In that cottage lived two brothers named Scrape and Spare. They were cobblers, and every day they worked from dawn to dusk, fixing the villagers’ shoes for a few pennies.
When Christmas came, all the brothers could afford for their dinner was a loaf of barley bread and bit of old bacon. They didn’t even have wood for the fire…
“Let’s cut up that old tree stump!” said Scrape. “We can use it for firewood!”
“But it’s wrong to chop firewood at Christmas!” argued Spare. “And that old stump is far too tough to cut with our hatchet!”
“Then Let’s pull the whole stump inside and put it on the fire!” Scrape said, trying to be positive.