A plowman paused in his work one day to rest. As he sat on the handle
of his plow he fell thinking. The world had not been going well with
him of late, and he could not help feeling downhearted. Just then he
saw an old woman looking at him over the hedge.
"Good morning!" she said. "If you are wise you will take my advice."
"And what is your advice?" the plowman asked.
"Leave your plow and walk straight for two days. At the end of that
time you will find yourself in the middle of a forest, and in front of
you will be a tree towering high above the others. Cut it down and
your fortune will be made."
With these words the old woman hobbled down the road, leaving the
plowman wondering. He unharnessed his horses, drove them home, and
said good-bye to his wife. Then, taking his axe, he started out.
At the end of two days he came to the tree, and set to work to cut it
down. As it crashed to the ground a nest containing two eggs fell from
its top-most branches. The shells of the eggs were broken, and out of
one came a young eagle, while from the other rolled a small gold ring.
The eagle rapidly became larger, until it was of full size. Then,
flapping its wings, it flew up.
"Thank you for my freedom," it called. "In token of my gratitude take
this ring. It is a wishing ring. If you wish anything as you turn it
around on your finger your wish will come true. But remember this, the
ring contains only one wish, so think well before you use it."
The plowman put the ring on his finger and started home. Night was
settling down as he entered the town. Almost the first person he saw
was a goldsmith standing at the door of his shop. So the plowman went
up to him and asked him what the ring was worth.
"It is of no value," said the goldsmith.
The plowman laughed.
"Ah, Mr. Goldsmith," he said, "you have made a mistake. It is a
wishing ring and will give me anything I care to wish for."
The goldsmith asked to see the ring again.
"Well, my good man," he said. "Never mind about the ring. I dare say
you are far from home, and are in want of some supper and a bed for
the night. Come in and spend the night with me."
So the plowman did this. But when he was sound asleep the goldsmith
took the ring from his finger and put another, just like it, in its
place.
Next morning the plowman set out with the false ring. The goldsmith
closed the shutters of his shop and bolted the door. Then, turning the
ring on his finger, he said, "I wish for a hundred thousand dollars."
Immediately there fell about him a shower of hard, bright silver. The
dollars struck him on the head, the shoulders, the arms. They covered
the floor. The floor gave way with their weight and the goldsmith,
with his riches, fell into the cellar beneath.
Next morning, when the goldsmith did not open his shop as usual, the
neighbors forced their way in and found him buried beneath the pile.
The plowman reached home and told his wife about the ring.
"Our fortune is made," he said, showing it to her. "Of course we must
consider the matter well; then, when we have made up our minds as to
what we need most, we can wish as I turn the ring on my finger."
"Suppose," said his wife, "we were to wish for a better farm? The land
we have now is so small as to be almost useless."
"Yes," said the plowman. "But, if we work hard and spend little for a
year or two, we might be able to buy as much as we want. Then we would
still have our wish."
So it was agreed. For a year the plowman worked hard and his wife
saved. Harvest time came and the crops were splendid. At the end of
the year they were able to buy a nice farm, and still had some money
left.
"There," said the man, "we have the land, and we still have our wish."
"Well," said his wife, "we could do very well with a horse and a cow."
"They are not worth wishing for," said he. "We can get them as we got
the land."
So they went on working steadily and spending wisely for another year.
At the end of that time they bought both the horse and the cow. It
seemed great good fortune to them.
"We have all we wanted, and our wish left, also," they said.
So the years passed away. Every season saw the boundaries of the farm
increase and the granaries grow fuller. All day long the farmer was
about in the fields while his wife looked after the house and the
dairy. Sometimes, as they sat alone of an evening, the plowman's wife
would remind him of the unused ring and would talk of things she would
like to have for the house. But he always said there was plenty of
time.
The man and his wife grew old and gray. Then came a day when they both
died, and the wishing ring had not been used. It was still on the
plowman's finger as he had worn it for forty years. One of his sons
was going to take it off, but the oldest said,
"Do not disturb it. There is some secret connected with it. Perhaps
our mother gave it to him, for I have often seen her look longingly at
it."
So the old plowman was buried with the ring which he had supposed to
be a wishing ring. It was not, but it had brought more good fortune
and happiness than all the wishing in the world could have given.