What is the moral of Hansel and Gretel?

Stay together, stay calm and use your wits. It also warns that something that looks too good to be true, like a house made of sweets, may be a trap.

Who wrote Hansel and Gretel?

It is a German folk tale collected and published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. In their first edition the children's own mother sends them away; later editions made her a stepmother.

Was the witch's house really made of gingerbread?

In the Grimms' text the house is built of bread, with a cake roof and windows of clear sugar. The gingerbread house became the standard picture later, helped along by Engelbert Humperdinck's 1893 opera Hansel and Gretel.

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Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 3:58

Hansel and Gretel

Lost in the woods, Hansel and Gretel find a house made of cake and sugar, and a witch who wants them for dinner. A gentle retelling of the Grimm tale.

Narrator

Hansel

Gretel

Father

Stepmother

The Witch

The White Duck

0:000:00

Other languages · 2 languages

🇨🇳 中文 🇺🇸 English

About this story

Hansel and Gretel is a German folk tale published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, in the first volume of their Children's and Household Tales. This bedtime version keeps the pebbles, the breadcrumbs, the sugar house and the chicken-bone trick, but softens the ending: Gretel locks the witch in her cold oven instead of burning her, and the stepmother moves to town instead of dying.

What it teaches

Hansel and Gretel stick together and keep their heads when things go wrong. Clever thinking can get you out of a scary place, and something that looks too sweet to be true often is.

Suits

Ages 4–8

Tips for telling it

Chant the witch's nibble-nibble rhyme together, and let your child answer with the wind's reply.
Pause after Gretel asks the witch to show her, and ask what she's planning.
If the forest feels scary, tell your child early on that the children get home safe.

Questions people ask

What is the moral of Hansel and Gretel?: Stay together, stay calm and use your wits. It also warns that something that looks too good to be true, like a house made of sweets, may be a trap.
Who wrote Hansel and Gretel?: It is a German folk tale collected and published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. In their first edition the children's own mother sends them away; later editions made her a stepmother.
Was the witch's house really made of gingerbread?: In the Grimms' text the house is built of bread, with a cake roof and windows of clear sugar. The gingerbread house became the standard picture later, helped along by Engelbert Humperdinck's 1893 opera Hansel and Gretel.

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