It is natural that one should love one’s own children better than those of other folk; but it is only right that liking and disliking should be indulged in with moderation. The evil step-mother, however, loved her child to distraction, and equally detested her step-children. To such a pitch did she carry these feelings that when she was angry she used to say how she would advance the fortune of her daughter even at the orphans’ expense.

But the tree did not rejoice at all. He was one of the first that was cut down. The axe struck deep into the very pith and he fell to the earth with a sigh. He felt a pang—it was like a swoon. He could not think of happiness, for he was sorrowful at being separated from his home, from the place where he had sprung up.

The poor mother ran out of the house and cried aloud for her child. Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, black clothes; and she said, “Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw him hasten away with thy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and he never brings back what he takes!”