see them go away for good.
Every day there was little and less food available for the girls and boys to take in. But the stepmother still gave them an ever-growing list of things to complete. One day Gretel was begging, “Please, father, stepmother! Every day we work to complete our chores as well as eat!” But the stepmother did nothing but slap her on the cheek. She shouted “You unrepentant brats! We will be eaten out of the house and at home!”
The two kids were forced to stay outside for the night. They froze in frigid temperatures and attempted to keep one another warm. The winter was on the way. The clothes they were wearing were so thin, it almost seemed as if they were wearing no clothes in the first place.
The next day, as sunrise came, Gretel turned to her younger brother who was equally awake. “Hansel,” she said, “we cannot stay here. We have to leave today, right now in the woods. Sure, we’ll get more food there than at home.”
“Do you think so?” Hansel asked. He shut his eyes. He then said, “What if we get lost?”
“We won’t,” said Gretel. “I will bring some bread. We’ll drop breadcrumbs in front of us. So, if need to, we will be able to return to the place where we dropped them.”
The two of them decided to leave their tough life to follow their dreams. They continued to go further into the woods. Gretel was careful not to throw a crumb, and then another.
