Gretel and Hansel (Final Draft)

Once upon a time in a quiet little home lived a quiet little girl named Gretel. She lived in her home with her brother, Hansel, her father and step mother. They didn’t have very much and often had too little since Gretel’s father was a poor, old wood-cutter. Gretel and Hansel’s step mother despised the two children and often wished them ill-will, blaming them for the family’s lack of money.

One night while Gretel was lying awake in bed, unable to sleep from the sound of stressed voices in the other room, she heard her step mother shout out. “Get rid of them already! Take them far away into the woods, so far they can never return, and then we will be rid of them for good!” The little girl could feel her heart nearly stop inside of her chest. How could her father ever leave them all alone? When she turned over she saw her brother, Hansel, lying awake with the same worried expression. “Don’t worry, Gretel, we’ll find our way back home.”

The next day their father had done exactly what their wicked and evil step mother had pressured him to do. What was unknown to their father and step mother was that Hansel was prepared to return them back home safely. Hansel had filled with pockets with tiny, white pebbles. As their father led them through the forest he was sure to drop them, creating a trail to follow home. Once deep within the forest, their father bid them his goodbyes. Both Gretel and Hansel knew that their father did not really wish to leave them there, but it was their step mothers will that put them alone in the forest. “Don’t worry, Gretel, I’ve left us a trail of pebbles to follow. We’ll be back home and warm in our beds before the day is done.” A sigh of relief washed over the small girl as she stood at her brother’s side, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her back along the trail of pebbles he had left behind. Just as Hansel had promised, they were home and in bed before the day was done. The two of them had secretly snuck in through their bedroom window and fell fast asleep, exhausted from their long day’s journey.

Morning came far too soon and Gretel felt her eyes burst open with the sounds of her step mother screaming down at the two of them, her brother Hansel already out of bed and standing on his feet. “What are you doing here? Your father was supposed to get rid of you!” She stormed away and locked the two children in their bedroom, feeding them mere drops of water and hardened bread for the rest of the day. When their father returned home from a long day of wood cutting, their step mother began to lecture him for what only felt like hours and hours and hours. Gretel felt her eyes growing heavy, even over the sounds of her step mother shouting and eventually she gave into her fate and fell into a content slumber.

“Gretel, Gretel, wake up.” She opened her eyes to the sound of her brother’s voice, a delicate haze hanging all around him as she tried to focus. “Father is taking us again! Don’t worry, Gretel, we’ll find our way home.” She unwillingly slipped out of bed, wearing the same clothes she’d worn the day before and followed her father out into the woods.

Just as he had done before, Hansel left a trail for them to follow back; only instead of pebbles he used bread crumbs. Once they were deeper into the forest than ever before, their father turned to them and bid them his goodbyes. The children waited quietly for their father to leave before turning to following their bread crumbs back. After taking only a few steps Hansel realized that the bread crumbs were gone! Their trail home had disappeared! “How are we going to get home?” Gretel looked to him with a quivering lip and swollen eyes. The forest was colder and darker than they had ever experienced, never reaching depths such as these before. “Come Gretel,” Hansel spoke to her softly, “don’t worry, we’ll find our way home.”

The children seemed to walk and walk, feeling their stomachs grumble in an aching pain the further the day went on. In a clearing ahead Gretel caught a sight that she could hardly believe. She gathered the last of her strength and ran towards the home, grabbing onto its side and taking a large bite out of it. This wasn’t just a regular house, but a house made of sugary candy, built with slabs of chocolate, cemented together with frosting, and garnished in tasty bits of nougat! “Hansel, Hansel! Try this here!” She shouted back to her brother as his footsteps brought him closer to the home, his own mouth latching onto the tasty, sweet siding and pulling off a large bite. Just as Gretel was about to take another bite from the siding a creaking and cracking sound filled her ears and she pulled away sharply.

From the corner of her eye she saw the door made entirely of biscuits open and an old woman stepped out to see them. “My, my, my,” the old woman’s voice spoke to them. “Don’t the two of you have quiet a sweet tooth and you’re so skinny, too!” The old woman smiled and motioned them with her wrinkled old hands, “Come inside children. You have nothing to fear, you are more than safe here.” Gretel walked towards the old woman, Hansel quickly behind her, and the two stepped inside. Unfortunately for them, the old woman was more than an old woman, but a witch who used her house of sweet treats to lure in children that she wanted to eat! Before Gretel could turn around the old woman had Hansel locked inside of a cage, shaking her finger at him as she locked him inside. “There you will stay until you are fat enough for me to eat! And you,” the old woman turned to Gretel, “you will do the housework until I’m ready to eat you!”

Luckily for the children, the old witch had very poor eyesight, which was made even poorer when Gretel smeared butter all over the lenses of her glasses. Each day she would go to the cage and pull Hansel’s finger to see if he was getting any fatter. Finally one day Gretel gave Hansel a chicken bone to let the witch grab from him. “You’re still too thin! When will you be fat, boy?”

Finally one day the witch had had enough! “Light the oven, girl, we’re having ourselves a roasted boy tonight!” Gretel stood in front of the old woman in a frightened panic, unsure if her feet could even move from their cemented position on the floor. “Go on girl!” Once the witch shouted, Gretel ran to light the oven, racking her brain the entire time for whatever she could do to save her brother. “Is it hot enough yet, girl?” The witch called to her and Gretel‘s eyes scanned from the floor upward, looking at the fire as she practically felt the wheels turning inside of her head. “I don’t know how to tell if it’s hot enough,” she shouted back to the old witch. The witch came to check the oven herself, her feet stomping with every step she made. “Why can’t you tell if…” the witch began to grumble and in one swift, quick motion, Gretel stepped forward and pushed the old witch inside of the oven, locking the oven door behind her!

Gretel ran in a panic to rescue her brother from his cage, allowing him to make sure the witch was good and burnt before they made any further plans. While they looked around the witch’s house they found a giant chocolate egg that was filled with gold coins! Hansel made sure to fill his bag with each and every coin he could carry. They stayed and ate more of her house for the next few days, gaining enough strength, and then set out to find their way home.

As luck would have it, they found their father’s house on their journey through the forest, seeing him standing outside once it came into vision. “Father!” Gretel shouted as she took off running towards him, watching his face light up as he began to run towards his children, embracing them both in his arms once they were together. “My sweet children,” he cried. “Your step mother is dead!” That wasn’t the only good news that needed to be shared. Hansel stepped back to proudly show his father the bag of gold coins. “Father, we are rich! We will never be poor again!” The children hugged their father again and they all lived happily ever after.