The more kindly disposed ruffian would not agree to such a course, and they argued till they got angry and began to fight. They drew the big knives with which they had planned to kill the babes, and the one who wished to spare the children stabbed his comrade so that the fellow fell dead in the grass.
The victor now knew not what to do with the children, for he wanted to get away as quickly as possible lest he should be found there and made to suffer for the death of his companion. He thought the best thing he could do would be to leave them in the wood, and trust that they would be kindly treated by whoever passed that way and discovered them. So he went to where they had rambled in their flower-picking, and said, “Take my hands, and come with me.”
The babes in the wood
For two long miles he led them on, and then they began to complain that they were hungry. “Stay here,” quoth he, “and I will go and get you something to eat.”
So away he went, and the babes sat there a long time waiting for him to return. “Will the strange man come soon with some cakes for us?” said the little girl.
“In a little while, I think,” responded the boy.
“I wish I had some cakes,” said she.
Then they stood up and looked all about as far as they could among the trees, and no one could they see. They listened, too, but heard no sound of approaching footsteps—nothing, only the wind fluttering in the foliage above their heads.
“Perhaps we had better go to meet the man,” said the boy; and hand in hand they wandered about in the wood.