"Hansel and Gretel*" by Esther SP. Buhrman

Hansel and Gretel awoke when the moon had risen and their haunted eyes gazed sadly at the empty silver path that snaked away from them into the night.  All the crumbs they had purposely dropped from the mere piece of bread their step-mother had given them had long since been eaten by the many birds that flew the surrounding woods and fields.
"We will never find our way back home now," Gretel sobbed, tears slipping down her hollow cheeks.
"Don’t worry, Gretel, we shall soon find the way.  We just have to keep on walking," Hansel said as he held onto his barren stomach with bony hands in an effort to muffle the painful grumble it emitted.

But the path home hid from them in the shadows that loomed and jumped.  For three nights they wandered through the woods, the trees mocking them with their branches pointing in every direction.  Weary and fatigued, their legs gave way and they fell between the gnarled roots of an enormous oak and slept, heads lolling against the rough bark in delirious hunger.

They dreamt of home.  Roasted haunches of meat lay on the table before them.  With small, bony hands and sharp little teeth, they devoured the juicy flesh.
Their stepmother appeared, screaming at them and pushed them to the dirt floor where they were beaten mercilessly.  Stomachs growled hungrily and they saw their father through the pelting rain of blows; staring at them with empty, glassy eyes.

Ravenous achings tormented her body.  When was the last time she had tasted the sweet and tender flesh of a young child after it was fattened on the desserts of her house? Shambling out into night’s darkness, she spread her arms and her hungry cry became the caw of a raven who ascended on midnight wings to the waning moon.  By its pale light, she circled the woods and the black depths of her eyes were filled with a delicious image.  Two children, starved and pale lay sleeping below.  She descended upon them.

Gretel shook off the stray remnants of her dreams.  Sunlight pierced her sight, and for a moment, she thought she saw deep black eyes gazing at her, but then she blinked and they were gone.  The honeyed song of a bird directed her attention upwards and perched in a bough above her she saw a beautiful, snow-white bird who spread its wings and flew.  Gretel woke Hansel and they followed the bird who brought them to a little house.  They rubbed their eyes in disbelief.  It was not built of wood like their own house far away, but of gingerbread! Slabs of cake dripping cream and piped with brightly coloured patterns of icing sugar served as a roof.  The windows of maple sugar gleamed in the sun and a door hewn out of rich, milk-brown chocolate beckoned them.  Running down the path studded with sweets, they fell to ravenously.  Hansel stuffed scooped handfuls of spongy gingerbread into his watering mouth, then reached up and pulled down chunks of cake. Gretel leant against the window pane and crunched the sweet maple sugar with glee.  When she had had enough of that, she turned to the chocolate door which was soon gouged with many holes.  A soft voice sounded from inside the house.

Gobble gobble like a goblin
Who consumes my dwelling?
Scrape scrape; gnaw
Who is devouring my door?

The children answered between mouthfuls of cake and chocolate:

The goblin you hear
is just the wind
The scrape and gnaw is just the
branches and rain at your door

"Doesn’t sound like the wind, branches or rain to me," the voice replied and the door opened.  There stood a rotund little woman with dark black eyes and rosy cheeks.  She raised her chubby arms to her mouth.
"You poor children, you must be so hungry," she remarked as Gretel vomited violently at her feet.  "Please, come in."

Hansel and Gretel entered the little house and sat down at the table where two places had been set.  The woman laid buttery pancakes topped with maple syrup, frothy milk, delectable fruit and large nuts before them, and the children ate heartily.
The woman laughed, "Yes, eat as much as you want, children." Grow fat and plump, the more sweets you eat, the more tasty you will be for me.
Afterwards, Hansel and Gretel were laid to rest in soft little beds thinking how kind, how nice, this woman was to them.  The woman tucked them in tightly.  Gretel murmured, "I’m still hungry.  Do you have any meat?"
"I will roast you a chicken tomorrow.  Now, sleep my dear," the woman said.  Gretel looked at her and smiled, her mouth watering.

The woman, or rather the witch, had gotten up early in the morning and watched the children sleeping and she hungered for them. How tasty they look, especially that boy.  He is a little fatter than his sister…Careful not to wake him up, she gently carried Hansel to another room and locked him in.  She roughly shook Gretel awake and cried, "Get up, you lazy girl and cook something good for your brother.  When he is fat and plump, I shall eat him!" The witch salivated at the thought.  Gretel wept bitterly, but she could do nothing but what the witch commanded, so she cooked Hansel all the best food while she had nothing to eat but scraps.
 Every morning the witch crept to the locked room where a frightened Hansel was kept captive and asked him to stretch out his finger so she could check his progress on becoming fat and plump for her.  Hansel stretched out a small bone instead in an effort to deceive her, and the witch laughed shrilly.  "Oh, my boy, did you think I was blind? I, who found both of you looking down from the sky above? Now stick out your finger."  Hansel put out a trembling finger.  "Now, hold still," the witch snapped.  Her mouth curled into a grin.  "Ah, you are becoming fat and plump…Soon, I can eat you!" She licked her lips and sat by the fire, waiting.

With so much rich food, Hansel was soon fat and plump.  The witch rubbed her hands together in glee and her stomach growled impatiently.
She pushed Gretel to the huge oven, tongues of fire flickering hotly in its belly.  "Now, get in and see if it is hot enough to roast my meat." And once you're in there, I will have myself another roasted child to eat!
Gretel started to cry.  The fire scared her.  "I do not know how to do it…How do I get in?"
"Oh, you silly girl," the witch spat impatiently, "Watch me!" And she stuck her head inside the oven.  Quickly, Gretel pushed her far into it and slammed the door shut and fastened the bolt.  She found the key to the locked room, and excitedly opened the door where a fat Hansel sat in misery.
"We are free Hansel!" Gretel squealed happily and they hugged each other.

They ate heartily that night in the witch’s little house, especially Gretel whose diet of scraps consisting of shells and bones had left her starved and very thin.  Roasted haunches of meat lay on the table before them.  Between mouthfuls meat, Gretel sighed in contentment.  "I have missed meat.  Nothing is more satisfying or tasty…Now, with all the food we have in this house, we will have enough energy to find our way home."
"Yes home!" Hansel agreed joyfully as he wiped his mouth of the meat’s juices.
"But, stepmother…" Gretel sighed.
"What about her?" Hansel asked, finishing off a leg of meat.
"She’s still mad we ate father."
"Ah, yes, that could be a problem," Hansel belched.  "Thinking about father, this witch is so much tastier than he was."
Hansel and Gretel laughed.
"We will live here, then," Gretel proclaimed.  "Who knows what children may wander by our chocolate door?"

And, mouths watering,  they dreamed of sweet, tender flesh fattened on the desserts of their house.
 
 
 
 
 
 

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