An old laborer, bent double with age and toil, was gathering sticks in a forest. At last he grew so tired and hopeless that he threw down the bundle of sticks, and cried out: "I cannot bear this life any longer. Ah, I wish Death would only come and take me!" Just after he spoke, Death, a grisly skeleton, appeared and said to him: "What would you like of me, Mortal? I heard you call me." "Please, sir," replied the woodcutter, "would you kindly help me to lift this bundle of sticks on to my shoulder?" |