--- a/lib/piston/working_copy.rb
+++ b/lib/piston/working_copy.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ require "yaml"
 module Piston
   # Represents a Subversion working copy.
   class WorkingCopy
+    class FileNotFound < StandardError
+      def initialize(path)
+        super "File #{path.inspect} could not found"
+      end
+    end
+
     include Piston::SubversionClient
 
     attr_reader :dir, :path
@@ -140,7 +146,11 @@ module Piston
       @info ||= YAML.load(svn(:info, wc_path(self.dir)))
     end
 
-    def parent
+    def down(folder) #:nodoc:
+      self.class.new(self.path + folder, :logger => self.logger)
+    end
+
+    def up #:nodoc:
       self.class.new(self.path + "..", :logger => self.logger)
     end
 
@@ -162,6 +172,14 @@ module Piston
       FileUtils.rm_rf(@dir)
     end
 
+    # Reads the file at +path+ and returns the contents.
+    # Raises a FileNotFound exception unless the file is accessible.
+    def cat(path) #:nodoc:
+      file = wc_path(path)
+      raise FileNotFound.new(file) unless File.exist?(file)
+      File.read(file)
+    end
+
     # Ensures +repos_url+ is a URL string or URI object and raises an ArgumentError if not.
     def is_a_url?(repos_url) #:nodoc:
       case repos_url