ge of another rage, when the thought came that she might have
forgotten something. To her dismay she found that table and chairs and
every thing was again covered with dust--not so badly as before,
however. Again she set to work, driven by hunger, and drawn by the hope
of eating, and yet again, after a second careful wiping, sought the
hole. But no! nothing was there for her! What could it mean?

Her asking this question was a sign of progress: it showed that she
expected the wise woman to keep her word. Then she bethought her that
she had forgotten the household utensils, and the dishes and plates,
some of which wanted to be washed as well as dusted.

Faint with hunger, she set to work yet again. One thing made her think
of another, until at length she had cleaned every thing she could think
of. Now surely she must find some food in the hole!

When this time also there was nothing, she began once more to abuse the
wise woman as false and treacherous;--but ah! there was the bed
unwatered! That was soon amended.--Still no supper! Ah! there was the
hearth unswept, and the fire wanted making up!--Still no supper! What
else could there be? She was at her wits' end, and in very weariness,
not laziness this time, sat down and gazed into the fire. There, as she
gazed, she spied something brilliant,--shining even, in the midst of
the fire: it was the little mirror all whole again; but little she knew
that the dust which she had thrown into the fire had helped to heal it.
She drew it out carefully, and, looking into it, saw, not indeed the
ugly creature she had seen there before, but still a very dirty little
animal; whereupon she hurried to the well, took off her clothes,
plunged into it, and washed herself clean. Then she brushed and combed
her hair, made her clothes as tidy as might be, and ran to the hole in
the wall: there was a huge basin of bread and milk!

Never had she eaten any thing with half the relish! Alas! however, when
she had finished, she did not wash the basin, but left it as it was,
revealing how entirely all the rest had been done only from hunger.
Then she threw herself on the heather, and was fast asleep in a moment.
Never an evil bird came near her all that night, nor had she so much as
one troubled dream.

In the morning as she lay awake before getting up, she spied what
seemed a door behind the tall eight-day clock that stood silent in the
corner.

"Ah!" she thought, "that must be the way out!" an