There once was a woodcutter who lived in Germany.
He had two children named Hansel and Gretel.
They lived together in a house in the forest.
During the winter the woodcutter would go deep into the forest to cut firewood.
When he came home, he and Hansel and Gretel would take the firewood to town to sell it and buy food.
"Good-bye, children," said the woodcutter. "I am going to cut firewood. I will come home tonight for dinner."
"Good-bye, Father," said Hansel and Gretel. And they waved as their father walked away.
Dinnertime came and the woodcutter did not come home.
"Where is Father?" asked Gretel.
"I don't know," said Hansel, "but we won't eat dinner until he comes home."
They waited and waited and waited. They waited so long they fell asleep.
When they woke up, the sun was shining through the windows.
"Oh no!" said Hansel. "Father did not come home! Something must have happened.
We must go look for him." They packed some bread to eat and walked into the woods.
"Wait, Hansel. How will we find our way home?" asked Gretel.
"Uhh . . . Oh! I will leave bread crumbs in the path to show us how to get home," said Hansel.
"Good idea," Gretel said.
They walked for hours and hours and hours.
Because they had used their bread to show the way home, they had nothing to eat. "I am getting hungry," said Hansel.
"Yes, and I am getting cold too," said Gretel. "It is getting late.
Maybe we should go home. Maybe Father is waiting there for us."
"Yes, maybe he is. Let's go home," Hansel agreed.
But, when they turned around to go home, they did not know which way to go.
"Oh no!" said Gretel. "Our bread crumbs are gone!
How will we find our way home?"
"The birds must have eaten all our crumbs," said Hansel.
"Maybe home is this way," said Gretel. They walked and walked and walked.
Finally they saw smoke coming from a chimney.
"It must be Father!" the children cried, and they ran to the house.
But the smoke was not their father's. It was a magical house.
Its walls were made of cookies, its roof was made of peppermint, and the doors were made of chocolate.
"Wow!" said Hansel and Gretel. And they began to eat the house.
What Hansel and Gretel didn't know was that inside the house lived a witch.
While Hansel was busy eating, the witch opened the door and grabbed him.
"Who is eating my house?" asked the witch. She was very angry.
"I didn't know it was your house," said Hansel.
"We're very sorry," said Gretel. "Please let him go."
"No. He has eaten my house, and now I will eat him."
The witch dragged Hansel into a cage and locked him inside.
"And you will be my servant," she said to Gretel.
Then the witch laughed a terrible laugh.
The witch fed Hansel lots and lots of food to make him fat, so that he would be a delicious dinner.
But the witch had very old eyes that made everything seem blurry, and she could not see if Hansel was fat.
So every day she would say to Hansel, "Put out your finger," and she would feel it to see if he was fat enough.
Hansel was smart. He did not put out his finger when the witch asked.
He saved a bone from his dinner and put that out instead.
The witch would feel the bone and say, "Not fat enough. Maybe I will eat him tomorrow."
Gretel cried every day. She didn't want her brother to be eaten. Finally the day came.
"Put out your finger," the witch asked. Hansel put out the bone.
"Still not fat enough. Well, I am not going to wait.
I will eat you tonight!" When Gretel heard this, she cried even harder.
"Stop crying, silly girl!" the witch said.
"Crawl inside that oven and make a fire to cook dinner."
Gretel was smart too. She knew the witch was trying to trick her, so she said, "I don't know how to climb into an oven."
"Stupid girl," the witch said. "I will show you, and then you will do it."
The witch climbed inside the oven to show Gretel.
But just as she was inside, Gretel shut the oven door and locked it.
"Let me out!" cried the witch. "I promise not to eat you! I'm very sorry.
Please let me out!" But the children did not listen to her.
Gretel freed Hansel from his cage and they ran away from the witch's candy house as fast as they could.
They ran and ran and ran. They saw another chimney with smoke coming out.
"We must be careful, Hansel," said Gretel.
She did not want to meet another witch. They walked quietly up to the house.
Just then the door opened and the woodcutter walked out.
"Father! Father! Father!" they cried. And they ran to him with their arms open. He gave them a big hug.
"Hansel! Gretel! Where have you been! I was so worried about you!"
"We went looking for you, Father," said Gretel.
"Yes, you didn't come home so we went to find you," said Hansel.
"Ah, I'm sorry, children. I broke my leg and came home the next day.
But you were gone. You must never go into the forest alone.
There are dangerous things in the forest."
"Yes, Father. There are dangerous things in the forest," they said.
Hansel and Gretel went inside the house with their father.
They decided to tell him about the witch. But first they would eat dinner.