and washed hard for several hours, but wash as she
would they never changed one whit.

'This is worse than the sieve,' thought she, and was about to give up
in despair when there came a rush of wings through the air, and on every
twig of the birch trees which grew by the bank was perched a sparrow.

'The black to the east, the white to the west!' they sang, all at once;
and the girl dried her tears and felt brave again. Picking up the black
yarn, she stood facing the east and dipped it in the river, and in an
instant it grew white as snow, then turning to the west, she held the
white yarn in the water, and it became as black as a crow's wing. She
looked back at the sparrows and smiled and nodded to them, and flapping
their wings in reply they flew swiftly away.

At the sight of the yarn the old woman was struck dumb; but when at
length she found her voice she asked the girl what magician had helped
her to do what no one had done before. But she got no answer, for the
maiden was afraid of bringing trouble on her little friends.

For many weeks the mistress shut herself up in her room, and the girl
went about her work as usual. She hoped that there was an end to the
difficult tasks which had been set her; but in this she was mistaken,
for one day the old woman appeared suddenly in the kitchen, and said to
her:

'There is one more trial to which I must put you, and if you do not fail
in that you will be left in peace for evermore. Here are the yarns which
you washed. Take them and weave them into a web that is as smooth as a
king's robe, and see that it is spun by the time that the sun sets.'

'This is the easiest thing I have been set to do,' thought the girl, who
was a good spinner. But when she began she found that the skein tangled
and broke every moment.

'Oh, I can never do it!' she cried at last, and leaned her head against
the loom and wept; but at that instant the door opened, and there
entered, one behind another, a procession of cats.

'What is the matter, fair maiden?' asked they. And the girl answered:

'My mistress has given me this yarn to weave into a piece of cloth,
which must be finished by sunset, and I have not even begun yet, for the
yarn breaks whenever I touch it.'

'If that is all, dry your eyes,' said the cats; 'we will manage it for
you.' And they jumped on the loom, and wove so fast and so skilfully
that in a very short time the cloth was ready and was as fine as any
king ever wore. Th