Two children getting lost in the woods and being taken hostage by an evil witch are the classic hallmarks of an old German folktale as written by the Grimm's brothers. However there is more to this classic folktale than just a few cookie crumbs.
In this story Hansel and Grethel live with their father and stepmother. A devastating famine in the land hits them hard, leaving the parents to wonder how they were going to put food on the table. The stepmother came up with an idea that seemed to save her and her husband at the expense of the children. She talked her husband abandoning the children far out in the woods where they would be lost. The husband after some time gave into his wife's plan. However, the children were far more clever than the parents had expected. Hansel learning about the scheme before hand collected stones that he left on the ground as they walked through the woods. That night the children returned. The next morning the parents tried again. This time the stepmother would not allow anything in Hansel's pockets except for a small piece of bread.
Hansel used the breadcrumbs as a trail to try to find their way home a second time. However, this time it didn't work the birds ate all of the breadcrumbs. The children wandered around the woods trying to find their way home. The more they walked the more lost they became. Finally when it seemed like they would pass out from hunger they came to a house made completely of gingerbread and all sorts of candy.
The house belonged to a witch who used it to lure in the children to eat them. When she discovered the children eating her home she wasn't angry. Instead she told them to come in and visit with her encouraging them to eat more. She looked to be so harmless. She was on crutches and showed kindness that the children had not seen in a long time. The children went into the home believing in the false safety that the witch had presented. Once the children were in the house they did not have a nice little visit. The witch put Hansel into a cage where he was force fed until he became fat enough to eat, Grethel on the other hand was enslaved by the witch and forced to do her bidding.
It was the cunning of the children that kept them alive and off of the witches dinner table. After stalling her for as long as they could the witch decided she was going to eat Hansel as is. She ordered Grethel to put more wood in the oven; playing dumb Grethel said she didn't know how. So the witch reached into the oven to do it herself. It was then that Grethel pushed her in and locked the oven door. Before making their escape they found the treasure room and brought home as many riches as they could carry.
In the end the children found their way home. When they got there they found that it was only their father that was there. He said the Stepmother had died while the children were gone. As with many folktales the antagonists usually meet a dreadful end though the father says that she had died the authors refer to a mouse at the end of the tale, leading the reader to believe that in the end she was turned into a mouse.
