Tone and Mood

Who are the characters in the story?

…The trembling mother’s voice was full of unselfish love as she gave her last injunction, “Let’s not thine eyes be blinded, my son,” she said. “The mountain road is full of dangers. Look carefully and follow the path which holds the piles of twigs. They will guide you to the familiar path farther down.”

…“Wait!,” she said. “I will think. I will think.” On the second day she told him what to do. “Make rope of twisted straw,” she said. Then stretch it upon a row of flat stones and burn it on a windless night. He called the people together and did as she said and when the blaze died down, there upon the stones, with every twist and fiber showing perfectly, lay a rope of ashes.

…The entire province was given strict orders to immediately put to death all aged people. Those were barbarous days, and the custom of abandoning old people to die was not uncommon.