her stool, she found sitting round her a whole circle of cats, black
and white, tabby and tortoise- shell, who all cried with one voice:

'We are very thirsty, please give us some milk!'

'My poor little pussies,' said she, 'of course you shall have some.'
And she went into the dairy, followed by all the cats, and gave each
one a little red saucerful. But before they drank they all rubbed
themselves against her knees and purred by way of thanks.

The next thing the girl had to do was to go to the storehouse, and to
sift the corn through a sieve. While she was busy rubbing the corn she
heard a whirr of wings, and a flock of sparrows flew in at the window.

'We are hungry; give us some corn! give us some corn!' cried they; and
the girl answered:

'You poor little birds, of course you shall have some!' and scattered a
fine handful over the floor. When they had finished they flew on her
shoulders and flapped their wings by way of thanks.

Time went by, and no cows in the whole country-side were so fat and
well tended as hers, and no dairy had so much milk to show. The
farmer's wife was so well satisfied that she gave her higher wages, and
treated her like her own daughter. At length, one day, the girl was
bidden by her mistress to come into the kitchen, and when there, the
old woman said to her: 'I know you can tend cows and keep a diary; now
let me see what you can do besides. Take this sieve to the well, and
fill it with water, and bring it home to me without spilling one drop
by the way.'