Now listen to me , children . You must be civil and kind to everyone , and never say a cross word to anyone , and never touch a crumb belonging to anyone else . Who knows if , after all , help may not be sent to you ? ' And she gave her grandchildren a bottle of milk and a piece of ham and a loaf of bread , and they set out for the great gloomy wood . When they reached it they saw in front of them , in the thickest of the trees , a queer little hut , and when they looked into it , there lay the witch , with her head on the threshold of the door , with one foot in one corner and the other in the other corner , and her knees cocked up , almost touching the ceiling . ` Who 's there ? ' she snarled , in an awful voice , when she saw the children . And they answered civilly , though they were so terrified that they hid behind one another , and said : ` Good-morning , granny ; our step-mother has sent us to wait upon you , and serve you . ' ` See that you do it well , then , ' growled the witch . ` If I am pleased with you , I 'll reward you ; but if I am not , I 'll put you in a pan and fry you in the oven -- that 's what I 'll do with you , my pretty dears ! You have been gently reared , but you 'll find my work hard enough . See if you do n'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 . And the wrens said : ` Give us some crumbs , then you need not grieve .
For you 'll find that water will stay XXXXX the sieve . '
So after at behind for if in of that with