After days, when the fire had finally been extinguished, the villagers gathered in front of the hut to remember the friendly old woman who had lived in the little house that she had always kept so spick and span. But then, as the people kept quiet, a shrill laugh disrupted the silence. A hand emerged from the pile of ashes that was once the old woman’s lovingly decorated hut. Had she survived the inferno? Unbelievably and to the amazement of everyone present, her body arose from the rubble. Everybody looked anxiously at the hut and no-one dared to speak a word. They could only see the outlines of a crooked form. The woman was just standing there, surrounded by a thick cloud of dust, through which just a few rays of light shone. When the smoke had finally cleared, the woman had disappeared. It was so mysterious that the crowd of mourners went home, confused and afraid.

Hansel and Gretel’s stepmother was also amongst the mourners. She had never been able to accept the two orphans who had been entrusted to her care a long time ago by an old army commander. And now she had even more reason to abandon them in the woods. When she got home, she wanted to have a word with the pair. She unbolted the heavy door to the nursery and stormed inside. But to her surprise, there was no-one there - the room was completely empty. “Impossible!”, she screamed at the top of her lungs. The only way in or out of the room was the heavy door she kept locked with a big metal bolt at all times. How could they have escaped? As her eyes wandered through the room she spotted two small bottles containing a deep-black liquid on both of their beds. A small bone was laying next to each bottle. “What is all of this?”, the stepmother wondered as she carefully opened one of the bottles and smelled the contents.The liquid inside had an irresistible scent and she couldn’t help herself but to take a sip. The stepmother was immediately charmed by the creamy, malty, chocolatey aroma of the concoction. Never had she drunk a brew this good, never had a flavour of a drink had such a profound impact on all her senses. When her husband came home, she immediately told him about the children and what had happened that day - all while pouring some of the brew into his goblet. He too was captivated by the wonderfully tasting beer at once. And he never asked about the fire in the forest or what happened to the children. No, he never even went into the nursery ever again.

Were Hansel and Gretel telling the truth? Was the old woman really trying to eat them for dinner? Or had she actually used the children as an ingredient in the beer? But who snatched the pair out of their securely locked nursery after a blast that no-one would be able to survive? Over the next few years, incidents like this one started to happen more frequently. Time and again, a bottle of the fabulous tasting stout was left on a bed in place of a child. But yet, it never seemed to bother anyone that these children were suddenly disappearing. Was it the magic of the deep dark witch’s brew?