I'm pretty sure I read this in some form as a kid, though I suspect that it may have been a somewhat condensed form for a children's compilation. I don't remember at all what happened after the breakpoint in the story so maybe the version I've read had only the first half.
Anyway, I like to read a good classic story that has passed into semi-common knowledge. I like to see the difference in perspective of the people portrayed in the story, as well as the implied tastes in fiction that can shift so drastically over time. I remembered all the major details, but the funeral-related details were interesting in and of themselves.
"Open Barley!"
For some reason, the relationship between the two families in this one makes me think of "Why the Sea is Salt", another mythical type story I really liked as a kid. I wonder if I still have that one in a book somewhere in my basement. Some of the morals seem kind of similar too, though the end result is very different.