Jonah nods. “That part I got.”

“Good. Anyway, Hansel and Gretel lived with their father and their mean stepmother in a small cottage in the forest. They were very poor. One day, because they were running out of food, their stepmother convinced their father to send Hansel and Gretel away. She thought the kids were too expensive and she and the dad would be more likely to survive with fewer mouths to feed. Although their father loved them, he agreed.”

“Our dad wouldn’t agree to that,” Jonah says.

“And our mom wouldn’t suggest it,” I point out.

“Abby?” Jonah asks.

“Yeah?”

“How could they run out of food if there are vegetable fields all over the place?”

Hmm. “Well, the signs all say ‘Keep Out,’ so the people clearly aren’t allowed to take any of the vegetables. They probably get attacked by that horrible bird if they try.”

“Oh, right,” he says. “I wonder who owns the farms.”

“No idea,” I say. “Now back to the story. Hansel and Gretel heard their stepmother say she planned to abandon them deep in the forest. So, as they just told us, Hansel came up with the idea of leaving little white pebbles as they walked.”

“I would not want to be left out here by myself,” Jonah says as the treetops rustle hard in the wind. He shivers.

I nod. Me neither. “Well, because Hansel made a trail, they found their way home. Their dad was relieved. He felt terrible about abandoning them.”

“Go, Hansel and Gretel!” Jonah says, pumping his fist in the air. “But their stepmother must have been M-A-D.”

“Oh, she was,” I say. “And the next time there was a food shortage, the stepmom convinced the dad that they had to lose them in the forest again. But this time, Hansel couldn’t find any pebbles. The stepmother gave them one piece of bread to have for lunch, and then the parents led them into the woods. So Hansel decided to make a trail of bread crumbs by dropping little pieces of bread along the way.”

“Are those the bread crumbs Hansel is looking for now?” Jonah asks, nodding up ahead. Hansel and Gretel are still examining the dirt.

“Yes,” I say. “Except Hansel forgot that there are lots of birds in forests. And birds eat bread. When Hansel and Gretel wake up in the middle of the night to look for the trail, the bread crumbs are all gone.”

“But it’s not the middle of the night,” Jonah says, looking up at the still-light sky. “So maybe the bread crumbs could still be there now?”

“It’s possible,” I say, biting my thumbnail. “But then we’ve messed up the story.”

“Why, what’s supposed to happen?”

“Well, after they can’t find the bread crumbs, Hansel and Gretel walk and walk, deeper into the woods. They’re cold and scared and hungry. But then, all of a sudden, they hear a beautiful white snowbird singing. The bird is sitting on a branch, and then it starts flying. So they follow it.”