Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-01-18
THE WISHING. RING.
And How IL brought Good Iuch n uts
ONuerA

per particularly well, was sitting resting on his
po VA ,or , moment as he wiped his brow, when
oiu wI1ch crept up TO him and said, swhv
90 you toil 50 hard, and all for nothing? walk
staalsnt before you for two days and you will
t ,"ms, 70 large fir tree, which stands alone,
W1~eIng over all the other trees of the forest
III you can but fell ii your fortune Is made"
Inc farmer did not wait To be told twice but
taxing his Ak on his shoulder, started on his
way. After walking two days, he came to the
mr. tree. and Immediately set to work 20 fen II.
Soon II toppled and crashed to the earth when
from the top branches dropped a nest contain
and broke; as they broke, forth came young
eaglet from one, and a small golden ring from
the other The eaglet grew visibly till it reached
half the height OF man. shook its wings, as il
to try them, raised itself from the ground, and
then cried, "YOu have released me! as token of
my gratitude, take the ring the other egg con-
finger, speak your wish aloud. and il will mime
diately be granted. But the ring has only one
wish; when that Is accomplished it will lose all
power and become no more than any other ring.
Therefore reflect well on what you wish for, so
that you may not have to repent afterward."
Having so spoken, the eagle rose high into the
an, swept, for some time, in wide circles over
the farmers head, and then, like an arrow from
bow, shot swiftly toward the east. The farmer
took the ring, put IL on his finger and started
homeward. Toward evening he reached town.
At the door of his shop a goldsmith stood who
had many valuable rings for sale. The farmer
showed him his ring, and asked him what was
about the value of it,
III.
The farmer laughed heartily, telling the man it
was wishlng-ring, and of more value than all
the rings in his shop put together. Now the
goldsmith was a false, designing man, so he in
vited the farmer to stay all night at his house,
saying :-'It must bring one good luck to enter
tain man who il the possessOr of such precious
entertained him well with plenty of wine and
civil words, but when he went to sleep at night
he drew his ring stealthily from his finger, and
put on it instead a common ring quite like it in
aDpParaleP. 10 col M
could hardly wait, with any degree OF patience
till the farmer had taken his departure. He
have so far to 60, you had better start early"
As soon a. the farmer was safe on his Journey
the goldsmith went into his room, and having
closed the shutters, that no one might see, he
bolted himself in, and, standing in the middle
OF the room, and turning the ring on his finger,
exclaimed:
- wish to have hundred thousand silver
Hardly were the words spoken when bright
hve-shllling pieces began to rain down from the
ceiling; shining silver crowns poured down so
him numerically about the head and shoulders
and arms. Calling piteously for help, he tried
to rush to the door, but before he could reach it
and unbolt it, he fell bleeding to the ground
Still the rain OF silver crowns did not cease and
soon, under the weight of it, the flooring gave
way, and the unfortunate goldsmith and his
money fell down into a deep cellar. And still
it rained on, till the hundred thousand silver
crow rs were completed, and then the goldsmith
lay dead in his cellar, with the mass of money
upon him. Attracted at last by the noise the
neigbOrs rushed TO the spot and, on finding the
goldsmith dead under his money. exclaimed,
% really is great misfortune when blessings
rain down like cudgels.' Then the heirs came
and divided the spoil.
Meantime, the farmer went happily home,
and showed the ring to his wife.
I've shall now never want for anything, dear
wife, - he said; ''our fortune is made. But we
must consider well what we must wish for
The wife had a bright idea ready at hand.
'.Let US wish ourselves some more land" said
she; 1--WE have 80 little. There is Just a nice
for that"
THAT would never be worth whilev REPLIED
the husband; ''we have only to work well for a
year, and have a moderate share of good luck
and we can buy it for ourselves"
And the man and his wife worked hard for a
whole year, and the harvest had never been SO
plentiful as that autumn, so they were not only
able to buy the strip of land, but had money to
"You see, said the husband, ''the land is ours
and the wish too"
Then the good woman thought it would be a
capital thing to wish themselves a COW and a
'.Wife," answered the husband. again clink-
ing the surplus money in his pocket; lit would
be folly to sacrifice our wish for such trumpery
thing. We can get tie COW and the horse with
out that"
And. sure enough, in another years time, the
horse and cow had been well earned. So the
man rubbed his hands cheerfully, and said -
'.AnOther year has passed, and still the wish
is ours, and yet we have all we want; what good
luck we have!'
tent, and tried seriously to induce her husband
to wish for something.
"Yeu are not like your old SELF" she said
Grossly; formerly, you were always grumbing
and complaining, and wishing for all sorts of
things; and now, when you might have what
ever you want, you toll and work like slave,
years slip by. You might be king, emperor,
duke, great, rich farmer with loads of money,
but noayou can't make up your mind what to
choose"
"Pray do cease continually Worrying and
teasing me-" cried the farmer; we are both of
us young, and life is long. The ring contains
but one wish, and that must not be squandered.
who knows what may happen to us, when we
might really need the ring? Do we want for
anything now? Since the ring has been ours,
have We not so risen in the world that all men
marvel at u? So do be sensible, and amuse
wish for.'
And so the matter was allowed to rest for the
present. 1t really seemed as if the ring brought
blessings on the house, for barns and granaries
grew fuller and fuller, from year to wear; and
IN the course OF time, the poor farmer became
with his men as ii the whole world depended
upon it; but in the evening, when the yesper
bell sounded, he was always to be seen sitting
cOntented and well-tO-do, at the threshold TO he
wished "Good evening" by the passers -bv Now
and then, when they were quite alone and no
one near to hear, the woman still reminded her
busCdHu vi the IlIg, ana maze ali sorts OF prop
ositiOns to HIM. He always answered there was
time enough to think about it, and that the best
ideas always occurred TO one last. SO she grad
ually fell into the way of mentioning it less
often, and at last it rarely happened that the
ring was ever alluded to at all. The farmer it
IL true, turned the ring his finger twenty
times day and examined it closely, but took
good care never to express the slightest wish at
the time. And so thirty and forty years went
by, and the farmer and his wife grew old and
their hair snow-white, and still the wish re-
manned unspoken. At last it pleased God to
show them great mercy, and He took them to
Himself both in one night. Children and grand
children stood weeping around the collins and
as one of them tried to withdraw the ring from
the dead mans finger, his eldest son said:
"Let our father take his ring to the grave.
There was some mystery about it. Probably it
was some love token, for our mother often look
ed at the ring too; perhaps she gave it him when
they both were young"
So the old farmer was buried with the ring
which should have been a wishing-ring, but was
not one. and yet had brought much good luck
to the house as man could desire. For It is
strange, as regards the true and the false but a
bad thing can be turned to better account i'm
good hands, than good thing in bad.-Good
Words for the Young.
Dying.
A. -.wx..