The young girl character in the fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel,' known for her cleverness and survival skills.
German diminutive form of the name 'Greta' (probably from 'Margareta'). The fairy tale originated in Germanic oral traditions and was famously collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1812.
Gretel is actually the clever hero of her fairy tale—while everyone remembers Hansel, Gretel is the one who tricks the witch and figures out how to escape the oven! The story might have been inspired by real famines in medieval Germany where children were actually abandoned by desperate parents.
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