Pagina 183 van 626

Not long afterwards, there was once more great dearth throughout

the land, and the children heard their mother saying at night to

their father: 'Everything is eaten again, we have one half loaf

left, and that is the end. The children must go, we will take

them farther into the wood, so that they will not find their way

out again; there is no other means of saving ourselves!' The

man's heart was heavy, and he thought: 'It would be better for

you to share the last mouthful with your children.' The woman,

however, would listen to nothing that he had to say, but scolded

and reproached him. He who says A must say B, likewise, and as he

had yielded the first time, he had to do so a second time also.