Hansel and Gretel, How it Should Have Gone...

Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Well-known Tale

              
                  Once Upon A Time...
     Hansel tossed the slop into the pig trough and wiped his brow. He looked up to the sky to see that the sun was starting to set, signaling the end of the day, and his chores.
     He walked to the barn and hung the bucket in it's normal place next to the hay bales and fed Rosie, his favorite of the horses, some oats.
     "Good work today girl..." He said to the horse with a loving smile, they always worked together during the chores that required heavy lifting since Hansel's dad was always at the market selling meat and wood at the nearby town.
     He wasn't a bad father for leaving his children to do the chores...since he didn't know. Six years after Hansel's first mother died giving birth to Gretel, Hansel's little sister, their father remarried to a seemingly kind woman, but really, she only married him for his money. Their mother had made wonderful pies that the nearby town adored, and it got the family seemingly wealthy over time, and after she died, they had a backup supply of money that they spent wisely and maintained it by selling meat and wood. After their father remarried though...she started to deplete whatever money she could from their savings, and they quickly became poor. Out of her anger from not having all the money in the world, she forced the children to do all the chores around the house, on the small farm, and didn't let them go to school.
     Hansel went to go get Gretel at the blackberry bushes, since she didn't know how to tell time from the sun yet. He found her on her knees rifling through the bush for any dead leaves or branches since it was only fall and they weren't supposed to ripen yet. She had cuts on her arms, knees and even her face!
     "Gretel, are you alright?!" He exclaimed as he went over to inspect her flesh wounds.
     "No...not really, but Miss Lucinda told me that these cuts would heal and if I stopped before I was supposed to she would make sure they wouldn't!" She said with tears in her eyes.
     "Oh, Gretel.." He hugged her then led her to the creek about a yard from the farm so she could wash out her cuts, then they walked back home to tell their mother the chores were finished.
              *Time Lapse~1 hour*
     As their father rode down the gravel road with a cart full of (sadly) unsold items, he still had a smile on his face when he saw his children running down the road to greet him.
     "Daddy!" Both children shouted as they gave him a hug.
     "Oho! I swear you children are either getting bigger every day or I'm just getting older! Now where's your mother?"
     "She's de-" Gretel started, but Hansel put a hand over her mouth before she could finish and say "She's dead."(Referring to their ACTUAL mother.)
     "Over there, in the stables." He said pointing. As their father walked away, he gave Gretel a glare and started to put the unsold dried meat in the shed where they kept it.
     Whenever he walked by, he could slightly hear his father and Miss Lucinda talking and decided when he was done packing away the meat he would eavesdrop...
     "So, it seems you've been working hard Lucinda! I hope the children have helped with some of the chores." The father said.
     "Oh, yes I have been working hard thank you for noticing! The children...they've been by the creek, and even if I give them one simple job they don't seem to really listen to me."
     "I'm sorry dear, you shouldn't have to work so hard..."
     Hansel ran off, angry at Lucinda, but also at his father for being so clueless, she didn't even have a drop of sweat on her! He found his sister sitting in the small patch of grass near the creek with her doll, this is the only time they had freedom from Lucinda, even in sleep they are haunted with nightmares of her, so Hansel didn't really want to interrupt her time of peace, but he wanted to for once prove Lucinda wrong!
     "Gretel, come with me, I'll explain later."
     "Wait, Hansel why?" Gretel said as he dragged her to the barn. Hansel didn't answer and just led her through the entrance in front of where their father and Lucinda were talking.
     "Hansel, what is all this abou-? Gretel! My dear, what happened?!" Their father said as he knelt down to inspect her cuts on her face.
     Lucinda gasped as she knelt as well before Gretel, even though the children knew that she knew full well why Gretel had all of those cuts.
     "She did this!" Gretel shouted, pointing at Lucinda. Lucinda looked taken aback with a look of fake shock on her face as she stood up.
     "Is this true?" Their father said standing as well.
     "Of course not!" She exclaimed as she put a hand over her heart.
     "Yes, she did," Hansel said with anger in his voice, "we also do all the chores around the farm, not her! She's  evil!"
     "Why would you say such things?" Lucinda said with fake tears pooling in her eyes. "All I wanted was to be your mother, but I see that I am nothing to you children..." She cupped her face in her hands then ran to the house.
     The children looked at their father with pleading eyes, but the father gave them both angry glances before running after Lucinda.

(Author's Note: This was really a chapter to look into the home life of the children, but the story will really begin next chapter! Hope you enjoyed!!☺️)