Tarlac Dike

TITLE:

HANSEL AND GRETEL

CHARACTERS:

* Hansel  – A young boy who lives with his sister and parents in a cottage in the woods. He cleverly figures out how to escape from the witch.

* Gretel – Hansel’s sister. She follows Hansel’s advice to free them both from the evil witch.

* The Witch – An evil old woman who lives deep in the forest. She captures Hansel and Gretel, puts a spell on them, and intends to bake them in her magic oven.

* Mother (Gertrude) – Hansel and Gretel’s mother. She sends them out of the forest to collect berries for dinner, and is frantic when she realizes that they might be lost.

* Father (Peter) – Hansel and Gretel’s father, a maker and seller of brooms. He is distraught when he learns that his wife sent the children off alone into the strange forest.

* Sandman – A mysterious old man who sprinkles Hansel and Gretel with a magic dust, making them sleepy.

* Dew Fairy – She sprinkles the children with dew to wake them after a night of refreshing sleep. 

SETTING:

The home of Hänsel and Gretel, medieval Germany

EVENTS:

Hansel and Gretel are the young children of a poor woodcutter. When a great famine settles over the land, the woodcutter's second, abusive wife concocts a plan to take the children into the woods and leave them there to fend for themselves, so that she and her husband, with two fewer mouths to feed, might not starve. The woodcutter opposes the plan but finally, and reluctantly, submits to his wife's scheme. They are unaware that in the children's bedroom, Hansel and Gretel have overheard them. After the parents have gone to bed, Hansel sneaks out of the house and gathers as many white pebbles as he can, then returns to his room, reassuring Gretel that God will not forsake them.

The next day, the family walks deep into the woods and Hansel lays a trail of white pebbles. After their parents abandon them, the children wait for the moon to rise and illuminate the pebbles. They return home...