On the edges of a vast and gloomy forest, where trees seem to intertwine their branches to hide the sky, lived a humble woodcutter with his wife and two children: Hansel, a boy with a bright look, and Gretel, his sister with a brave heart. Poverty had settled in their home like dense dust that could not be shaken off. Hunger was a constant presence that made their stomachs rumble and clouded the adults' judgment. One night, while scarcity squeezed more than ever, the stepmother, with a heart hardened by despair, whispered an atrocious plan into the woodcutter's ear: they would take the children to the deepest part of the undergrowth and abandon them there.
