But when the Green Frog saw what Eva had, she was very angry, and determined to give her something which was harder to do than anything she had yet tried. So for the third week Eva’s work was to wash and keep the shawl clean which the Frog wore when she went out. And the first time that Eva tried to wash it she found that the harder she rubbed it, and the more she tried to clean it, the dirtier it became. But late in the day she heard the Green Frog say to the jackdaw:
“I’ll get my coat back, and you shall have your cravat again, for the servant is such a dunce that she will never learn that the only way to clean my shawl is to lay it on a toad-stool, and to walk around it three times, and say every time, ‘Shawl, be clean.’”
But Eva’s ears were given to her for use, and, consequently, every night the shawl was like new. And this week she saw that they only plucked one of the little bird’s wings. The end of the week came, and Eva, instructed by the Toad-Woman, asked for her wages.
“What is it this time?”
“I want the little green bird that hangs in the cage over the back-door.”
“No,” said the Frog, “I cannot give him to you.”
“You cannot help it,” Eva said, quietly; “you promised to pay me, and I have earned my wages.’
“Who told you anything about the little green bird,” the Frog went on. “He won’t sing for you, and you had better let me give you a purse full of gold.”
But no, Eva would take nothing but the bird, and at last the Frog told her to go and take him, if she could find him. And then she went into the hut, grumbling and talking to herself.
Eva went to the back of the house to look for the little green bird. When she got there she did not know what to do, for there were at least fifty cages there, and in each cage was a little green bird, and cages and birds were all exactly alike,—there was no telling them apart,—and which the one she wanted could be Eva did not know. And if she chose the wrong one, all her work would be lost.