Once upon a time, at the edge of a great forest, there lived a woodcutter with his two children, Hansel and Gretel. They were very poor, and there came a time when they barely had enough food to eat.

One night, when the children were in bed, their stepmother said to their father, "There is not enough food for all of us. Tomorrow, we must take the children deep into the forest and leave them there."

The father didn't want to. But he was a weak man, and eventually he agreed.

Hansel had been awake and heard everything. He crept outside in the moonlight and filled his pockets with small white pebbles that gleamed like silver coins. Then he went back to bed.

The next morning, the family walked deep into the forest. But Hansel dropped pebbles along the path, one by one, marking the way.

When their parents left them alone in the woods, Gretel cried. But Hansel said, "Don't worry. Wait until the moon comes out." When it did, the white pebbles shone in the moonlight like a trail of tiny stars, and the children followed them all the way home.

Their father was overjoyed to see them. But before long, the stepmother convinced him to try again. This time, Hansel couldn't get outside to gather pebbles — the door was locked. So the next morning, he crumbled his slice of bread along the path instead.

But this time, the birds ate every last crumb. When the children tried to find their way back, there was no trail to follow. They were lost.

They wandered through the forest for three days, hungry and afraid. On the third day, they saw a beautiful bird singing in a tree. It flew ahead of them, and they followed it to a clearing.

And there stood the most amazing house they had ever seen. Its walls were made of gingerbread. Its roof was made of cake. Its windows were made of clear sugar candy.

"Food!" cried Hansel, and he broke off a piece of the roof. Gretel took a piece of the window. They ate and ate.

Then the door creaked open, and out came an old woman, leaning on a stick. She looked kind at first. "Oh, you poor children! Come inside. I have warm food and soft beds."

She fed them pancakes and milk and put them to sleep in clean white beds. But the old woman was not kind at all. She was a wicked witch who had built the candy house to lure children to her.

In the morning, the witch grabbed Hansel and locked him in a cage. "I'm going to fatten you up," she cackled. "And when you're plump enough, I'm going to eat you."

She forced Gretel to cook huge meals for Hansel. Every day, the witch went to the cage and said, "Hold out your finger, boy, so I can feel if you're fat enough." But the witch had bad eyesight, and clever Hansel held out a chicken bone instead. The witch would squeeze the bone and grumble, "Still too thin!"

This went on for weeks. Finally, the witch lost patience. "Fat or thin, I'm going to cook him today!" She fired up the big oven until it glowed red-hot.

"Gretel!" snapped the witch. "Crawl into the oven and tell me if it's hot enough."

Gretel knew the witch was trying to trick her. So she said, "I don't know how to get in. Can you show me?"

The witch rolled her eyes. "Stupid girl! It's big enough! Look, even I can fit." And she stuck her head into the oven.

Quick as a flash, Gretel gave the witch a mighty push. Into the oven the witch went, and Gretel slammed the iron door shut. And that was the end of the wicked witch.

Gretel freed Hansel from the cage. They found the witch's treasure — chests full of pearls and jewels — and they filled their pockets.

They walked through the forest until they found a wide lake. A kind white duck carried them across, one at a time. And on the other side — there was their father's house.

Their father wept with joy. He had missed them terribly. The wicked stepmother was gone.

And with the witch's treasure, they never went hungry again.