heads together how they might get the ring from the lad, and when they had done that they thought it would be no such hard thing to be rid of him.
At night the princess come with some sleeping-drops, and said now she would pour out a little philtre for her own true love, for she was sure he did not care enough for her; that was what she said. Yes! he thought no harm could come of it, and so he drained off the drink like a man, and in a trice he fell so sound asleep, they might have pulled the house down over his head without waking him. So the princess took the ring off his finger and put it on her own, and wished the lad might lie on the dungheap outside in the street, just as tattered and beggarly as he was when he came in, and in his place she wished for the handsomest prince in the world. In the twinkling of an eye it all happened. As the night wore on the lad woke up on the dunghill, and at first he thought it was only a dream, but when he found the ring was gone he knew how it had all happened, and then he got so bewildered that he set off and was just going to jump into the lake and drown himself.
But just then he met the cat which his master had bought for him.
"Whither away?" asked the cat.
"To the lake to drown myself," said the lad.
"Don't think of it," said the cat; "you shall get your ring back again, never fear."
"Oh, shall I, shall I?" said the lad.
By this time the cat was already off, and as she started she met a rat.
"Now I'll take and gobble you up," said the cat.
