"Give me his dog!"
The little black dog bounded joyously toward her, followed by her son Tom. They were shown into the place behind the curtain. Old Mother Hubbard following them with the greatest haste.
They could be seen no more.
But Truth was already speaking again in clear tones: "Father and mother of Hansel and Grettel, appear!"
And the father and mother of Hansel and Grettel appeared from behind their curtain, and stood hand in hand, with downcast eyes.
Said Truth to them: "The father and mother who would not share their last loaf of bread with their children—nay, who would not deny themselves that their children need not go supperless to bed—deserve not the love of children. They love themselves overmuch. But if at last in your hearts——"
The mother of Hansel and Grettel could not wait for the end of the sentence. She turned stormily to her husband. "It was you who persuaded me to do it—to lose the poor little things," said she.
The father retorted promptly, "It was that you, good wife, might not starve that I consented to lose the children in the wood!"
But Truth interposed: "It is not a time now to fix the blame, but to make amends. Come, mother and father of Hansel and Grettel: can you promise that hereafter you will love your children better than you love yourselves?"
It was the father who replied, speaking in earnest tones: "Gladly shall we deny ourselves hereafter, if need be, that our children may have bread; and in all other ways we shall strive to show them that we love them better than we love ourselves." To which the wife nodded once for each word.