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A day came when all the golden limbs the Widow could give were harvested. The Tailor’s Wife thought long and hard about what was best for her family. She devised a plan.

She sent the children to the city to visit relatives. She encouraged the Tailor to drink himself into his habitual stupor. Then she placed the helpless Widow in an iron cauldron to catch the blood.

“Will you take the last of my bones?” asked the Widow.

“Will you deny your son and his children?” asked the Tailor’s Wife in response, and she cut off her mother-in-law’s head.

 

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The Black Walnut Tree 25: GB0024