Hansel and Gretel

Contents of a discovered Grimoire, discovered in a rotting house, deep in the Eyre Forest in the Great Weald.

''A long, long list of old, mostly illegible spells, look to be mainly for housekeeping, but with some interesting conjuration and transmutation magic. There are some newer entries that look like a novice's attempts at healing magic, but they are amateurish and flawed.''

A journal stretching back many, many years.

Here are the last few entries in the journal:

February 23
Today was windy, dry, and very cold, which means it was an excellent time to go looking for frostsprites and maybe some glaciegelum. These old bones don't move so quickly as they once did, so I left early in the morning to make sure I could make full use of the little daylight there is this time of year. I didn't come back until late evening, and when I returned, there was quite a surprise! Two young children had somehow stumbled upon my house in my absence!

My first thought was that I'll need to attend to the perimeter wards at earliest convenience, but that had to wait. The poor things were frostbitten and hollow-cheeked, and needed my help desperately. I caught the girl nibbling at the eaves, which were chocolate (of course), and the boy seemed to have eaten an entire window pane (which is crystalline sugar). So it turns out my hobby had some use, after all! The candy seemed to have kept them going the entire day (they told me later that they had arrived in the morning), but if that's all they had to eat in their state of malnutrition, they wouldn't survive the night!

I ushered them inside and gave them warm blankets to curl up in, and they immediately fell into a deep sleep. From the cellar I grabbed a fat ham, and several rings of rye bread I had left to dry. From the hambone I boiled a rich broth, and I laid out thick slices of ham on the larded bread. Then I gently awaked the children and set them to eat, so that they wouldn't quietly wither away before morning. I had never seen such hunger, nor have I ever felt such grief than at their sad state. I could only guess at the circumstances of their arrival at my home, but I knew that Providence had His hand in guiding them here.

March 3
The children are recovering well, I'm happy to say. I've been heating the house with firewood, instead of the usual housewarming spells. A fire in the stove gives a much cozier warmth than I'm used to! The boy, Hans, has told me a bit about how they ended up here. A truly miserable story, I think it's best forgotten. He eats heartily, that lad! The girl is much more reluctant. She eats only little, never speaks, and clearly doesn't trust me. Poor child, to be so young and yet so careful, it breaks my heart. Hans tells me her name is Gretel.

March 4
Hans had a nasty fall and broke open his leg. The house is filthy from my chickens and the goat, so I put him up in the (currently unused and clean) pig sty so his leg has a chance to heal free of any poxes and taints the animals might be carrying. The girl went berserk when I told her of my plan. Of course I could not expect her to understand; I'm an old witch and she's just a child, but I would have hoped she could see the boy's life is at stake. I locked her in her room for the night, so I could think. I wish I had a healing spell, but I have no experience with blood affinities at all, and the only white-energy magic I've discovered are the preservative kinds that support the house and farm. Was I wrong after all, in focusing so on my hobbies instead of working towards the greater good?

March 8
I spent about a year in the book last night. My health is going; I'm old. Particularly my back is bothering me, and there is an ache in my chest that gets worse at night. White magic is so hard to find, and blood magic nearly impossible to control. Why must it be so difficult? Oh, if only I had the spells! Perhaps I ought to ask for help? But who?

It was strange to see the children again after all this time; the very reason I went in the book! Hans is doing alright in the sty, although it seems his appetite has increased even more after the accident. That must be good news, at least. The wound in his leg is pussing only the good humours and will soon be healed over. His splint needs some work, but I'll see if I can affix some reinforced cinnamon sticks or candy canes to the mundane wooden splint this evening. I'm hesitant to apply any magic nearby his injury, lest there be some side-effect I haven't yet discovered, but the wood is just too flimsy! Gretel is listless, incessantly sweeping the kitchen floor. She has a dark look in her eyes, I don't know what to make of her. She has stopped eating completely, poor thing. Perhaps I'll invite her to bake a cake for her hungry brother and see if that helps her mood.