40 THE STORY OF KHERUDIN. 



When they had pierced the seventh, one of the army of 

 rats went in and searched about inside. There was only 

 a small bundle of cloth but the rat felt that there really was a 

 ring inside it. So he brought it outside and gave it to the cat. 

 When the cat saw that it really was his master's ring he let 

 the king rat go. So the king rat went off with his army of 

 followers. The cat was very glad indeed and went to find the 

 dog. 



The cat said, " Hai, mangy dog, I have got our master's 

 ring. Come along home." 



The cat carried the ring in its mouth. When daylight 

 came the cat and the dog set off to swim across a very wide 

 sea. The cat was not in the least'tired owing to the power of 

 the ring. But the dog got very tired and spent, so he said to 

 the cat, 



" Hai, let me carry the ring for a little, for I see that you 

 are quite fresh." 



But the cat said, " You can't carry the ring now ; perhaps 

 you will let it fall." 



The dog said, " It won't fall." 



So the cat gave it to the dog who put it in his mouth. 

 The dog at once became a little stronger. But after a time 

 the ring fell into the sea. 



The dog said, " Hai, our master's ring has fallen into 

 the sea." 



The cat said, " I told you before that if you carried it, 

 you would let it fall, but you said it would not. Now you 

 have dropped it. And how are we to get it back again ? " 



So they went on swimming till they got to an island 

 at which they rested. 



The cat said, " We had better walk about on the shore." 



The cat noticed a large fish rolling over and over on the 

 shore. He thought, "What a fat fish that is. lam hungry; 

 I had better eat it." 



So he said to the dog, " Come along and eat this dead 

 fish for I am very hungry." 



Jour. Straits Branch 



