CHILDREN'S FAVORITE STORIES
HANSEL AND GRETEL
M
ANY years ago, a woodcutter and his wife, with their two children, Hansel and Gretel, lived upon the outskirts of a dense wood. They were very poor, so that when a famine fell upon the land, and bread became dear, they could no longer afford to buy sufficient food for the whole family.
One night, as the poor man lay tossing on his hard bed, he cried aloud in his grief and anguish:
"Alas! what will become of us? How can I feed my hungry little ones when we have no food for ourselves?"
"Listen to me, good-man," answered his wife, who was stepmother to the children. "As it is no longer possible for us to keep our children, we will take them into the wood with us tomorrow, light a fire for them, and give each a piece of bread and leave them. They will not easily find their way back, and so we shall be rid of the burden of them."