One sister had to clean the house , a second carried water from the spring in the forest , a third cooked their food , while to the youngest fell the hardest task of all , for she had to cut and bring home the wood which was to keep the fire continually burning . This was very hot and tiring work , and when she had fed the fire and heaped up in a corner the sticks that were to supply it till the next day , she often threw herself down under a tree , and went sound asleep . One morning , however , as she was staggering along with her bundle on her back , she thought that the river which flowed past their hut looked so cool and inviting that she determined to bathe in it , instead of taking her usual nap . Hastily piling up her load by the fire , and thrusting some sticks into the flame , she ran down to the river and jumped in . How delicious it was diving and swimming and floating in the dark forest , where the trees were so thick that you could hardly see the sun ! But after a while she began to look about her , and her eyes fell on a little fish that seemed made out of a rainbow , so brilliant were the colours he flashed out . ' I should like him for a pet , ' thought the girl , and the next time the fish swam by , she put out her hand and caught him . Then she ran along the grassy path till she came to a cave in front of which a stream fell over some rocks into a basin . Here she put her little fish , whose name was Djulung-djulung , and promising to return soon and bring him some dinner , she went away . By the time she got home , the rice for their dinner was ready cooked , and the eldest sister gave the other six their portions in wooden bowls . But the youngest did not finish hers , and when no one was looking , stole off to the fountain in the forest where the little fish was swimming about . ` See ! I have not forgotten you , ' she cried , and one by one she let the grains of rice fall into the water , where the fish gobbled them up greedily , for he had never tasted anything so nice . ` That is all for to-day , ' she said at last , ` but I will come again to-morrow , ' and biding him good-bye she went down the path . Now the girl did not tell her sisters about the fish , but every day she saved half of her rice to give him , and called him softly in a little song she had made for herself . If she sometimes felt hungry , no one knew of it , and , indeed , she did not mind that much , when she saw how the fish enjoyed it . And the fish grew fat and big , but the girl grew thin and weak , and the loads of wood felt heavier every day , and at last her sisters noticed it . Then they took counsel together , and watched her to see what she did , and one of them followed her to the fountain where Djulung lived , and saw her give him all the rice she had saved from her breakfast . Hastening home the sister told the others what she had witnessed , and that a lovely fat fish might be had for the catching . So the eldest sister went and caught him , and he was boiled for supper , but the youngest sister was away in the woods , and did not know anything about it .
Next morning she went as usual XXXXX the cave , and sang her little song , but no Djulung came to answer it ; twice and thrice she sang , then threw herself on her knees by the edge , and peered into the dark water , but the trees cast such a deep shadow that her eyes could not pierce it .
If after along at down for of that till to