Once upon a time in a large forest, there lived a poor lumberjack with his wife and two children, named Stoffel and Elsje. Winter had been severe that year, leaving the father little to earn. To add to their misfortune, he became very ill and died. Now his poor wife was left with her two children. Not much had remained of their savings; only just enough to keep them from poverty for a while. One day in spring – a cold, bleak day it was – the mother, being herself somewhat ill, was forced to send both her children into the forest to gather some wood, so that she could cook their dinner. The children obeyed willingly and went on their way.

At that time, Elsje was seven years old and Stoffel was six years of age. When they had finished gathering wood, they went home, but no matter which way they walked, they could no longer find the house. They were lost. Then they both began to weep. Elsje put the bundles of wood on the ground and took her little brother by the hand to try to find their way back once more. Finally they saw a cottage in the distance, which they decided to approach.

They thought, "There might be good people living there who will take us back to our mother." How surprised they were when they came to the house and saw that it was entirely made of chocolate and that the little windows were made of sugar. Since they had not had anything to eat since that morning, they had become very hungry. They assumed nobody was living in the house and since they could not hear anybody either, they began to break bits of chocolate off the house and eat them.

Just when they were very engaged with this, they heard a shrill woman's voice from inside calling:

Who's nibbling on my house?

Surely 'tis a little mouse.

She opened the chocolate door and came out, with her knitting in her hands. A grey cat followed her and an ugly owl sat on her shoulder. She was an old, ugly, skinny, bony, wrinkly, tawny woman-dressed in a floral pattern garment made of wool. And on her head she was wearing a big brown hat under which some grey hairs became visible. The witch had large, ugly, green eyes, overshadowed by bushy, grey eyebrows, a hairy, protruding chin, a long, pointed, black-spotted nose, and an amazingly large mouth with two long, crooked teeth sticking out on either side. Terrified, the children wanted to run away.

The ugly woman, however, called to them in a friendly manner: "Fear me not, dear little children, I will do you no harm."

The children turned around and Elsje said that they were lost and longed for their mother.

Whereupon the witch replied: "I will give you something to eat first."

Encouraged by the witch's friendly words, the children followed her inside. In the house, there was a clear fire burning in the hearth, with a large kettle of food over it. The children sat down at the chocolate table, drank from sugar cups, and ate from sugar plates.

They had had such a delicious meal, which had been so nourishing for them, that they were well able to face a night at the cottage, at the witch's request. After all, it was becoming too late and too dark to return to their mother that day. They got a nice feather bed each and slept more comfortably than ever before.

The next day, after having had a hearty breakfast, they thanked the woman for her cordial reception and also asked her to take them back to their mother. The woman answered their question, announcing that she was a witch, and that they could never leave the place again now that they had come to her. The children began to weep bitterly.

The witch said, "Weeping won't do you any good here! Now be silent and if you will always be obedient, you will have an agreeable and pleasant life here. If not, I will change the both of you into animals."

The last thing she said made such a great impression on the children that they stopped weeping. From now on, Elsje had to help the witch with her work. Stoffel was allowed to play, for the time being, until he was older. Every morning, the witch had to fetch water from the well at the back of the house. After the children had been there for three days, the witch ordered Elsje to come along with her to draw water-the witch intended to throw both children into the well; first Elsje, then Stoffel. But Elsje could not draw water, so the witch showed her how to do it. Due to the woman's impatience, though, she bent too far forward, fell into the well, and drowned. Although she was shocked by what had happened, Elsje was very glad. She freed Stoffel from the house and then they walked home.

In the meantime, the mother was in great fear when her children did not return. Every day, she went to a hill in the woods to have a better look around. On the third day she was back on the hill, she saw her children coming towards her. Full of joy, they embraced each other and Elsje told her everything.

The following day, they went to the house, and after some investigation, they found the witch's treasures in the cellar. All of a sudden, they were immensely rich. They bought a beautiful house with lovely lands, and they all lived happily ever after.

Then there was a pig with a long snout, which blew the entire story out. [1]