Brothers Grimm (Hunt) - Reading Diary

For my week 14 extra reading, I chose to read part of the Brothers Grimm unit from Margaret Hunt. The first story in this unit is one that most people have heard of: the story of Hansel and Grethel. This story is about a family that is having a difficult time providing food for themselves and their children, Hansel and Grethel. The mother tells the father that they should take the children out to the middle of the forest and leave them there. The father said that he did not want to let his children die like that, but the mother was persistent about the plan until he agreed. The whole idea was that by getting rid of the children, the parents will have enough food to feed themselves. Hansel and Grethel overheard the conversation, though. Later on that night, Hansel went outside where he saw several small white pebbles being lit up by the moon. He gathered as many as he could carry and put them in his pockets. The next day, the parents did as they planned and took the children out to the forest and left them. But Hansel had planned for that. On the way out to the forest, he left a trail of the white pebbles. The two waited until the sun came out and lit up the rocks and then followed them home. The parents tried the same thing again, and this time Hansel had only made a trail of breadcrumbs, which were eaten by animals. They did not find their way home, but instead they found their way to a house in the forest. The owner of the house, who happened to be a witch, fed them a great meal. She planned on cooking the children, but she wanted to fatten them up first. Eventually, Grethel tricked the witch into getting into the oven, though, and she locked her in there. The children then gathered all of the jewels and pearls from the house and found their way back home, where they brought happiness to their father who never wanted to see them leave in the first place.  

(Drawing of Hansel and Grethel walking through the forest. Source: Wikipedia)