I’m made of sugar and spice and everything nice, but I wish I wasn’t so charming and sweet because a witch is using me as a trap.

Two little children have come along, a boy and a girl. It’s easy to see that they’re starved. They shout for joy when they see me, and they climb up on my roof. The little boy likes the taste of the cakes and the girl is nibbling on my clear sugar window panes.

A soft voice curls out of the chimney, and the witch asks, “Nibble, nibble, gnaw, who is nibbling at my little house?”

The children answer, “The wind, the wind, the heaven-born wind,” and go on nibbling without concern. Poor little children. They haven’t the first idea where they are!

The Gingerbread House in Hansel and Gretel, Grimms. Illustration by Charles Robinson.