The Story
Once upon a time but perhaps not too far away there lived a poor broom-maker, Peter, his two children, Hansel and Gretel, and their step-mother Gertrude.
One day their parents, hoping to sell some brooms, left Hansel and Gretel alone. They had plenty of homework to do, but nothing to eat. Hansel soon came close to tears from hunger. But Gretel made him laugh instead, as she taught him a dancing song, and instead of tears, they laughed and danced.
But then their step-mother returned. Angry at finding them playing instead of working, she hit Hansel, and knocked over their last bottle of milk! Now there was nothing for supper. She chased them from the house. They could not return until they had filled a basket to the brim with wild strawberries from the woods.
Meanwhile, the father, who had had just a little too much to drink, had returned home to find the exhausted mother slumped in her chair, and the children gone. He had sold all his brooms and had bought food to feed his family. His happiness soon turned to horror when he heard that the children had gone to search for strawberries. What would happen if Hansel and Gretel met the witch who lived deep in the woods, who turned children into sweets and ate them? The mother and father left at once to search for their children.
But it was too late. The children had lost track of time and place and were hopelessly lost in the woods. It got dark. They became very frightened. But then a little man appeared. He was the Sandman, who scattered his sand in their eyes to make them drowsy. After the little children sang their evening prayers they fell asleep. They dreamed of their happy times with their real mother and family before she died.
At dawn they were wakened by the Dew Fairy. As the morning mists cleared they suddenly could see a house, all made of birthday cake and sugar candy, and with a hedge of sugar children. They cautiously approached, and began to nibble until suddenly they were challenged by a voice from within.
It was Rosina Dainty-Mouth, the wicked witch, who enticed little children into her house by day, to cook them into sugar candy by night, and then eat them. Hansel and Gretel tried to run away, but the witch cast a spell and rooted them to the spot. She forced Hansel into a cage and started stuffing him with food to make him fat. Like a mad cook she started to prepare her meal. She mixed the dough and stoked her oven.
She told Gretel to look into the oven and see whether the ‘bread’ was done. But Gretel, who was a smart little girl, had broken the witch’s spell on Hansel, who could move again. Gretel begged the witch to show her how to look into the oven. The witch did- and the children gave her a big push and sent her tumbling inside the oven!
As the children danced with joy, the oven suddenly exploded. The witch was dead! Just as suddenly, the sugar children outside the house turned into real, living children, who rejoiced in being alive again. And just then, Hansel and Gretel’s parents appeared, and parents and children rushed into each other’s arms.
And that, for our audience, is where our story seems to end. But after the curtain comes down, Hansel and Gretel are going to rush to explore the witch’s house, where they will find all sorts of treasures. The family will be rich for the rest of their lives. Truly, they will live happily ever after.