staff,
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 for to-day,' she grumbled; 'but
to-morrow you'll have something more difficult to do, and if you don't