LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Make this ring red-hot,” commanded the master, “and mark the man with it upon his back.”

      The slaves obeyed him.

      “Now, young man,” said the rich stranger, “I am going to give you a vessel which will take you back to your own country.”

      And, going out, he took the bronze ring and said:

      “Bronze ring, obey thy master. Prepare me a ship of which the half-rotten timbers shall be painted black, let the sails be in rags, and the sailors infirm and sickly. One shall have lost a leg, another an arm, the third shall be a hunchback, another lame or club-footed or blind, and most of them shall be ugly and covered with scars. Go, and let my orders be executed.”

      The minister’s son embarked in this old vessel, and thanks to favorable winds, at length reached his own country. In spite of the pitiable condition in which he returned they received him joyfully.

      “I am the first to come back,” said he to the King; now fulfil your promise, and give me the princess in marriage.

      So they at once began to prepare for the wedding festivities. As to the poor princess, she was sorrowful and angry enough about it.

      The next morning, at daybreak, a wonderful ship with every sail set came to anchor before the town. The King happened at that moment to be at the palace window.

      “What strange ship is this,” he cried, “that has a golden hull, silver masts, and silken sails, and who are the young men like princes who man it? And do I not see St. Nicholas at the helm? Go at once and invite the captain of the ship to come to the palace.”

      His servants obeyed him, and very soon in came an enchantingly handsome young prince, dressed in rich silk, ornamented with pearls and diamonds.

      “Young man,” said the King, “you are welcome, whoever you may be. Do me the favor to be my guest as long as you remain in my capital.”

      “Many thanks, sire,” replied the captain, “I accept your offer.”

      “My daughter is about to be married,” said the King; “will you give her away?”

      “I shall be charmed, sire.”

      Soon after came the Princess and her betrothed.

      “Why, how is this?” cried the young captain; “would you marry this charming princess to such a man as that?”

      “But he is my prime minister’s son!”

      “What does that matter? I cannot give your daughter away. The man she is betrothed to is one of my servants.”

      “Your servant?”

      “Without doubt. I met him in a distant town reduced to carrying away dust and rubbish from the houses. I had pity on him and engaged him as one of my servants.”

      “It is impossible!” cried the King.

      “Do you wish me to prove what I say? This young man returned in a vessel which I fitted out for him, an unseaworthy ship with a black battered hull, and the sailors were infirm and crippled.”

      “It is quite true,” said the King.

      “It is false,” cried the minister’s son. “I do not know this man!”

      “Sire,” said the young captain, “order your daughter’s betrothed to be stripped, and see if the mark of my ring is not branded upon his back.”

      The King was about to give this order, when the minister’s son, to save himself from such an indignity, admitted that the story was true.

      “And now, sire,” said the young captain, “do you not recognize me?”

      “I recognize you,” said the Princess; “you are the gardener’s son whom I have always loved, and it is you I wish to marry.”

      “Young man, you shall be my son-in-law,” cried the King. “The marriage festivities are already begun, so you shall marry my daughter this very day.”

      And so that very day the gardener’s son married the beautiful Princess.

      Several months passed. The young couple were as happy as the day was long, and the King was more and more pleased with himself for having secured such a son-in-law.

      But, presently, the captain of the golden ship found it necessary to take a long voyage, and after embracing his wife tenderly he embarked.

      Now in the outskirts of the capital there lived an old man, who had spent his life in studying black arts—alchemy, astrology, magic, and enchantment. This man found out that the gardener’s son had only succeeded in marrying the Princess by the help of the genii who obeyed the bronze ring.

      “I will have that ring,” said he to himself. So he went down to the sea-shore and caught some little red fishes. Really, they were quite wonderfully pretty. Then he came back, and, passing before the Princess’s window, he began to cry out:

      “Who wants some pretty little red fishes?”

      The Princess heard him, and sent out one of her slaves, who said to the old peddler:

      “What will you take for your fish?”

      “A bronze ring.”

      “A bronze ring, old simpleton! And where shall I find one?”

      “Under the cushion in the Princess’s room.”

      The slave went back to her mistress.

      “The old madman will take neither gold nor silver,” said she.

      “What does he want then?”

      “A bronze ring that is hidden under a cushion.”

      “Find the ring and give it to him,” said the Princess.

      And at last the slave found the bronze ring, which the captain of the golden ship had accidentally left behind and carried it to the man, who made off with it instantly.

      Hardly had he reached his own house when, taking the ring, he said, “Bronze ring, obey thy master. I desire that the golden ship shall turn to black wood, and the crew to hideous negroes; that St. Nicholas shall leave the helm and that the only cargo shall be black cats.”

      And the genii of the bronze ring obeyed him.

      Finding himself upon the sea in this miserable condition, the young captain understood that some one must have stolen the bronze ring from him, and he lamented his misfortune loudly; but that did him no good.

      “Alas!” he said to himself, “whoever has taken my ring has probably taken my dear wife also. What good will it do me to go back to my own country?” And he sailed about from island to island, and from shore to shore, believing that wherever he went everybody was laughing at him, and very soon his poverty was so great that he and his crew and the poor black cats had nothing to eat but herbs and roots. After wandering about a long time he reached an island inhabited by mice. The captain landed upon the shore and began to explore the country. There were mice everywhere, and nothing but mice. Some of the black cats had followed him, and, not having been fed for several days, they were fearfully hungry, and made terrible havoc among the mice.

      Then the queen of the mice held a council.

      “These cats will eat every one of us,” she said, “if the captain of the ship does not shut the ferocious animals up. Let us send a deputation to him of the bravest among us.”

      Several mice offered themselves for this mission and set out to find the young captain.

      “Captain,” said they, “go away quickly from our island, or we shall perish, every mouse of us.”

      “Willingly,” replied the young captain, “upon one condition. That is that you shall first bring me back a bronze

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