"Let us see the stone," said the merchants.
The man showed them the stone.
Then the merchants showed him gold and silver and diamonds and other beautiful things, and said:
"We will give you all these if you will give us the stone."
The things looked very beautiful to the man, so he took them and gave the stone to the merchants.
All at once he found himself again in the dark box on the water.
As soon as the bear, the monkey, and the mouse saw what had happened, they tried to help him.
But the lid was fastened more strongly than before.
They could not open it.
"We must have that stone again," said the bear.