I have never been a huge fan of the fairytale Hansel and Gretel. I don’t know what it is about the story, but it has never really grabbed my attention or kept me interested long enough to learn the ending.  When I think of a good fairytale, I think of Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast, a story that has a happily every after.

         

           Hansel and Gretel deals primarily with struggles a typical peasant family experiences. It shows the fear of starvation within the family and the decisions the children’s parents chose in order to save themselves rather then their own children. The idea of cannibalism was also incorporated into most of the stories. The parent’s decision was unexpected to me, because the thought of ditching your own children or killing and eating your children to save your life never really occurred. Although in each story one of the parents disapproves of the decision to leave the children, the agreement of letting it actually happen is cruel and unacceptable.

Although the Hansel and Gretel fairytales are typically a young brother and sister, my favorite version was Little Thumbling by Charles Perrault, which had seven young brothers.  I think the moral of the story was what I loved the most, which was that the “runt” of the boys was the one to overcome the obstacles and whom strived to work for his family’s happiness.  It was unexpected to see the brother who was so sickly save all of his brothers while still having so much fear for his own life.  This story was different from the others in that the father was the parent who suggested they leave their children while the mother stood reluctant against the decision. Also this story had an ogre who liked to eat children rather than a wicked witch trying to lure children in with her candy house or stepmothers who were jealous of the children who weren’t their own.

It was interesting to see how each story had similar characteristics but yet were so different in style and character. I think what caught my eye in Little Thumbling was that it was so different from the others and had unexpected twists that I didn’t get from the previous stories I had read. I like when the characters get their own happily ever after and this family certainly did.