The Prince went, and having given her the ring, and told her in that very manner, the elder sister of the Gem Princess then said, “It is good; I will send them. You, Sir, be good enough to go.” Then he came back.
That day night, having started them off, she sent three thousand rats. The rats having come before the light fell, went to the room in which was the Gem Princess. At the time when they went, she gave food and drink to the rats, and said, “Before a week has gone they will cut the tunnel which the King is cutting, a mile deep. Because of it, you must cut So they cut and finished both tunnels on one day. Regarding the tunnel which the rats cut, the King was unable to learn even a little bit. Without making the tunnel which the rats cut break into and become part of[7] the King’s tunnel, they turned it a little across [towards it at the end]. After that, having cut the [other] tunnel and finished it, and given the Prince a horse, and given him a sword, the King said, “Look here. We have cleared the path to go to the God-world. Having gone, come back.” Then the Prince said, “It is good.” Having said it, and gone near the Gem Princess, at the time when he was saying, “I will go, and come,”[8] the Princess said, “Say to the King that you will come in a week; and go,” she said. Then the Prince having told the King, “I shall come in a week,” went. Having driven the horse into that tunnel which the King cut, and gone along the tunnel, and come to the other tunnel [excavated by the rats], during the daytime he stays in the tunnel. At night, having come near the Gem Princess, and eaten rice, and been sleeping, again as the light falls he goes to the tunnel and remains [there]. At the time when the Prince sprang into that tunnel, men threw stones into the tunnel, and heaped them up. They do not know the fact that that Prince is staying in the tunnel which the rats cut. After that, the King came, and spoke to the Princess, “Now then, let us two be married.” Then the Princess said, “I will not. My husband has said that he will come in a week. Because of it, until he comes I will not marry any one whatever. If he come not I will marry,” she said. The King having heard that word [said], “It is good. After a week has gone I will marry [you].” Thinking, “The Prince having been put into the tunnel, and stones trampled down [over it], when will he come again? That Princess, the Prince not [being here], in perplexity at his death is talking nonsense,” he went away.