Thanks to all our student who contributed...
“In short, fairy tales are such a picture that we can all find ourselves in it.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀La Fontaine



Near a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter and his wife, and his two children; the boy's name was Hansel and the girl's Gretel. They had very little to bite or to sup, and once, when there was great dearth in the land, the man could not even gain the daily bread. As he lay in bed one night thinking of this, and turning and tossing, he sighed heavily, and said to his wife, "What will become of us? we cannot even feed our children; there is nothing left for ourselves."…
His wife said; " You know, there's an orphanage at the end of the forest. Shall we leave the children there? At least they won't starve there. Besides, we can have them back when we're better off." His wife thought that they would live in better conditions in the orphanage than starving the children. The woodcutter, after some desperate thought, decided that this was the best solution
The orphanage was a tall towering building at the end of the forest. It was the headmaster was a very evil woman, but also a witch, he steals children's laughter with her powers, so she always looked happy. If the children in the orphanage that's why they always looked sad. It was also among the rumors that some families could not find their children when they went to pick them up.
Of course, Hansel and Gretel's family didn't believe any of that. The next day, the woodcutter told Hansel and Gretel of their decision. He said that he would take them back once their condition improved. The two brothers were very upset. They did not want to be abandoned from their parents. But they also realized that there was nothing they could do. Hansel and Gretel set off with their father, taking very little belongings of their own.
When Hansel and Gretel arrived at the orphanage with their father, they came across a very old dilapidated building. Hansel and Gretel got scared and hid behind their father. When their father knocked on the door, the headmaster of the orphanage confronted them. Their father told them that he loved them and would come back to take them. He hugged both of them and started walking away. Hansel looked around and realized that the rumors about the orphanage were true, but he did not say anything to Gretel. Hansel and Gretel hugged each other in fear. They followed the headmaster silently down the long dark corridor. After the headmaster unlocked a rusty door, the eerie sight of the dormitory appeared before the children.
The dormitory was empty and cold, but it bore traces of the other children. Muddy footprints on the floor, cracks in the walls, handprints and dirty sheets were the first things that caught their eye. Pointing to the bed in the farthest corner, the headmaster said to Gretel, "Get to the bed and wait there!" and left taking Hansel with him. After sitting on the edge of her bed anxiously for a while, Gretel heard voices coming from outside. She opened the door and started to listen to the voices coming from the opposite room.
The headmaster was shouting and Hansel was crying with a sigh. After a while the headmaster came out of the room with Hansel but there was something strange...Hansel was very unhappy. Gretel was asking what was wrong but Hansel was not talking at all. The headmaster shouted at both of them, "Go to the cafeteria at once!" They noticed there were many children in the cafeteria. But one boy caught their attention. Gretel said "Hey what's your name?" The boy with the scar on his face turned to Gretel and said, "...Mark". Hansel "How did you get here?" Mark said "A long time ago..."

Mark stopped saying anything else. Gretel noticed Mark's glazed eyes and she was determined to find out what had been wrong with this orphanage. Both Gretel and Hansel came up with an idea to convince Mark to say something more about his feelings. So, they invited him to their room that night at midnight to talk in secrecy. Mark looked a little bit terrified but he admitted he would come.
They sat down on the sofa in the darkness and Mark felt quite safe to reveal the truth. He whispered words 'Look, we must find a way to run away from this place. Our headmaster is a witch that uses hypnosis tactics to make all these children extremely unhappy. Actually they feel depressed and this gave the headmaster an advantage in controlling their emotions. She felt that in this way the truth would not come out because everyone would be sad and no one would talk to anyone.

They took a sheet of paper and a pencil to draw a possible escape plan as Mark had mentioned that there were some mysterious doors which could lead to the exit. Suddenly the headmaster appeared at the doorstep and shouted: "What the hell are you doing here?"
The kids were frozen. The witch immediately grabbed the papers and started to laugh with her cracky voice as she said "Well well well...Look at those cockroaches who are trying to escape. "Her eyes were full of anger, "Don't even think about it ever again or you'll end up where the others did. "Later she closed her eyes and as she started whisper some magical words the kids started to feel the sadness covering their souls. The witch took them to a hypogeum where there was nothing but darkness. The witch was punishing them for an indefinite period. They were scared so they sat in silence until a letter came out of nowhere.
They immediately opened it,
"Stay calm and wait till tomorrow night, i'll take you to the first door."
The kids got curious and impatient as the time passed. Later on, a gold shiny key appeared in the hand of a cloaked wizard. Suddenly they were in front of a door adorned with crystals. The wizard left them leaving a map which leads to an orb that had to be found. Kids got around and defeated sharp toothed, big clawed creatures on their way. They found the orb after almost losing many parts of their bodies. When they touched the orb a massive amount of light came out and sparkled all over them. It was magical. They walked out of the new gate and found the witch awaiting. With the orb on their hands they were powerful enough to fight her but something didn't feel right. Who was the wizard, why did he help them, what were they going to do? There were so many questions and so little time.
The three children tried to use the orb to fight the witch but was needed a magic word. Suddenly the wizard appeared and suggested it . Thanks to the orb, the protagonists transformed the witch into a statue and abandoned her in the basement of the orphanage. Once the witch had been eliminated, Hansel, Gretel and Mark were happy again and the wizard got rid of the spell and revealed his identity.
When the three children saw him, they were surprised because the wizard was the cook of their canteen. They took the orb with them and went back home through the forest. Hansel and Gretel's parents were very surprised to see their children and asked them how they managed to get there. they answered and told them about the adventure they had just lived and the advantages that the orb could give them. So the children, along with their friend Mark and their parents, lived happily ever after, no worries about money.

MY ONLINE AUDIO LIBRARY
An International eTwinning Project
Hansel and Gretel is a classic tale that has been passed down through generations. The Brothers Grimm tell us the story of these two brothers, whom their father abandons in the forest. This version, which was created collaboratively by students from several countries, is a retelling that will delight all readers.
