but at last, when the old man gave her no peace, but asked her again and again, insisting that she must know what had happened to his pet, she confessed all. she told him crossly how the sparrow had eaten the rice-paste she had specially made for starching her clothes, and how when the sparrow had confessed to what she had done, in great anger she had taken her scissors and cut out her tongue, and how finally she had driven the bird away and forbidden her to return to the house again.