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 in the sieve . ' Then the twins crumbled their bread on the ground , and the wrens pecked it , and chirruped and chirped . And when they had eaten the last crumb they told the boy to fill up the holes of the sieve with clay , and then to draw water from the well . So he did what they said , and carried the sieve full of water into the hut without spilling a drop . When they entered the hut the cat was curled up on the floor . So they stroked her , and fed her with ham , and said to her : ` Pussy , grey pussy , tell us how we are to get away from the witch ? ' Then the cat thanked them for the ham , and gave them a pocket-handkerchief and a comb , and told them that when the witch pursued them , as she certainly would , all they had to do was to throw the handkerchief on the ground and run as fast as they could . As soon as the handkerchief touched the ground a deep , broad river would spring up , which would hinder the witch 's progress . If she managed to get across it , they must throw the comb behind them and run for their lives , for where the comb fell a dense forest would start up , which would delay the witch so long that they would be able to get safely away . The cat had scarcely finished speaking when the witch returned to see if the children had fulfilled their tasks .
` Well , you have done well enough XXXXX to-day , ' she grumbled ; ` but to-morrow you 'll have something more difficult to do , and if you do n't do it well , you pampered brats , straight into the oven you go . '
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