Hansel and Grethel
Hansel and Grethel
I read the version of Hansel and Grethel from Grimm's Fairy Stories by Jacob Grimm and Willhelm Grimm, available at Project Gutenberg. I knew the basics, but had forgotten some of the details.
There is a poor woodcutter who lives with his wife and two children from a former marriage. The family has next to nothing to eat and the wife's solution is to leave the kids deep in the woods, alone, and then there will be two less mouths to feed. The father doesn't want to do it, doesn't want his children killed by wild animals, but eventually agrees. Can you imagine? The father agrees to leave his kids to die!
Well, the first time, they manage to find their way home thanks to pebbles Hansel left on the path for them to follow back, but then they're left out in the woods again! Even after the children being saved once, their father lets his wife have her way...