The Magic Ring

Once upon a time in a village lived a merchant. The merchant had a son.

When the son grew up the merchant gave his son three hundred rupees and asked him to go to the world and make a living. 

The son took the money and walked away. 

When he walked a little distance, he saw a group of people trying to kill a dog. The merchant's son paid the people hundred rupees and freed the dog and took it with him.  

Similarly a little distance away the merchant's son saved a cat and a snake as well. 

After this the merchant's son realized that he had spent all the money that his father had given him and he did not know what to do. 

So he went back to his home and told his father all that he had done. 

Naturally the merchant was very angry with his son and scolded him. The merchant asked his son to leave the house and not come back. Sadly, the merchant's son left with his dog, cat and snake that he had saved. 

Finally when they came to a river the snake came up to him. "My father is king Indrasha. If the two of us crossed a river on the far side from here and reached the kingdom, there you shall see my father. When you return me back to my kingdom safe and sound, my father will reward you." 

The merchant's son was surprised as the snake continued. "He will want to know what reward you wish for. Ask for his ring and the pot and spoons that he has."

"Why?" The merchant's son asked in a dazed voice.

"When you speak into the ring it will give you any riches that you want." The snake told him, "And the pot and the spoons will always make delicious food for you when you ask for it."

The merchant's son asked the cat and the dog to stay at the banks of the river and he and the snake swam inside the river. 

They soon found the hidden kingdom. 

Just as the snake had predicted, King Indrasha was thrilled on seeing his son and the king was willing to offer any reward to the merchant's son. 

Taking the ring and the pot and the spoons, the merchant's son came back to the banks of the river. 

The dog who was waiting on the bank of the river wanted to leave. 

However the cat advised the dog to be patient and both the animals waited for its master who came back with the gifts from the kingdom of king Indrasha.

Using the power of the ring the merchant's son created a huge palace right near the river.

There was also a beautiful princess in the palace. She was very happy to marry the merchant's son. 

The merchant's son married the princess and lived in the palace happily for a long time.

Once the princess was a little careless, while combing her hair and the hair in the comb flowed off in the river. 

The hair flowed into the nearby kingdom where the prince of the kingdom saw the hair. On seeing the beautiful strands of hair, the prince realized that the woman with the hair was very beautiful. 

He had not seen the woman with the hair but he wanted to marry her and no one else. 

It went so bad that the prince was afflicted by fever. 

Not knowing what to do, the princes' father, the king, approached his sister for help.

Now the king's sister could do magic. 

Using her powers she was able to identify the owner of the hair. 

Then she realized that the whole solution to her nephew's problem was the ring in possession of the merchant's son.

She disguised herself as an old woman and went to the palace of the merchant's son. The princess was there at that time and she looked after the old woman and offered her some food. 

Staying there the king's sister was able to steal the ring from the merchant's son's room. She took the ring back to the prince. She also explained to the prince how the magic ring worked and how the prince could get all that he wanted just by speaking into it. 

The prince was overjoyed and using the power of the ring he took everything that the merchant's son had. 

Then the prince offered the princess a chance to marry him. 

The princess realized that she had no choice. So in order to buy time she asked the prince to wait for a month before she could decide. 

Meanwhile the merchant's son was sad and homeless with just his cat and dog for company.

The cat and the dog were unhappy to see their master so sad. 

The cat decided to solve the problem. He and the dog went to the neighbouring kingdom. They met the princess in the prince's castle and asked her all the details. 

When the princess told the animals everything. 

The cat realized that they had to get the ring back and everything could go back to the way it had been.

"That would be a little difficult," the princess told the cat. "The prince's king's sister has the ring stored in her stomach."

Just outside the castle there was a huge colony of rats. 

On the day that the cat and the dog had gone to the castle the rats were celebrating a huge marriage ceremony.

Just near the place the cat pretended to fall unconscious. When the rats came to check the place, the cat caught the rat bride groom. 

The rat groom tried to free himself but the cat tightened his grip. 

The cat then entered a deal with all the rats. 

He would let the rat groom go if the rats got the ring from the king's sister's stomach. 

The rat went to the room of the King's sister and they were able to make the king's sister sneeze violently. 

The ring in the king's sister's stomach came out. 

The cat and the dog took the ring and were off to their master who could then wish into the ring for it to become the way it had been. 

On the way however the dog became very jealous of the cat. 

He realized that it was the cat who had done everything. He wanted to carry the ring and give it back to the master. 

He threatened to kill the cat if the cat did not give the ring. 

The cat had no choice but to give the ring to the dog. 

Unfortunately the dog was careless and it dropped the ring into the water. 

The ring was swallowed by a fish.

The dog was terrified. 

However the cat came up with a plan. 

It ordered the dog to kill a lamb and bring it to the place. 

Then a bird which could break into the bones of fishes came to eat the dead lamb. At that time the cat pounced on the bird. The cat entered a deal with the bird to spare its life and in return, the bird had to get the ring from the fish. 

The fishes were terrified when the bird approached it and readily looked around and found where the ring had gone. The fishes brought the ring and gave it to the bird. 

The bird in turn gave the ring to the cat and was happily able to feed on the dead lamb. 

However the dog had still not learned his lesson. 

He still wanted to carry the ring and give it to the master. 

Again the dog was careless and this time a kite took the ring and flew on top of the tree. 

The dog was terrified again. 

However this time the cat was patient and waited till dark and saw the kite on top of the tree. 

When the kite was about to sleep the cat terrified the kite which flew away dropping the ring. 

After that the cat took the ring and along with the dog went back to its master. The dog did not ask for the ring. 

The merchant's son was overjoyed on seeing the ring and wished into it for everything to be the way it had been. After that the animals, the merchant's son and the princess were happy for a long time.

Folk stories from India