See if you don't.'
And, so saying, she set the girl down to spin yarn, and she gave
the boy a sieve in which to carry water from the well, and she
herself went out into the wood. Now, as the girl was sitting at
her distaff, weeping bitterly because she could not spin, she
heard the sound of hundreds of little feet, and from every hole
and corner in the hut mice came pattering along the floor,
squeaking and saying:
'Little girl, why are your eyes so red?
If you want help, then give us some bread.'
And the girl gave them the bread that her grandmother had given
her. Then the mice told her that the witch had a cat, and the
cat was very fond of ham; if she would give the cat her ham, it
would show her the way out of the wood, and in the meantime they
would spin the yarn for her. So the girl set out to look for the
cat, and, as she was hunting about, she met her brother, in great
trouble because he could not carry water from the well in a
sieve, as it came pouring out as fast as he put it in. And as
she was trying to comfort him they heard a rustling of wings, and
a flight of wrens alighted on the ground beside them.
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