Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel are children of a poor woodcutter. They were afraid of starving and the woodcutter’s wife who we called the mother or the stepmother convinces him to lead them into the forest and abandon them there. Hansel and Gretel hear the plan and gather white pebbles to leave themselves a trail back home. After their return, their stepmother again convinces the wood cutter to abandon them again; this time however, they can only leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Unfortunately the animals in the woods eat their trail of breadcrumbs causing Hansel and Gretel to get lost.
Lost in the forest, they find a house made of candies, with sugar windows, and they can not resist, so they begin to eat the candy. The woman who lives in the house invites them in and prepares a feast for them. There is a white lace tablecloth filled with candies, pancakes and other sweet things. The woman, however, is a witch and has built the house to entice children to her, so that she may fatten and eat them. She cages Hansel and makes Gretel her servant. While she prepares to cook Hansel, she orders Gretel to bring her candies to and feed Hansel. Unable to do anything, Gretel cries and does what the witch makes her do. Days go by and Hansel has grown very fat as the witch hoped he would be. She says,” Hansel is so fat, I can not wait to eat him.” She tells Gretel to climb into the oven to be sure it is ready for baking but Gretel guesses that the witch is intending to bake her, and then tricks the witch into climbing into the over, closing the door behind her.
Taking the jewels from the witch’s house, they set off for home and reunite with their father, whose wife has died of evilness. After that, they lived happily ever after/
Adi Nachum
America English School
5th Grade
Petach Tikva Israel Marsha Goren and Sara Oren teachers