By Angela Perry and Keri Asbridge
I’m sure you’ve all heard our story before. Our father remarried a mean old woman and we got sent into the woods with nothing more than a loaf of bread to sustain us. We ran into a hag’s house and narrowly escaped being toasted in an oven, right? Wrong.
That isn’t how it really went. People came up with that story to cover up how great running away ended up for us. They figured if they could take a successful run away and make it horrifying that kids would never try it, but I feel obligated to inform other kids in my previous situation about the wonders of the world and what is in store for those that are willing to look. This is the real story of Hansel and Gretel.
Hansel and I loved to be outside. We were outside from dawn to dusk every day and sometimes we’d sneak out to look at the stars together. Our little cottage backed up to some dark but beautiful woods. That is where our story really starts.
Our father remarried after our mom passed away and I’ve never had an easy time getting along with my “new mommy�. That night was especially bad. We had a big argument that led to her telling me to leave and me doing it. I stormed out the door with my clothes in a bag and Hansel rushing about the cottage trying to collect his things. I briskly walked into the dark void ahead of me and left him behind.
I heard the faint sound of footsteps pounding on the soft ground behind me and felt Hansel’s presence. Before I knew it we were side by side. “I...got us some... bread!” He gasped out between breaths. “Want me to leave a trail so we can find our way back home?” “No Hansel, we won’t be going home again” I explained to him. He scoffed, “sure we won’t.”
Hansel and I continued on, I walking quickly, and him jogging to keep up. We soon began to smell a mouth watering aroma. Him and I were raised relatively poor, but we knew better than to steal anything and father thought poorly of beggars. I looked at the mesley scrap of bread that Hansel had snatched before we stormed out of the cottage and my stomach rumbled. I grabbed the bread, split it in two, and took a bite.
“Ugh, why does it taste like dirt Hansel. I know it isn’t the freshest but I am fairly certain mud isn’t in the recipe.” “Well... I may have dropped it once or twice. It wasn’t my fault though! You were walking so quickly and my hands got real sweaty and the bread slipped a few times.” I looked at the bread with distaste and spit out what I had in my mouth. I was hungry but I would not eat dirty sweaty bread.
Another soft breeze brought the tantalizing smell back to me. It danced on the wind, teasing my senses and my stomach growled in protest. The two of us hadn’t eaten since early that morning. We skipped lunch to stay sitting on the riverbank and take in the beauty around us. Now I was starting to regret that.
Hansel and I discussed what we were going to do and we decided that we’d settle down here and sleep for a bit before continuing on in the morning.
I was woken up by the smell of something sweet and looked down to a large stack of pancakes laying beside me. “Hansel! Hansel, wake up! I exclaimed excitedly while shoving two of the fluffy pancakes into my mouth at once. I threw a pancake at his face and scarfed down another one. We both ate quickly in silence and laid back down, content that the dragons in our stomachs had finally quit their painful thrashing and loud rumbling. As I was laying there I realized that we were in the middle of the forest, and unless I was mistaken, pancakes were not natural inhabitants here. I grabbed Hansel’s arm and yanked him to his feet. “Get up lazy bones, I want to see who provided our breakfast.”
I followed the scent of cinnamon until we came across a clearing. In the middle stood a plain little cottage even smaller than ours. There was a pillar of smoke coming from the chimney and I determined that that was the immaculate smell that we had been trailing since yesterday. I wasn’t sure how a smell could travel that far, she must have been baking up a storm in there.
“Alright Hansel, here’s the plan. We both know you have no manners so I’ ll do all the talking and you keep your mouth shut and speak as little as possible. Maybe I can sweet talk us into a place to stay for a few nights.” Hansel and I sashayed up to the door both with big smiles on our faces. I gave two swift knocks and we waited.
The door flew open and I gasped. Inside stood the ghastliest looking women I’d ever laid my eyes on. She was short with a hunched back and wispy gray hair. She had a large hooked nose and little squinty eyes and was so pale it seemed as if she hadn’t seen the light of day in years. Warts peppered across her face like freckles on sun kissed skin. The woman looked us up and down and gave us a toothy grin.
“Ahh I’ve been waiting on you my sweets.” she exclaimed. “You are late. I was not anticipating you stopping for a nap on the way to my humble abode. Nonetheless you are still welcome here” she crooned. Her voice came out squeaky and high pitched. I cleared my throat and gave her my best smile. “Thank you for welcoming us into your lovely home madam, but may I ask how you knew we were coming?”
She threw her head back and cackled as if I’d just told the funniest joke she’d heard in a while. I grabbed Hansel’s hand and squeezed it. I was scared and I wanted to bail. He took that as a cue to step in. “We sure do appreciate the offer but I think it’d be best if we left now. We just wanted to say thanks for dropping the pancakes off for breakfast.”
“Oh nonsense dear. You will stay with me my pets� With that she grabbed my wrist and yanked me inside. She had a surprisingly firm grip for such a small looking lady. The door slammed shut behind us and I glanced around nervously. It looked fairly ordinary, a wooden framed bed with straw stuffing spilling out the sides, a small dining table, and a dresser. The one thing that was off in the room was the size of the fireplace. It was obvious that she used it to cook with, maybe that was why it was so large. The smell in the cottage was mouth watering and I looked around for the source.
The smell seemed to be coming from the fireplace. She caught me staring at it and said “Soon enough deary, I have just the place to send you.� Confused I took a step towards Hansel and stood behind him. The old women looked at us for a second more before she began bustling about the small kitchen grabbing powders galore. She carried the bundle over to the fireplace and began throwing in pinches and dashes and cup fulls of colorful ingredients. The fire danced and the flames licked up the walls of the chimney flashing color after color while the woman methodically chanted in a language I couldn’t understand.
A warm breeze swirled around the room and the fire shone a brilliant white. I was instantly drawn to it. I looked back up at the old woman and stared at her. “Who are you?” I whispered quietly . “I am Maleficent young one, and I believe your new home is ready.”
She pulled out a chair at her table and motioned for me to sit. I hesitantly walked over to her and did as asked. “The Great Fire of Elfars is a way of transportation in the world I come from. It is harder to access from here, that is why I had to enchant the fire. Usually you simply picture where you want to go, and jump. My world is a place of happiness and love, you will find peace there. I foresaw you coming and had a lovely home prepared for you. All you have to do is step through the flames�
I got up and grabbed Hansel and walked with him to the corner of the room. “Should we do it? Should we go? What of the future that we have here? How would we make money there?” I asked. “I think this is an opportunity that we cannot pass up. We can work things out, we always do. It has to be better than what we had here” he said.
“Alright, we’ll go.” I told her. “But we can come home whenever we want, right?” “That’s where it gets a little tricky, If your father and stepmother miss you enough I’ll give them the opportunity to go in with you. Otherwise it’s an all or nothing deal.”
I knew if I stayed much longer to think about it I would talk myself out of it. “Okay, so what do we do to get there?” I asked. “Just walk into the fire?” “Yes.” she replied simply. I steeled my nerves, grabbed Hansel’s hand, and stepped into the fire.
Suddenly we were no longer in the fireplace of Maleficent's cottage. All their was was white. My whole body felt tingly in an almost painful way and the heat was uncomfortable, worse yet was the stomach dropping feeling that you get when you’re falling.
Hansel and I tumbled out of a fireplace all tangled up. As I was trying to put my shoe back on correctly I heard Hansel gasp. I looked up quickly, accepting something bad but instead found that I was in a beautiful home.
The floor was several colors of brown and smelled like chocolate and the walls were the color of caramel with delicate swirls of chocolate brown mixed in. The windows panes were a creamy white and the sofa looked like colorful fluffy cake. The entire place smelled absolutely heavenly. Sweets, I’ d decided. They were all sweets.
Hansel and I wandered outdoors and were greeted with a thick dark chocolate road winding down the center of a cute town that appeared to be made of gingerbread, icing, and some type of colorful blocks that were at the base of every home and used for the pathways beside the main road. A red and white striped bridge soared above a milky white river and enormous icecream cone mountains stood proudly in the distance.
We were so caught up in the beauty of the place that we didn’t even notice the large group of people that had started to come around us. “Who are you” a little boy called out. “I am Gretel and he is Hansel” I introduced. “We didn’t mean to intrude on your lovely village. We can leave if we are a disturbance. Although I don’t really know where we would go.”
“Don’t be silly, please do stay. We baked a home for you already and everything! Join our family, it would be absolutely sugarlicious!” said the young boy. Hansel and I looked at each other and grinned. It sounded really nice to be able to have a family again. We accepted their invitation to stay and the whole town threw a party that lasted for a week. Living here has been the most amazing experience anyone could ever ask for.