Gretel

Gretel, also rendered Grethel or Gretl in German sources, is a fictional character in the fairy tale Hänsel und Gretel, collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as part of Kinder- und Hausmärchen. In the tale, Gretel is Hansel's sister and enters a forest with her brother during a famine after their mother dies and their father remarries a cruel woman who urges abandoning the children. The children leave a trail of pebbles (and later breadcrumbs) to find their way home, but the trail is lost; they wander deeper into the woods and come to a gingerbread house owned by a witch who plans to eat them. Gretel plays a decisive role, using her wits to trick the witch; she pushes the witch into an oven and frees Hansel. The siblings then discover the witch's treasure and return to their father, who is overjoyed.

The character and tale have had broad cultural impact and have been interpreted in various ways, including analyses of poverty, family dynamics, and female agency. Gretel and Hansel appear in numerous adaptations across literature, film, stage, and visual media, with some retellings expanding Gretel's role or reframing the sisters' relationship. The given name Gretel is a diminutive of Margarete (Margaret), meaning 'pearl' in German.