Year: 1875

Then the heirs came and divided
the spoil. Meantime the farmer
went happily home, and showed the
ring to his wife.


"We shall never want for any
thing, dear wife," he said. ''Our for
tune is made. But we must con-
slider well what we wish for"
The wife had a bright idea ready
at hand.


sLet us wish ourselves some more
land" said she. ave have so little.
There is just such nice strip which
stretches quite into our field; let us
wish for that"


"That would never be worth
WHILE" replied the husband, 'we
have, only to work wei for year,
and have moderate share of good
luck, and we can buy it for our
selves"


So the man and wife worked hard
for whole year, and the crop had
never been so plentiful as that au-
tumn, so they were not only able to
buy the strip of land but had money
to spare.


"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 horse.


"Wife," answered the husband,
again clinking the surplus money in
his pocket, sit would be folly to sacri-
flee our wish for such a trumpery
thing. Wec get the cow and the
horse without that"


And, sure enough, in another
years time the horse and cow had
been well earned. So the man rub
bed his hands cheerfully. and said:


Another year has passed, and the
wish still is ours, and yet we have all
we want; what gead luck we have"


The wife, however, began to be
very impatient, and tried seriously
to induce her husband to wish for
something.


"You are not like your old SELF"
she said Grossly. "Formerly you
were always grumbling and com
planning, and wishing for all sorts of
things, and now, when you might
have whatever you want, you toll
and work like a slave, are pleased
with Everything, and yet your best
years, slip by. You might he king,
empesor, duke, q great rich farmer,
with nnads of money, hut n0-you
can't make up your mind what to
choose"


"Pray do cease continually worry
ing and teasing me-" cried the far
mcr; Eve are both young, and life is
long. The ring contains bnt one
wish, and that must not he squander-
ed. Who knows what may happen
to us when we might really need the
ring? Do we want anything now?
Since the ring has been ours, have
we not so risen in the world that all
men marvel at us? So do be sensi-
BILE, and amuse yourself, if you like,
by thinking what we shall wish for"


And so the matter was allowed to
rest for time. 1t really seemed as
if the ring brought blessings on the
house, for the barns and the grana-
ries grew fuller and fuller from year
to year; and in short time the poor
farmer BECAME rich and prosperous
one. He worked hard all day with
his men as if the world depended
upon it, but in the evening, when
the, ,yesper bell sounded, he was al
ways to be seen sitting, contented
and well -to-do, at his threshold, to be
wished "Good evening" by the pass
ers- by. Now and then, when they
were quite alone, and no one near TO
hear, the wife still reminded her hus-
band of the ring, and made all sorts
of propositions to him. He always
answered there was time enough to
think about it, and that the best ideas
Railways occurred to one last: So she
gradually fell into the way of men
tioning it less often, and at last it
rarely happened that the ring was al
luded to at all. The farmer, it is
true, turned the ring on his finger
twenty times day, and examined it
closely, but took good care never to
express the slightest wish at tho time.
And so thirty or forty years went by,
and the farmer and his wife grew old,
and their hair snow white, and still
the wish remained unspoken. At
last it pleased God to show them q
great mercy, and he took them to
Himself both in one night. Chill
dren and grandchildren stood weep
ing around the coffin, 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 looked at
the ring too; perhaps she gave it to
him when they were both 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 as much luck to the
house as man could desire. For it is
strange, as regards the true and
false, not bad thing can be turned
to better account in good hands than
a good thing in bad.


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