she stood and looked at the dying creature for some minutes , rocking to and fro and muttering to herself in words which the widow could not understand ; at least , she could only understand four of them , and they sounded something like this : " pitter - patter , haly water . " then she put her hand into her pocket and drew out a tiny bottle with a liquid that looked like oil in it . she took the cork out , and dropped one of her long lady - like fingers into it ; then she touched the pig on the snout and on his ears , and on the tip of his curly tail . no sooner had she done so than up the beast jumped , and , with a grunt of contentment , ran off to its trough to look for its breakfast .
what did the old woman do while she looked at the dying creature ?
rocked to and fro and muttering to herself .
mutter to herself .