Hansel and Gretel is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, and published in Grimms' Fairy Tales.
Summary[]
Once upon a time, there were two children named Hansel and Gretel, whose father was a poor woodcutter. When famine came over the land, their stepmother decided that things would be better if they had two less mouths to feed, and convinced their father to take them out into the woods and abandon them there.
However, in the stepmother's carelessness, Hansel and Gretel had both overheard the entire plan. So, Hansel snuck out and gathered shiny stones. When they were being taken out to the woods, Hansel covertly left a trail of them, which they were able to follow back home. This prompted the stepmother to try again, this time locking their door so Hansel couldn't go out and gather pebbles again. The second time they were taken out to the woods, Hansel had to use crumbs from the bread they were given, which ended up being eaten by birds.
Hansel and Gretel were left lost in the woods, not knowing which way was home. They wandered for a time (three days, traditionally) before coming across a peculiar house made of gingerbread. The old woman who lived there invited them to stay and eat to their heart's content, which they did. Of course it turned out the old woman was really a witch, and the house was built to lure them to their doom.
Soon, Hansel was locked away to be fattened up, while Gretel became the household servant. Every day, the witch came by to check on Hansel. As she was blind, she had Hansel stick out his fingers to feel them. Gretel had the idea to have him use chicken bones to fool the witch, who grew increasingly impatient with Hansel's seeming lack of fattening.
Having enough, the witch decided to just go ahead and eat both Hansel and Gretel. She lured Gretel to the oven intending to cook her, but Gretel saw through this, and shoved the witch inside. While the witch burned to death, Gretel set Hansel free so they could both escape.
Traditionally at this point, Hansel and Gretel discover treasures that the witch had, and return home riding a large swan. However, this is not always included. Regardless, Hansel and Gretel made their way home to find that their stepmother was no longer around, allowing them to live happily ever after.