Hansel and Gretel

A poor woodcutter lived near a great forest with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel, and the girl was called Grethel. His wife was their stepmother. The family had very little to eat, and when a severe food shortage spread across the land, the woodcutter could no longer provide even their daily bread.

One night he lay awake, turning over his worries. At last he groaned and said to his wife, “What's going to happen to us? How can we feed our poor children when we don't even have enough for ourselves?”

“I'll tell you what, husband,” she replied. “Early tomorrow morning, we'll take the children into the thickest part of the forest. We'll light a fire and give each of them one last piece of bread. Then we'll leave them there and go to work. They won't be able to find their way home, and we'll be rid of them.”

“No, wife,” said the woodcutter. “I won't do that. How could I leave my children alone in the forest? Wild animals would soon tear them to pieces.”

“You fool!” she said. “Then all four of us will starve. You might as well start making the boards for our coffins.”

She kept arguing until he finally gave in.

“All the same,” he said, “I feel so sorry for the poor children.”