The old woman , who passed all her days in spinning yarn , which she sold at the nearest town , loved both the cat and the hen as her own children , and never contradicted them in any way ; so it was their grace , and not hers , that the duckling would have to gain . It was only next morning , when it grew light , that they noticed their visitor , who stood trembling before them , with his eye on the door ready to escape at any moment . They did not , however , appear very fierce , and the duckling became less afraid as they approached him . ` Can you lay eggs ? ' asked the hen . And the duckling answered meekly : ` No ; I do n't know how . ' Upon which the hen turned her back , and the cat came forward . ` Can you ruffle your fur when you are angry , or purr when you are pleased ? ' said she . And again the duckling had to admit that he could do nothing but swim , which did not seem of much use to anybody . So the cat and the hen went straight off to the old woman , who was still in bed . ` Such a useless creature has taken refuge here , ' they said . ` It calls itself a duckling ; but it can neither lay eggs nor purr ! What had we better do with it ? ' ` Keep it , to be sure ! ' replied the old woman briskly . ` It is all nonsense about it not laying eggs . Anyway , we will let it stay here for a bit , and see what happens . ' So the duckling remained for three weeks , and shared the food of the cat and the hen ; but nothing in the way of eggs happened at all . Then the sun came out , and the air grew soft , and the duckling grew tired of being in a hut , and wanted with all his might to have a swim .
And one morning he got so restless XXXXX even his friends noticed it .
Upon about as at before in on so that with