Gingerbread: USCan

AN: this is something i actually wrote months ago, so i was lucky to find it again and edit it a bit since it needed some work
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Gingerbread

Once upon a time, near a large forest, there lived a poor woodcutter, Arthur, his wife, and two sons.  They were twins and their names were Alfred and Matthew.  They had very little to eat and the woodcutter was unable to afford to feed his family for much longer.

One night, as he thought of this, he said to his wife, who was the children's stepmother, "what can we do? There isn't enough for neither our children nor ourselves."

"I will tell you what we can do," the wife began, "we will take the children into the thickest part of the forest early in the morning; we will make them a fire and give them each a piece of bread, then we will go to our work and leave them alone.  They will never find the way home again and we won't have to worry about feeding them."

"No," Arthur said, "I cannot do that.  I cannot find it in my heart to take my children, my only sons, into the forest and to leave them there alone; they could get killed by wolves or bears."

"Oh you fool," she replied, "then all four of us will starve!"

The two children had not been able to sleep, their stomachs aching and hungry, had heard what their stepmother had said to their father.  Matthew began to cry and told Alfred, "It's over for us."

"Hush, Mattie," Alfred said gently, wrapping his arms around the other, "and don't cry.  I'll think of something." He always seemed to know just what to say to make his dear twin happy.

The next morning, just before the sun rose, the wife came and pulled the children out of bed.  She gave them each a piece of bread and they set off into the forest.  Alfred had crumpled his piece in his pocket, and along the way would pause to drop a piece on the path.  When they reached the farthest part of the woods, the father asked them to collect wood and he built them a fire.  Once the fire was blazing, the stepmother said, "sit here, children and when you are tired, go to sleep.  We are going to cut wood, and when were ready to go home, we will come and get you."

The two boys sat by the fire.  At noon, Matthew shared his bread with his brother, for his was used to mark the path.  Though it seemed like their father was in the forest cutting wood, the sounds they thought were his ax was actually that of a branch hanging from an old tree swinging to and fro.  After some time, the children fell asleep from waiting so long.  When they awoke, it was night and their father hadn't come for them.  

Matthew gave a pitiful sigh and asked, "How will we ever get out of the woods?" but Alfred comforted him and replied, "It's okay.  Just wait a while, until the moon rises, and then we can follow the bread and find our way home."

When the moon rose, shining like a second sun in the sky, the two brothers got up and searched for the trail of crumbs, but they couldn't find any.  Birds had come and eaten the crumbs on the path.

They walked all that night, and by the next day, still couldn't find their way out, and had become hopelessly lost.  They had gotten very hungry, managing to only find small berries for food.  Out of exhaustion and hunger, the two fell asleep under a tree.

After awakening, they tried once more to find the way home, but had grown starved.  It was then they saw a tiny yellow bird fluttering about their heads, making little 'piyo' sounds.  They followed the little bird deep into the woods, until it landed upon the roof of a house; a tasteful house.

The house's walls were made of gingerbread and its roof was of cake.  The window frames were made of maple candies and licorice and the window glass was made of sugar.  

"We can eat some off this house," Alfred smiled, "I will eat some of the roof and Mattie, you can eat some of the window. I know how much you like maple!"

The brothers then began nibbling and gnawing on the house at whatever they could reach.  Everything tasted delicious and sweet, they began to wonder who would live in such a house.  It was then that a woman came out of the house and the two stopped eating.  The woman appeared to be old, with long platinum hair covering her face and she had a cloak draped around her as she leaned against a cane.

"Oh, Children," she said in a sweet, heavily accented voice, "What are you doing out here?  Come inside and stay with me.  I do not mind you eating my house."

She took them each by a hand and led them inside.  On the table was a hearty meal of cakes and fruits and breads and such delicious treats for the twins.  Upstairs the beads were fluffy and warm and as soon as they laid in them, they fell asleep.

However, the woman wasn't as kind as she seemed; she had faked a sweet voice and built the house in order to entice young children so she could fatten them, cook them, and then eat them.  In fact, she wasn't even a woman! but a warlock, who though he had lost most of his sight back when his sister had nearly blinded him in a fit of rage, he could sense children, like a beast.  Hearing the two asleep in the upstairs room, he smiled to himself, darkly chuckling, "They shall not escape, and what a feast I'll have."

Early the next morning, the man came into their room and pulled Alfred from his bed, and locked him in a cage in a nearby shed.  He shouted and hollered to warn Matthew, but it was useless.  The man then went back to Matthew and shook him awake.  Though he wore a smile on his face, it was devilish and his face was dark and evil.

"Get up and cook something nice for your brother, Da?" he said to the child in a dark voice, "he must be fattened up, and when he's fat enough, I will cook him."

Matthew cried bitterly, but did what the warlock told.  He was a weak and obedient child, compared to his brother, so he couldn't fight back.  As he prepared a meal of pancakes and jellies for his brother, he had tears running down his face.  Once the food was done and taken out to Alfred, the man gave the poor brother leftover scraps.

Each morning, Matthew would cook food for the man and his brother, and when the warlock would take the food to the shed, would cry as he cleaned the house.  Each time Alfred was fed, the man would check his fatness by the boy's finger.  Though, Alfred knew the man had bad eyes and would hold out a chicken bone, thus causing him to think he wasn't gaining weight.

One day, the warlock wouldn't wait any longer.  He called to Matthew and the weak child approached the man, ringing his hands in the frilly apron he was forced to wear.

"Now Matvey," the man said, mispronouncing the child's name, "be quick and draw water.  I'm eating your brother whether he's fat or not."

The poor boy was devastated.  How was he going to save Alfred?  Alfred had always been the one to help him out in times of trouble; he was his hero.  When the warlock left, Matthew prayed to God, asking him why they weren't just eaten by wolves back in the woods then at least they both could die together.

"No use praying," the man said, hearing the weak prayer, "they are of no avail."

He instructed Matthew to gather wood and build a fire and set the kettle, something about 'baking first'.  Once the preparations were made, he motioned the child to the oven.

"Check to see if it's hot enough," the man said, giving the child a light shove on his bottom towards the flames.  The plan was to have Matthew creep in, and then have the door shut on him and bake him to be eaten.  Trembling, Matthew looked towards the flames.  Suddenly, an idea struck him and he turned towards the warlock.

"I don't know how to tell," he said in the most innocent voice he could muster, large violet eyes staring up at the other, "and how shall I get in?"

"You're so stupid, Da?" the man smiled, darkly annoyed, "the opening is big enough for you.  Look, even I could fit."

He stooped low and stuck his head in the mouth of the oven.  Just then, Matthew shoved as hard as he could, pushing the warlock into the flames and locking it up.  The noises that could be heard were by far the most terrifying that had ever existed.  He trembled and shook, severely frightened, then jumped back in shock when the warlock shouted something along the lines of, "I underestimated my Matvey!" before all noise was silenced.  He was dead.

Quickly, the boy ran to the shed and pulled the door open wide.  "Alfred!" he cried to his brother, "He's dead! Were free!"  He freed the other from the cage and Alfred hugged his dear brother tightly, kissing his head and smiling and laughing in the joy of not being killed.  No longer in fear, the two wandered back into the warlock's house and found a room that held money and precious stones; taking as much as they could fit in their pockets, the two brothers left the house.

The problem was the two still didn't know the way home.  They came across a stream of water.  From what they could remember, they knew their home wasn't far from here, but there was no way to cross it.  There wasn't a bridge or a boat, but they did see a white bear drinking from the stream.

"Excuse me!" Matthew called, "May we ride your back to get across the stream?"

The bear nodded, and the two climbed onto his back.  Slowly, he waded in the stream, but grunted seeing both of them were too heavy for him to swim with.

"You go first," Alfred said, already getting off.

Before Matthew could protest, the bear waded back into the water, carrying him across.  It then swam back and carried Alfred to join his twin on the other side.  They thanked him, and hurried off.  As the trees became more and more familiar, they soon spotted their father in the distance.  They cried out to him and, happy that his children were alive, he welcomed them in his arms.  Their stepmother had died, and Arthur's heart had ached since the day he left his sons in the woods, but no more; the boys soon showed the contents of their pockets and their father wept with joy.  They were soon able to live a great and long happy life together.  The end.