Hansel and Gretel is the story of a young brother and sister abandoned in the forest by their wood-cutter father and their stepmother because they could not afford to keep them (Hansel). The first time the parents try to abandon the children, they overhear the plan the night before and Hansel sneaks out in the night and fills his pockets with white pebbles. When they go into the woods next day, he leaves a trail so he and Gretel can find their way home after they are abandoned. The second time, he cannot get out to gather stones, so leaves a trail of crumbs, but they are eaten by birds so the children cannot find their way home.
After wandering in the forest for three days with nothing to eat, the children come across a house made of bread and covered with cakes, with windows of sugar (Hansel). They began to eat pieces of the house and the old woman who lives there comes out and offers them a meal and a place to sleep, but next morning she locks Hansel in the barn, saying she is fattening him up to eat, and makes Gretel work for her. When she decides to eat Hansel, she asks Gretel to crawl into the oven to see if it was hot enough, but Gretel pushes her in, and rescues Hansel. They find many jewels in the witchÆs house, and take away as many as they can carry. They find their way home, and their father welcomes them because he never wanted to leave them in the woods, and the wicked stepmother is dead, so they all live happily ever after.
In the beginning of the story, Hansel is the leader and protector of his sister, but as the story progresses, Gretel becomes the dominant figure, taking charge, killing the witch and rescuing Hansel. She leads the way home, and finds a duck to ferry them across the river. When Hansel gets on the duck first and tells her to hold his hand and get on, she tells him to go ahead because she doesnÆt want to overburden the duck, and she rides across alone after he is safely acros
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