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