ce. The Poor
Boy, who for so long a time had seen no human countenance and heard no
human speech, was greatly delighted and said merrily:--

"Good luck, mother! But how do you happen to come here, and what are
you doing in this wilderness of a forest?"

"Your words are kind!" replied the old woman sighing. "Alas, age has
brought me down to this; I wanted to walk a little distance and can go
no further because my feet will no longer carry me."

When the Poor Boy heard this he pitied the old woman, went up to her,
and asked whence she came, where she was going, and on what business
she was bent. The luckless fellow did not know that this person was no
other than the Wood Witch, who waits on the edge of forests and meets
those who wander in these desolate regions, in order to delude them
with fair words and then lead them to destruction. When he saw her so
feeble, the boy remembered his three loaves, and, as if he were going
home the very next day, thought he would share his provisions with her
that she might get a little strength.

"I thank you," replied the Wood Witch, who had other designs upon him
in her mind; "but see, I have no teeth to chew your dry bread. If you
want to do any thing to help me, take me on your back and carry me, I
live close by."

"But just taste it," said the boy, who in his kindness of heart wanted
to do her some good. "It is only hunger that has made you so weak, and
if this doesn't help you I'll carry you as you wish."

When the Wood Witch saw the loaf made of meal she gazed at it with
delight; there was something about it--I don't know what--that made
even the Wood Witch long for a morsel. And as she bit into it her
heart grew softer. After she had eaten three mouthfuls she felt as if
she were a human being, like the rest of us, with her heart in the
right place and a gentle temper.

"Learn, my son," she said to him, "that I am the Wood Witch, and know
very well who you are, whence you come, and where you are going. It is
a great task you have before you, for your sister is in the other
world, which inhabitants of this earth can reach only in one way."

"And what is that?" asked the Poor Boy impatiently.

The Wood Witch looked doubtfully at him.

"I don't advise you to take it," she said, "it would be a pity to lose
your young life. But who knows, perhaps you'll have good luck; I see
that you have a tender heart, and whoever has that can bring many
things to pass; besides, I know y