for her part, the girl had served her so well that she hoped she might
stay with her. But at these words the maid shook her head, and
answered gently:

'I have been happy here, Madam, and I thank you for your goodness to
me; but I have left behind me a stepsister and a stepmother, and I am
fain to be with them once more.' The old woman looked at her for a
moment, and then she said:

'Well, that must be as you like; but as you have worked faithfully for
me I will give you a reward. Go now into the loft above the store
house and there you will find many caskets. Choose the one which
pleases you best, but be careful not to open it till you have set it in
the place where you wish it to remain.'

The girl left the room to go to the loft, and as soon as she got
outside, she found all the cats waiting for her. Walking in
procession, as was their custom, they followed her into the loft, which
was filled with caskets big and little, plain and splendid. She lifted
up one and looked at it, and then put it down to examine another yet
more beautiful. Which should she choose, the yellow or the blue, the
red or the green, the gold or the silver? She hesitated long, and went
first to one and then to another, when she heard the cats' voices
calling: 'Take the black! take the black!'

The words make her look round--she had seen no black casket, but as the
cats continued their cry she peered into several corners that had
remained unnoticed, and at length discovered a little black box, so
small and so black, that it might easily have been passed over.