There are houses made of candy (rewriting please don't read)

Once upon a time....1

There was a sleepy little village. The village was located in the middle of a dense forest and this village consisted of a couple of dozen homes. Each house had a triangular shaped roof that made the snow that came down during the winter slide off. Each cozy sleepy home consisted of a few people, usually a wife, a husband, and a few children. As one might guess, the small houses were crowded. Crowded also was the minute township. Each household supplied itself of food from their small but plentiful farms.2

One night as the harvest was ripening, a few thieves stole half of the vegetables and fruit. The villagers, upon awakening the next day, wept, as their hard work for which they labored had gone toward the bellies of the lowly thieves.3

In one of these homes was a widowed butcheress, who owned one of the biggest farms with domestic animals. She was known mostly for her meat pies. She noticed that, though some of her livestock was missing, most had been left alone, for who could have led a caravan away without being noticed.4

The villagers thought as long as her stock of animals held out, they would be fine. So the remaining half of the vegetables, fruit, and meat were spent wisely for the townspeople knew that they would never be too far away from famine. Through an ominous stroke of fate, some of the children had vanished. The people knew that the children were taken by the evil that lurked ever near their village. The town was surrounded by woods.5

The next year, as winter turned to spring, the vegetables and fruit were slowly becoming ripe and edible again. A drought came upon the tiny community, which lasted a month. Wells and rivers that were once so bountiful and full of fresh water barely moved the silt that rose past a pulsing trickle.6

Dried up, the food that went normally towards the hamlet died and were either forgotten or buried. The butcheress couldn't take it any longer. Her food and business were dying. She had barely enough to sustain herself. Though she had lived many years in her home near the woods, she could no longer stay. The next week she left the acursed settlement, hoping that villagers' bad luck would remain behind.7

A few years later, after the butcheress's difficult decision to leave the world she had known, there was in the middle of the thick forest a man of middle age. His dark skin and features were perfect for his sculpted face. The noticeably attractive man had two children.8

His children both had the fair hair and skin of their mother and the dark eyes of their father. Their names were Hansel and Gretel. Twins they were and motherless for their mother died of a disease unknown to the residents of the forest. Hansel and Gretel, who loved their father dearly, knew that he must venture into the forest where the creatures of darkness might dwell for he had taken the job of a woodcutter. The wage of a woodcutter was small, but large enough for a family of three and three only. He sold his wood to the nearest town, which was across the thick forest, which he traveled once a week.9

This man was constantly depressed for he loved his children dearly and worried about them. He believed that having a woman in his life would create a good change in their household. She would be able to look after and support the children when he went into the woods. She could take care of them if anything were to happen to him. He knew that without him, his son and daughter would be subjected to the dangers that lurked everywhere within the bleakness of the hollow woods.10

The next day through the thick forest he went. Getting deeper where new trees sprang up from the dead, fallen, or the old cut down stumps, there were the twisted canopy and branches entwined around each other almost blocking out the sun. Shadows moved and trees groaned as if they had been bad dreams. Creatures of the deep dark woods scurried, crawled, and slithered on appendages for they either wanted to run from or better view the human that dwelt in their midst.11

Dead fallen leaves rattled in the cool October air, allowing a host of noises to accumulate in the shade of the surrounding trees. The wood cutter was not a man to be scared, in fact; he was quite courageous, knowing the dangers of the forest fully. However, now, he felt cold and panicked. This feeling raked its fingers through his flesh, down his back and somehow the dampness of the woods seeped into his very bone marrow, into his hair. Goose bumps acuminated in rapid response to the beating of his youthful heart. Though the further he went, he knew going back was not an option.12

He pictured his children lost, alone, afraid without him and without his money they were all doomed, anyway. The woodsman continued forward looking back only once to the nonexistent path that was behind him. He moved ahead wanting only to get to the ancient trees that lived for centuries in the middle of the forest. The more he silently moved inward, the less the sound of crickets could be heard and the winds stilled. The woodsman was now completely eclipsed in darkness. Not a shread of light came through and his boots were now sinking an inch in the decomposed leaves and mud of the forest.13

Here the trees were wide and the essence of these gentle giants could not be comprehended. He kept on walking more enamored by the beauty of the wilderness, if it were not for the humming he would not have known he was not alone. His eyes drifted to the thing, the person standing in a clearing in the woods. The light there allowed the woodbines and the wood sorrel to climb to great heights, as its many hands tried grasping the sun. 14

The woodcutter was in awe as he looked up, astonished and looked back down to see a woman who stood in his path. Many plants and flowers seemed to spring and flourish in this spot where the dazzling sun seemed to sweep and care. It's harmony seemed untouched by humanity. He thought of this and realised she must be a nymph, a spirit of the forest, of the wood. No one, not even one such as himself, would live so close to these dreaded settings. He asked the young woman, "Are you a spirit?"15

She only smiled and replied, "No, I am human, same as you."16

"You can't be human," he responded. "For who would live here all alone? Where do you live? I see no suitable spot for a house, the forest is too thick and the ground is like quicksand. No one can live in such conditions."17

The youthful beauty just continued to smile at the woodsman. "I have a house not far from here," she cunningly replied. "As for you, I've never seen anyone here before. The people of the villages are all scared of the evil that dwells here. What I'm doing is picking herbs for food and medicine. What are you doing here? I doubt you'd be traveling this far into the woods without a noble cause or at least a purpose that you'd be willing to sacrifice your life for."18

That was true enough to an extent, though noble purposes were appointed to those who felt they had a right and just cause. While the two were talking, evil was preparing a plan....