do it well, you pampered brats, straight into the oven you go.'

Half-dead with fright, and trembling in every limb, the poor children
lay down to sleep on a heap of straw in the corner of the hut; but
they dared not close their eyes, and scarcely ventured to breathe. In
the morning the witch gave the girl two pieces of linen to weave
before night, and the boy a pile of wood to cut into chips. Then the
witch left them to their tasks, and went out into the wood. As soon as
she had gone out of sight the children took the comb and the
handkerchief, and, taking one another by the hand, they started and
ran, and ran, and ran. And first they met the watch-dog, who was going
to leap on them and tear them to pieces; but they threw the remains of
their bread to him, and he ate them and wagged his tail. Then they
were hindered by the birch-trees, whose branches almost put their eyes
out. But the little sister tied the twigs together with a piece of
ribbon, and they got past safely, and, after running through the wood,
came out on to the open fields.

In the meantime in the hut the cat was busy weaving the linen and
tangling the threads as it wove. And the witch returned to see how the
children were getting on; and she crept up to the window, and
whispered:

'Are you weaving, my little dear?'

'Yes, granny, I am weaving,' answered the cat.

When the witch saw that the children had escaped her, she was furious,
and, hitting the cat with a porringer, she said: 'Why did you let the
children leave the hut? Why did you not scratch their eyes out?'

But the cat curled up its tail and put its back up, and answered: 'I
have served you all these years and you never even threw me a bone,
but the dear children gave me their own piece of ham.'

Then the witch was furious with the watch-dog and with the
birch-trees, because they had let the children pass. But the dog
answered:

'I have served you all these years and you never gave me so much as a
hard crust, but the dear children gave me their own loaf of bread.'

And the birch rustled its leaves, and said: 'I have served you longer
than I can say, and you never tied a bit of twine even round my
branches; and the dear children bound them up with their brightest
ribbons.'

So the witch saw there was no help to be got from her old servants,
and that the best thing she could do was to mount on her broom and set
off in pursuit of the children. And as the children ran they heard the
s