Hansel and Gretel Theme
Tagged under Fairy Tales.
Siblings Hansel and Gretel live with their father, a woodcutter, in a house in the forest. After their mother dies, the
father takes a second wife, who hates the two children and constantly tries to pit their father against them. When she
manages to convince him that the family would pull through the famine much better without the two children who were
"hogging all the food", Hansel goes out and gathers pebbles, assuring Gretel that everything would be fine.
The following day, the woodcutter takes the children deep into the forest and attempts to abandon them there, but
the two manage to find their way back home by following the trail of pebbles that Hansel had left. Their stepmother
again demands that the woodcutter abandon them in the woods; because the doors are locked, Hansel can't gather any more
pebbles and settles for taking a piece of bread instead. In the morning, the children are once again abandoned in the
forest. But this time they can't return home, as birds had eaten their trail of breadcrumbs.
After
several days of wandering, the siblings discover a cottage made entirely of sweets. Upon approaching, an old woman (who
turns out to be a witch) invites the trusting children inside with the promise of food; however, she instead locks
Hansel in a cage and forces Gretel to be her servant. For a while, she force-feeds Hansel in an attempt to fatten him up
and consume him, but soon grows impatient. One day, the witch tries to lure the children into the big oven, but Gretel
outsmarts her and pushes her inside to a fiery death. The two siblings then gather the treasures the witch had been
hoarding and find their way home, where they find out the stepmother had died of an unknown illness. Thus, Hansel,
Gretel, and their father live happily ever after.
Description: pandemonium91
