Sample
from
Traditional Fairy Stories
Raintree English Readers
Grade 1
retold by
Marian Wu
Hansel and Gretel
Once, near a big dark forest, there lived a man and his wife. They had two lovely children --a boy and a girl. The boy was called Hansel, the girl was called Gretel. The man and his wife were very poor. They and their children were always hungry..
'Dear wife, we have no food for our children,' the man said one evening. 'They go to bed hungry every night. What can we do?'
'Husband, I know what we must do. We must take the children into the forest. We must leave them there,' said this wife.
'I cannot leave our children alone in the forest. They will die,' said the man.
But the wife kept talking, and the man kept listening. At last, he said, 'You are right. We must leave the children in the forest. Perhaps someone will find them. Perhaps someone will give them food to eat.'
The children were in bed, but they were not sleeping. They were hungry. They heard their mother and father talking. Gretel started to cry.
'Don't cry, Gretel. I'll think of something,' Hansel said.
That night, Hansel looked out of the window. The moon was high in the sky. Hansel could see some little white stones on the path in front of the house. Hansel thought about that. Then he knew what to do.
The man and his wife went to bed. Soon the house was quiet. Hansel got up and went outside. He put some of the stones into his pockets. Then, very quietly, he went back to bed.
More of this and other stories in
Traditional Fairy Stories
retold by
Marian Wu
Raintree English Readers
Grade 1
ISBN 967 65 4156 7
This text is copyright Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd. (008974-T) 1998.
If you can read this sample easily, you can enjoy any Raintree English Reader in Grade 1.
Return to the Raintree English Readers bibliography
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