claws out of your fur.'

[Illustration: The Mouse Steals the Ring from the Princess]

'Good!' replied the mouse; 'I will do what you ask.' And, so saying,
he summoned all the mice in his kingdom together. A countless number
of mice, small and big, brown and grey, assembled, and formed a circle
round their king, who was a prisoner under Waska's claws. Turning to
them he said: 'Dear and faithful subjects, who ever among you will
steal the magic ring from the strange Princess will release me from a
cruel death; and I shall honour him above all the other mice in the
kingdom.'

Instantly a tiny mouse stepped forward and said: 'I often creep about
the Princess's bedroom at night, and I have noticed that she has a
ring which she treasures as the apple of her eye. All day she wears it
on her finger, and at night she keeps it in her mouth. I will
undertake, sire, to steal away the ring for you.'

And the tiny mouse tripped away into the bedroom of the Princess, and
waited for nightfall; then, when the Princess had fallen asleep, it
crept up on to her bed, and gnawed a hole in the pillow, through which
it dragged one by one little down feathers, and threw them under the
Princess's nose. And the fluff flew into the Princess's nose, and into
her mouth, and starting up she sneezed and coughed, and the ring fell
out of her mouth on to the coverlet. In a flash the tiny mouse had
seized it, and brought it to Waska as a ransom for the King of the
Mice. Thereupon Waska and Schurka started off, and travelled night and
day till they reached the stone tower where Martin was imprisoned; and
the cat climbed up the window, and called out to him:

'Martin, dear master, are you still alive?'

'Ah! Waska, my faithful little cat, is that you?' replied a weak
voice. 'I am dying of hunger. For three days I have not tasted food.'

'Be of good heart, dear master,' replied Waska; 'from this day forth
you will know nothing but happiness and prosperity. If this were a
moment to trouble you with riddles, I would make you guess what
Schurka and I have brought you back. Only think, we have got you your
ring!'

At these words Martin's joy knew no bounds, and he stroked her fondly,
and she rubbed up against him and purred happily, while below Schurka
bounded in the air, and barked joyfully. Then Martin took the ring,
and threw it from one hand into the other, and instantly the twelve
youths appeared and asked what they were to do.

'Fetch me first