by Iva Havlová

Once upon a time there was a poor wood-cutter living in a small cottage together with his two children – John and Mary. Their mother died some time ago and because the wood-cutter wasn´t able to take care of his children he decided to get married for the second time. But their mother-in-law liked neither him nor children and they all were afraid of her.
Once she ordered her husband to leave the children in the wood. He didn´t want to do it, because he loved his children with all the power of his heart, but he was so afraid of his wife, that he rather did it. And so he took the children to the wood and while they were picking strawberries, he left.
It was almost dark when the children realized they had got lost and their father was somewhere far away. Johnny, who was younger, started whimpering as he was afraid of coming night. Mary, who was older and reasonable, climbed on the highest tree to look around. Suddenly she could see a small blinking light. When she returned on the ground again, she decided to follow the light. It was a deep night when they reached the meadow where a strange gingerbread cottage stood.
Children couldn´t believe their eyes: the bench was made of Turkish honey, the walls were made of chocolate and the roof of couloured gingerbread. There were also marcipan roses and trees with vanilla, chocolate and nut apples. John started to eat the roof as he loved gingerbread, while Mary began eating the walls.
Suddenly an old ugly man came out of the cottage. His wife, even uglier than him, heard some strange noise so she sent him to have a look where this strange noise comes from. Old geezer asked: “Who is eating our cottage?“, and Mary, who was witty, answered slightly: „It is just a breeze.“, but the old man saw John sitting behind the chimney and then Mary hiding amongst the roses. So he tried to catch Mary, but he was too fat and heavy and therefore very awkward, while Mary was young, slim and therefore nimble. So she caught her brother who jumped of the roof and together they ran as fast as they could.
But the old geezer was coming closer and closer and they were frightened he would catch them up. Luckilly they ran to an old woman who adviced them a way from the wood. When the man reached the old woman a few minutes later and asked her whether she had seen two children running past her, she answered him she had seen nothing but rabbits, deer and an old ugly fat man snorting into her face.
And so children happily came back home where they found their poor grief-stricken father waiting for them alone, because he turned his cruel second wife out of the house. Since that time they all lived happily and in satisfaction in the cottage at the edge of the deep forest.