Hansel and Gretel Fairy Tale by the Brothers Grimm

Hansel and Gretel Fairy Tale Hansel and Gretel Fairy Tale Available in the public domain at: https://www.gutenberg.org/ Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little to bite and to break, and once when great dearth

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6 comments on “Hansel and Gretel Fairy Tale by the Brothers Grimm”

  1. Not only in remote past but even now we can find examples of stepmother with envious cruel behavior toward their spouse’s children. I think the mother’s love toward her child doese not have any substitute and at the other hand love is a two way pathway. I mean rarely a child can like his stepmother like his/her mother. The same is true for step mother love toward children.

    • Feedback:
      * at the other hand = on the other hand
      * rarely can a child love his stepmother (there must be an inversion here because of ‘rarely’)
      * not only in remote past but also now – not only …, but also

    • That is ‘disturbing’, and in this context, the children went on eating without disturbing themselves, it means that the children continued eating from the sweet house without any stop as they were so hungry.

  2. I found this story a bit strange. Especially by the stepmother’s behavior. I wonder why in most of the old children’s stories the stepmother has a cruel and envious character?
    And also the dad. How could he accompany with this horrific idea of his wife?
    And about the central theme, I think it can be greed.

    • Well, that’s an excellent question. In response, I can speculate that these stories have their origins in Old German and Finnish literature, like the works of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Cristian Anderson, for example, the Little Match Girl with the link below:
      https://lelb.net/the-little-match-girl-hans-christian-andersen/
      Seemingly, at that time (Old German and Finnish, between 1200 to 1600 AD), men used to re-marry several widows, and the widows who were normally poor wanted to be the only beneficiary of their husbands’ inheritance. That’s why they tended to be so callous and heartless toward their husbands’ children. This is just my speculation, though, which is never justifiable.

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