The Good Stepmother

    The old witch locked Hansel in a cage and set Gretel to clean the house. She planned to eat them both. Each night the children cried and begged the witch to let them go. Meanwhile, at home, their stepmother was beginning to wish she had never tried to get rid of the children. "I must find them," she said and set off into the forest.

    Many hours later, when her feet were tired from walking and her lips were dry from thirst, she came to the cottage belonging to the witch. The stepmother peeped through the window. Her heart cried out when she saw the two children.

    She picked up the broom leaning against the door and crept inside. The witch was putting some stew in the oven when the stepmother gave her an almighty push. The witch fell into the oven and the stepmother shut the door.

    "Children, I have come to save you," she said, hugging them tightly. "I have done a dreadful thing. I hope in time you will forgive me. Let me take you home and become a family again." They returned to their home and the stepmother became the best mother anyone could wish to have, and of course, they lived happily ever after.

"The witch fell into the oven and the stepmother shut the door". (Paragraph 4)

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