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 104 In a short time the ants brought Irik a great number of pearls from among the grass, and he had nothing to do but to thread them on a piece of string. Just as Irik was about to tie the ends there came crawling to him a lame ant, whose leg had been burnt off when the ant-hill was in the midst of the fire, and cried,—

"Stop, Irik, stop! Don't tie the thread yet; I have brought you one pearl more."

Irik took the pearls to the king, and when the king had counted them there was not one missing.

"You have done your task well," said the king; "to-morrow morning I will give you some other work to do."

In the morning Irik presented himself to the king, and the king said to him, "My daughter with the golden locks, while bathing in the sea, lost her gold ring. You must find it, and bring it here."

Irik went to the sea, and, full of sorrow, wandered on the shore. The sea was clear, but so deep that he could not see the bottom. How then was he to find the ring?

"Would that my gold-fish were here!" cried Irik; "it would help me."

Suddenly something bright appeared in the sea, and then the gold-fish came up to the surface.

"I am here to help you. What do you want?"

"I have to find a gold ring in the sea, and I cannot even see the bottom of it."