You must be careful that the rolls last till our return . ' And Waska took leave of her beloved master , and set off with Schurka on their journey . On and on they travelled , looking always to right and left for traces of the Princess , following up every track , making inquiries of every cat and dog they met , listening to the talk of every wayfarer they passed ; and at last they heard that the kingdom at the utmost ends of the earth where the twelve youths had borne the Princess was not very far off . And at last one day they reached that distant kingdom , and , going at once to the palace , they began to make friends with all the dogs and cats in the place , and to question them about the Princess and the magic ring ; but no one could tell them much about either . Now one day it chanced that Waska had gone down to the palace cellar to hunt for mice and rats , and seeing an especially fat , well-fed mouse , she pounced upon it , buried her claws in its soft fur , and was just going to gobble it up , when she was stopped by the pleading tones of the little creature , saying , ` If you will only spare my life I may be of great service to you . I will do everything in my power for you ; for I am the King of the Mice , and if I perish the whole race will die out . ' ` So be it , ' said Waska . ' I will spare your life ; but in return you must do something for me . In this castle there lives a Princess , the wicked wife of my dear master . She has stolen away his magic ring . You must get it away from her at whatever cost ; do you hear ? Till you have done this I wo n't take my claws out of your fur . ' ` 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 XXXXX 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 .
In about above among for of that till to under