As a child she had learnt to understand the speech of birds, and this was now of great use to her, for, seeing a raven pluming itself on a pine bough, she cried softly to it: ‘Dear bird, cleverest of all birds, as well as swiftest of wing, wilt thou help me?’ ‘How can I help thee?’ asked the raven. She answered: ‘Fly away, until thou comest to a splendid town, where stands a king’s palace; seek out the king’s son and tell him that a great misfortune has befallen me.’ Then she told the raven how her thread had lost its brightness, how terribly angry the old woman was, and how she feared some great disaster. The raven promised faithfully to do her bidding, and, spreading its wings, flew away. The maiden now went home and worked hard all day at winding up the yarn her elder sisters had spun, for the old woman would let her spin no longer. Towards evening she heard the raven’s ‘craa, craa’ from the pine tree and eagerly hastened thither to hear the answer.