Follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering such wicked creatures as witches, along with kindly strangers and other helpful folk. Based in part on the Grimms' fairy tales Faithful Johannes, Hansel and Gretel, The seven ravens, Brother and sister, The robber bridegroom, and The devil and his three golden hairs.

Zita, cast aside by her father and raised as a kitchen maid, learns when she is nearly twelve that she is a princess and that her twelve sisters love her, and so when she discovers they are victims of an evil enchantment, she desperately tries to save them. Inspired by the Grimm fairy tale, "The twelve dancing princesses."

When the poor shoemaker and his wife discover the two naked little elves who have helped them become successful, they sew fine outfits for them.

On her way to deliver a basket of food to her sick grandmother, Elisabeth encounters a sly wolf.

A princess takes refuge from her wicked stepmother in the cottage of seven dwarfs.

Retells the tale of the beautiful princess whose lips were red as blood, skin was white as snow, and hair was black as ebony.

Retells the tale of the golden goose that caused the king's unhappy daughter to laugh.

A retelling of the Grimm tale in which an old donkey, dog, cat, and rooster, no longer wanted by their masters, set out for Bremen to become musicians.