The Bronze Ring · page 31 2 3201Quick as thought the lame mouse snatched up the precious talisman and carried it off to the boat.202Imagine the despair of the magician when he awoke and the bronze ring was nowhere to be found!203But by that time our three mice had set sail with their prize.204A favoring breeze was carrying them toward the island where the queen of the mice was awaiting them.205Naturally they began to talk about the bronze ring.206“Which of us deserves the most credit?” they cried all at once.207“I do,” said the blind mouse, “for without my watchfulness our boat would have drifted away to the open sea.”208“No, indeed,” cried the mouse with the cropped ears; “the credit is mine.209Did I not cause the ring to jump out of the man’s mouth?”210“No, it is mine,” cried the lame one, “for I ran off with the ring.”211And from high words they soon came to blows, and, alas! when the quarrel was fiercest the bronze ring fell into the sea.212“How are we to face our queen,” said the three mice “when by our folly we have lost the talisman and condemned our people to be utterly exterminated?213We cannot go back to our country; let us land on this desert island and there end our miserable lives.”214No sooner said than done.215The boat reached the island, and the mice landed.216The blind mouse was speedily deserted by her two sisters, who went off to hunt flies, but as she wandered sadly along the shore she found a dead fish, and was eating it, when she felt something very hard.217At her cries the other two mice ran up.218“It is the bronze ring!219It is the talisman!” they cried joyfully, and, getting into their boat again, they soon reached the mouse island.220It was time they did, for the captain was just going to land his cargo of cats, when a deputation of mice brought him the precious bronze ring.221“Bronze ring,” commanded the young man, “obey thy master.222Let my ship appear as it was before.”223Immediately the genii of the ring set to work, and the old black vessel became once more the wonderful golden ship with sails of brocade; the handsome sailors ran to the silver masts and the silken ropes, and very soon they set sail for the capital.224Ah! how merrily the sailors sang as they flew over the glassy sea!225At last the port was reached.checked by a teacher226The captain landed and ran to the palace, where he found the wicked old man asleep.227The Princess clasped her husband in a long embrace.228The magician tried to escape, but he was seized and bound with strong cords.229The next day the sorcerer, tied to the tail of a savage mule loaded with nuts, was broken into as many pieces as there were nuts upon the mule’s back.230(1)231(1) Traditions Populaires de l’Asie Mineure.232Carnoy et Nicolaides.233Paris: Maisonneuve, 1889.1 2 3← previousThe Blue Fairy Booknext →Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess↑ back to The Blue Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/2/page/3/