Hansel and Gretel

What it's about

Hansel and Gretel are the children of a woodcutter so poor that one winter he has no bread left to give them. At their stepmother’s urging, the two of them end up alone in the deepest part of the forest. The first time, Hansel finds the way home with white pebbles that shine in the moonlight; the second time, the birds eat the breadcrumbs and they are truly lost.

After three days of walking, a white bird leads them to a little house made of bread, cake and sugar. The old woman who lives there seems very kind, but she is hiding a terrible plan, and the siblings will have to take turns saving each other.

Values it teaches

Teamwork

Neither sibling gets out alone. First Hansel leads them home with his pebbles; in the end Gretel frees him from the cage. It’s a good moment to talk about how, in a family, sometimes we look after others and sometimes they look after us.

Resourcefulness

The children don’t beat the witch with strength but with their heads: pebbles that shine in the moonlight, the little bone Hansel holds through the bars to fool a witch with poor eyesight, and Gretel’s “I don’t know how” that turns the oven trap back on the witch.

Courage

Gretel is scared — alone, working for the witch, with her brother locked up — and still she doesn’t give up. The story shows that being brave isn’t about having no fear, but about acting in spite of it.

Prudence

The bread house is irresistible and the old woman seems lovely: the story is a natural way to talk about why we don’t go into a stranger’s house, even when they offer sweets. And at the end Gretel thinks before she acts: they cross the lake one at a time so the duck won’t sink.

Characters

Gretel

Hansel’s sister. In the forest she keeps her brother going, and when the witch locks him up, she is the one who sees through the trap and sets him free.

Hansel

Her brother. Clever and prepared: he marks the path with white pebbles and, from inside the cage, fools the witch by holding out a bone instead of his finger.

The witch

An old woman who lives in a house of bread and sugar to lure children in. Her eyesight is very poor, and that will be her undoing.

The woodcutter

Their father. He is so poor he can’t feed his children; he never stops looking for them and welcomes them home with open arms.

The stepmother

She is the one who wants to leave the children in the forest. When they come home, she is gone.

The white bird and the duck

Two animals who help the siblings: the bird leads them to the little house and the duck carries them across the lake.

Questions to talk about after reading

1. Why do you think Hansel chose white pebbles to mark the way? What would you have used?
2. How did Hansel and Gretel feel when the birds ate the breadcrumbs? Have you ever been lost, or afraid of getting lost?
3. The old woman seemed very kind. How can we tell whether we can trust someone we don’t know?
4. Who helped whom in the story? Can you remember a time a brother, sister or friend helped you?
5. Why didn’t the witch notice the bone trick?
6. Gretel said “I don’t know how” even though she did. Why do you think she said that?
7. Why did Gretel want to cross the lake one at a time?

Activities

New words

woodcutter

Someone whose job is cutting down trees for firewood.

stepmother

A woman who marries a child’s father but is not the child’s mother.

crumbs

Tiny little bits of bread.

clearing

An open space in a forest with no trees, where the light gets in.

nibble

To eat something in small, quick bites.

bolt

A metal bar you slide across to keep a door tightly shut.

jewels

Beautiful, precious stones such as rubies and emeralds.

Where this story comes from

“Hansel and Gretel” (“Hänsel und Gretel”) was already in the first edition of the Brothers Grimm’s “Children’s and Household Tales”, published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812 as tale number 15. The Grimms collected it in Hesse, Germany, from several oral tellings, and Wilhelm kept polishing the text in every edition up to the last one, in 1857. The tale itself is much older: stories of two children lost in the woods who outwit a witch or an ogre are told, with variations, all over Europe. In the earliest editions it is the children’s own mother who wants to abandon them; in later ones the Grimms turned her into a stepmother.

Our adaptation, written to be read aloud to children aged 4 to 7, keeps every key moment of the original: the pebbles shining in the moonlight, the breadcrumbs eaten by birds, the white bird that guides them, the bread house with sugar windows, the “nibble, nibble, little mouse” rhyme, the bone trick, the oven trick and the duck that carries them across the lake. We softened what is most upsetting for young children: hunger isn’t described harshly, and the witch isn’t burned in the oven — she is simply locked behind its iron door. We also gave Gretel an active role from the start (in the original she cries in the forest and Hansel comforts her). The ending is the Grimms’ own: the children come home with the witch’s pearls, their father welcomes them with joy, and the stepmother is gone.

Before you read

• The parents leave the children alone in the forest because there is no food.
• A witch locks Hansel in a cage to fatten him up.
• Gretel locks the witch in the oven (in this version she is not burned).

Frequently asked questions