Consumable Houses

Everyone knows the story of “Hansel & Gretel”, right? Hansel and Gretel are wandering through the woods having separated from their parents, and come across a small cottage. Upon closer inspection, they discover the cottage is made of candy–so they proceed to eat pieces of the house!

Now, I understand that a 3-4 year old child might eat random candy found on the street regardless of how dirty it is, but I imagine that Hansel and Gretel were probably in the 6-8 year old range. These children might still go out of their way for relatively inaccessible sugars, but would they really start eating a random cottage? Given the cottage’s location in the woods, I imagine the frosting and other sticky parts would be coated in dust, dirt, leaves, and bird droppings among other things. And even sections with relatively little exposure to the elements would be oxidized and hard, not a pleasant culinary experience. I am not trying to make a case against a candy cottage; rather, I think the story underestimates the common sense of typical 6-8 year olds. Even greedy candy-devouring 8 year olds would know better than to consume a stale, dirty, fecal-matter encrusted graham cracker.