` Ashes ! ashes ! ' they twittered ; and the girl looked at them and said : ` Well , I ca n't be in a worse plight than I am already , so I will take your advice . ' And she ran back to the kitchen and filled her sieve with ashes . Then once more she dipped the sieve into the well , and , behold , this time not a drop of water disappeared ! ` Here is the sieve , mistress , ' cried the girl , going to the room where the old woman was sitting . ` You are cleverer than I expected , ' answered she ; ` or else someone helped you who is skilled in magic . ' But the girl kept silence , and the old woman asked her no more questions . Many days passed during which the girl went about her work as usual , but at length one day the old woman called her and said : ' I have something more for you to do . There are here two yarns , the one white , the other black . What you must do is to wash them in the river till the black one becomes white and the white black . ' And the girl took them to the river 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 XXXXX 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 .
bringing came expected flapping give said sitting take thought twittered