Candy Lane (Hansel and Grethel) Sliver of a Soul (Rumpelstiltskin) Once Upon a Time... We all know the time-honored fairy tales of Hansel and Grethel and Rumpelstiltskin. Or do we? Not everyone gets a happily-ever-after. What about the villains? Why were they so mean? And how did they turn out this way? Author Shea Berkley always wondered about the other side of the story. Were Hansel and Grethel really such good children, merely starving when they happened upon the old witch’s candy-covered cottage in the forest? And perhaps Rumpelstiltskin was simply trying to collect on a bargain freely made by the hapless peasant girl determined to be queen. Pull up a chair and join us for two tales told from the other point of view. The point of view of the Evil Witch and the Horrid Monster. You might never feel the same way about the stories of Hansel and Grethel and Rumpelstiltskin again.