If you haven't already guessed it, a clue for you. It is a German folktale collected by the Grimm Brothers. It is a popular fairy tale of 2 kids!! Still haven't got it?? Well then surely you are a poor reader or a boy :P It is the greatest and the sweetest:
Hansel and Gretel
The tale goes about like this. ( at least my childhood version does) There are these 2 sweet kids Hansel and Gretel. They have a nice dad and a cruel stepmother. As the poverty in the family increases the step mom convinces the dad to lose the children in the forest! :O The first time the daddy tries to lose them Hansel smartly leaves a trail of pebbles to find his way back. Unfortunately he isn't second time lucky and the trail he uses (bread crumbs) are eaten by the birds and they are finally lost L
They somehow manage to find a way in the forest and finally find a house! And what a house it turns put to be! Chocolates, ice creams and all other yummy items are the ingredients which make the house!!
Hungry Hansel and Gretel relieve their hunger with this, that is where the ‘witch enters.
She seems to be kind and offers to take them inside. They too unwittingly oblige and find themselves caught as prisoners!
Hansel is locked in the cage and fed food so that he becomes fat enough to eat and Gretel is made to do the housework. However Hansel is rather intelligent and uses the witch’s blindness to fool her and shows her a chicken bone every time she comes to check his health improvement.
Soon the witch becomes restless and decides to take a bite even if he is weak. She asks Gretel to burn him (as if she would) but our babe acts dumb . So when the witch tries to show her how to light an oven Gretel pushes the witch into it!!
Tada! They had escaped! Also they took all the gold from the witch’s dwelling and go back to their home! <3 There they find that their step mom had died and that dad didn’t plan to have any more wives! So guys! Happily ever after!
Significance
However lame it may sound now, it is MY CHILDHOOD FAVORITE. I still remember my dad taking me to huge shop and getting me books when I was 2 or 3 ! My very first stories are Cinderella, Snow White and Hansel & Gretel. Out of it I chose this; many may pick the other two. However I always enjoyed this.
Maybe coz while the other 2 are related to finding love, this is more about escape, intelligence and WITCHES!Surely, now you would know what sort of kid I was :D
Analysis
Seriously, “analysis?”. Well more like an interpretation. I read the story yesterday, the first thing I should applaud is the simplicity of the words. When I read my own version of the story, I find some words my baby cousin can’t understand but blogs aren’t meant for them!
Next, the realities subtly put in the story: bad step mothers (cliché of course) , ‘influenced’ dads , lost in the forest , witches!! (Not exactly ‘real’ but they are substitutes for kidnappers) This is not the fairy land of Cinderella
Intelligence is a major factor too . Even a 3 year old cant be fooled to easily, I remember carrying bread crumbs and a cautious outlook whenever my parents took me outside!
Unlike Cinderella and Snow white, this just doesn’t end there it has a moral: Be cautious with strangers, even when their thatches are covered with chocolates!
There are some loop holes too! Stealing Gold is not advisable even though it is from the witch and I still can’t accept the dad being innocent and pushed over the edge (although accepted that 3 year olds don’t care much about it) Again killing the witch is also not advisable , thank god! They did not have ovens in my house when I was young!
Reading it now was so MUCH fun!!! I never Re read -even Harry potters. I thank Kid (in the front row) for giving me such a tempting opportunity. I am now thoroughly refreshed and am going to pass on this joy to every kid I know ;)
Kids today don’t know the fun of reading. Imagining stories can never be beaten by watching them .
I have taken up the reading challenge in Good reads ( 120 per year) but I am taking another one , a more relevant one.
‘ By Force or Freedom , by brochure or torture , I solemnly take up the challenge of making my younger cousins ( atleast 8 in number ) to take up to reading or at least listening.
by
SEMI :D
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