The girl 's heart sank at this order ; for how was it possible for her to do her mistress 's bidding ? However , she was silent , and taking the sieve went down to the well with it . Stopping over the side , she filled it to the brim , but as soon as she lifted it the water all ran out of the holes . Again and again she tried , but not a drop would remaining in the sieve , and she was just turning away in despair when a flock of sparrows flew down from the sky . ` Ashes ! ashes ! ' they twittered ; and the girl looked at them and said : ` Well , I ca n't be in a worse plight than I am already , so I will take your advice . ' And she ran back to the kitchen and filled her sieve with ashes . Then once more she dipped the sieve into the well , and , behold , this time not a drop of water disappeared ! ` Here is the sieve , mistress , ' cried the girl , going to the room where the old woman was sitting . ` You are cleverer than I expected , ' answered she ; ` or else someone helped you who is skilled in magic . ' But the girl kept silence , and the old woman asked her no more questions . Many days passed during which the girl went about her work as usual , but at length one day the old woman called her and said : ' I have something more for you to do . There are here two yarns , the one white , the other black . What you must do is to wash them in the river till the black one becomes white and the white black . ' And the girl took them to the river and washed hard for several hours , but wash as she would they never changed one whit . ` This is worse than the sieve , ' thought she , and was about to give up in despair when there came a rush of wings through the air , and on every twig of the birch trees which grew by the bank was perched a sparrow . ` The black to the east , the white to the west ! ' they sang , all at once ; and the girl dried her tears and felt brave again . Picking up the black yarn , she stood facing the east and dipped it in the river , and in an instant it grew white as snow , then turning to the west , she held the white yarn in the water , and it became as black as a crow 's wing .
She looked back at the sparrows and smiled and nodded to them , and flapping their wings XXXXX reply they flew swiftly away .
about for from in of over so than till with