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 76 the bear, came quickly to help him; but the mouse found she could not nibble off the lock this time, for it was a great deal stronger than before. Then the bear said, "We must find the wonderful stone again, or all we can do will be fruitless."

The merchants, meantime, had taken up their abode in the palace; so away went the three friends, and when they came near, the bear said, "Mouse, go in and look through the keyhole, and see where the stone is kept: you are small, nobody will see you." The mouse did as she was told, but soon came back and said, "Bad news! I have looked in, and the stone hangs under the looking-glass by a red silk string, and on each side of it sits a great black cat with fiery eyes, watching it."

Then the others took counsel together, and said, "Go back again, and wait till the master of the palace is in bed asleep; then nip his nose and pull his hair." Away went the mouse, and did as they told her; and the master jumped up very angrily, and rubbed his nose, and cried, "Those rascally cats are good for nothing at all; they let the mice bite my very nose, and pull the hair off my head." Then he hunted them out of the room; and so the mouse had the best of the game.

Next night, as soon as the master was asleep, the mouse crept in again; and (the cats being gone) she nibbled at the red silken string to which the stone hung, till down it dropped. Then she rolled it along to the door; but when it got there the poor little mouse was quite tired, and said to the ass, "Put in your foot, and lift it over the threshold." This was soon done; and they took up the stone, and set off for the waterside. Then the ass said, "How shall we reach the box?"