Bethelheim:  "Hansel and Gretel" begins realistically.   The parents are poor, and they worry about how they will be able to take care of their children.  Together at night they discuss their predicament, and how they can deal with it. Even taken on this surface level, the folk fairy tale conveys an important, although unpleasant, truth; poverty and deprivation do not improve man's character, but rather make him more selfish, less sensitive to the sufferings of others, and thus prone to embark on evil deeds.  (Uses 159)