Chapter 43 42. Magic Ring

A poor boy said to his mother, "Mom, I'm leaving home and going out. Nobody thinks highly of me in this town. I won't do much here. I'll go out and make some money. You can live a good life too." The boy left after speaking.He came to a city and was wandering in the street when he suddenly saw a little old lady going uphill with two heavy wooden barrels, panting with exhaustion.The young man went up to her and said, "Let me carry it. How can you carry such a heavy load." He picked up the barrel and followed her to her hut, went up the steps, and carried the water into the kitchen .There were many cats and dogs in the kitchen, and they surrounded the old lady, purring and wagging their tails.

"How can I thank you?" asked the old lady. "You're welcome," he replied, "I'm glad I could help you." "Wait a minute," said the old lady and left the kitchen.She came back with a very inconspicuous little ring, and she put it on the boy's finger and said, "It's a precious ring, you know. Just turn it once a time and tell it what you want, yours." Wishes will come true soon. But be careful not to lose the ring. Otherwise, you will be unlucky. To prevent accidents, I will give you a dog and a cat. They will follow you all the time. They are very Smart, it will be useful to you sooner or later."

The young man thanked the old lady repeatedly and left.However, he didn't take the old lady's words to heart at all. "It's all nonsense when you're old," he thought, not even thinking about turning the ring around to see what happened.He went out of town, dog and cat at his side.He loves animals and is happy to keep the two little ones with him.He ran and jumped with the two animals into a forest.It was getting dark, so he had to make a bed under a tree, and the puppy and kitten lay beside him.But he couldn't sleep because his stomach was growling with hunger.He remembered the ring on his finger and thought he might as well try it.So he turned the ring and said, "I want to eat and drink!"

Before he finished speaking, a table and three chairs appeared in front of him, and various foods and drinks were placed on the table.He sat down and tied his napkin around his neck.He sat the dog and cat on the other two chairs and tied napkins to them as well.The three of them ate with relish.Only now did he believe in the ring. He finished his meal and lay on the ground, thinking he would get all the good things he wanted now, but not sure what to ask first.For a while he wanted piles of gold and silver treasures, and for a while he wanted groups of chariots and horses, and for a while he wanted castles and land.The more he thought about it, the less he knew what he wanted. "It's driving me crazy to think about it," he said finally.He was exhausted from all his thinking and thinking. "I've often heard that when a man gets rich he becomes a fool. I'll keep my senses all the time. Well, let's stop thinking about it to-morrow." He turned over, He fell asleep soundly.The puppy and the kitten crouched down, guarding him at his head and feet respectively.

When he awoke, the sun was already high.The sun shines through the green treetops and into the woods.The breeze is blowing, and the birds are singing.After a night's rest, he felt completely relieved of fatigue.He wanted to ask the ring for a horse, but the wood was very lovely, so he decided to walk through it; He wanted something to drink, but there was the clearest spring water in the world in the forest, so he took the water with his hands and drank it.He walked through fields and meadows, and at last came to a great palace.In the palace, there happened to be a beautiful girl looking out of the window, and saw a carefree young man walking vigorously, followed by a puppy and a kitten, and she smiled warmly at him.When he looked up, the ring was still there, but his soul was long gone. "Now is the time to use the ring." He made up his mind, turned the ring and said, "Build a more beautiful palace opposite this palace, and have everything you need in it."

In the blink of an eye, a new palace stood there, taller and more beautiful than the old one.The young man was already in the palace, as if he had always lived there.The dog slept in the crate, and the cat lay by the fire, licking its paws.The boy opened the window and found himself facing the window of the beautiful girl.They looked at each other and smiled, repeatedly admiring.The young man understood that it was time to propose to the girl.The girl and her parents were very happy, and within a few days they were married. On the wedding night, after they kissed, hugged and made out for a while, the bride suddenly got up and asked, "You have to tell me, why did your palace pop out like a mushroom all of a sudden?"

He didn't know whether he should tell her, but he thought again: she is my wife, so I can't keep it a secret from my own wife.So he told her about the ring.After a while, they happily fell asleep. But when he was fast asleep, his wife quietly took the ring off his finger, got out of bed, called all the servants, and said, "Get out of here at once, and go to my parents' house! ’ When she came home safe and sound, she turned the ring and said, ‘Take my husband’s palace to the most forbidding mountain far away! ’ The palace disappeared at once, as if it had never existed.She looked at the mountain and saw her husband's palace standing high on the top of the mountain.

Waking up in the morning, the young man found that his wife had disappeared.He pushed open the window and saw the surroundings were empty; looking closer, he found that there were cliffs below, surrounded by snow-covered mountains.He touched his finger, and the ring was gone.He called to the servants, but no one answered, but the dog and the cat ran in.They were able to stay because he only told his wife about the ring and did not mention the two little animals.At first, he was puzzled by this matter, but then he gradually realized that his wife had shamelessly betrayed him.Although he understood what was going on, it did not alleviate his worries at all.He looked out the window to see if he could come down the hill.But, my God, the doors and windows opened into ravines and ravines, with steep and precipitous cliffs all around.The food in the palace is only enough for a few days.A terrible idea suddenly appeared in his mind: he would starve to death.

When the dog and cat saw their master looking downcast, they came to him. The dog said, "Master, don't be disappointed. The cat and I can find a way down the mountain from the cliff. Then, I will find the ring for you." "Dear babies," said the boy, "you are my only hope. Without you, I would rather jump off a cliff than die of starvation." The dog and the cat climbed out of the house, jumped off the cliff, and came to the foot of the mountain.They walked across the wilderness and came to a river.The dog picked up the cat and swam to the other side.It was night when they reached the treacherous woman's palace, and everyone in the house was fast asleep.After they slipped quietly through the cat hole, the cat said to the dog, "Now you stay here and watch the wind, and I will go upstairs and see what to do."

The cat jumped up the stairs quietly, and along the corridor to the room where the cheating girl was sleeping, but the door was closed and it couldn't get in.When the cat was eager to find a way, a mouse sprang out from the side.The cat caught it at once.It was a big fat mouse, and it begged the kitten for its life. "I will spare you," said the Cat, "but you must bite a big hole in this door and let me go in." The mice immediately started biting the door.It bites, bites, until it turns blue, but the hole is still too small for even a mouse, not to mention a cat, to get in by itself.

So the cat asked, "Do you have a little mouse?" "Why not? I have seven or eight children, each of whom is fierce." "Go and call one," said the kitten. "If you don't come back, wherever you go, I will catch you and eat you alive." The big mouse left, and brought back a little mouse after a while. "Listen, little one," said the Cat, "be wise, and you will save your father's life. Go into this woman's room, and climb into her bed, and take the ring off her finger." Not long after the little mouse went in, it came back disheartened. "She has no ring on her finger," said the little mouse. However, the kitten was not discouraged. "That means she has the ring in her mouth," said the kitten. "Go back and scratch her nose with your tail, and when she sneezes, her mouth will open and the ring will come out." .You grab the ring quickly and run back here." Everything happened as the cat expected.After a while, the little mouse ran back with the ring in its mouth.The cat took the ring and ran downstairs quickly. "Have you got the ring?" asked the Dog. "Of course." They jump over the gate and go back the way they came.But in his heart, the dog was full of jealousy, because the cat got the ring alone. When they came to the river, the dog said, "Give me the ring, and I will carry you across the river." The kitten refused, so they quarreled.During the quarrel, the cat was inattentive and the ring fell into the water.There happened to be a fish in the water, and it swallowed the ring.The dog opened its mouth quickly and took the fish.In this way, the dog gets the ring.The dog carried the cat to the other side, but they still refused to reconcile. They kept arguing and quarreling all the way back to the master's palace. "Have you two got the ring yet?" the young man asked anxiously.The dog spat out the fish, and the fish spat out the ring, but the cat said, "Don't believe it, I got the ring by myself, and then the dog took it from me." "But the ring would be lost forever if I hadn't caught the fish." At this time, the young man stroked the two of them and said, "My dear, don't make such a noise, you two are my treasures." He stroked the dog with one hand, stroked the cat with the other hand, stroked the It took half an hour for the two of them to get back together again. The young man went into the palace with the dog and the cat, turned the ring, and said, "Let my palace be exchanged with the palace of my cheating wife, and mine will go to hers, and she and her whole palace will come to mine." Come," he said, and the two palaces flew up in the air and exchanged places: the young man's palace fell in the middle of the plain, and her palace (she cried from within) settled like an eagle on the top of the hill superior. The young man took his mother into the palace, just as he had promised, and let her live a happy old age.The dog and the cat still lived with him, and they always quarreled about one thing or another, but on the whole they got along fairly well.What about the ring?Boys sometimes use it, but not much.It is not good (and it is!) to get everything one wants easily, he thought. When they reached the top of the mountain, they found his wife was cold and dead.She is starving.It was a tragic end, but she deserved nothing better. (Trantino region) -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Notes: Source of material: Chapter 44 of "Fairy Tales and Legends of Trantino" edited by Christian Schneller (Innsbruck, 1867 edition); collection area: Trantino. The story is strung together with many traditional sources (all of Asian origin) to give it a makeshift feel.Moreover, there are some morals in the middle of the story, which seem to be added to make up for the disconnection between the plots of the story.