`` Which of us deserves the most credit ? '' they cried all at once . `` I do , '' said the blind mouse , `` for without my watchfulness our boat would have drifted away to the open sea . '' `` No , indeed , '' cried the mouse with the cropped ears ; `` the credit is mine . Did I not cause the ring to jump out of the man 's mouth ? '' `` No , it is mine , '' cried the lame one , `` for I ran off with the ring . '' And from high words they soon came to blows , and , alas ! when the quarrel was fiercest the bronze ring fell into the sea . `` 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 ? We can not go back to our country ; let us land on this desert island and there end our miserable lives . '' No sooner said than done . The boat reached the island , and the mice landed . The 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 . At her cries the other two mice ran up . `` It is the bronze ring ! It is the talisman ! '' they cried joyfully , and , getting into their boat again , they soon reached the mouse island . It 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 . `` Bronze ring , '' commanded the young man , `` obey thy master . Let my ship appear as it was before . ''
Immediately the genii XXXXX 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 .
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