“Here is Half a Loaf, take it; it is all I have”
Two days later Misery went to look at her tree; she found hanging and sticking to the branches a crowd of children, servants, mothers who had come to rescue their children, fathers who had tried to save their wives, two parrots who had escaped from their cage, a cock, a goose, an owl, and other birds, not to mention a goat. When she saw this extraordinary sight, she burst out laughing, and rubbed her hands with delight. She let them all remain hanging on the tree some time before she released them.
The thieves had learnt their lesson, and never stole the apples again.
Some time passed by, when one day some one again knocked at old Misery’s door.
“Come in,” she cried.
“Guess who I am,” said a voice. “I am old Father Death himself. Listen, little mother,” he continued. “I think that you and your old dog have lived long enough; I have come to fetch you both.”
THE ENCHANTED APPLE-TREE