The Ruby Ring

One day, the king, her father, gave her a wonderful ruby ring. She put it on her finger and as she moved her hand this way and that, admiring it, it sparkled and flashed like red fire. The princess was so pleased with it that she wore it all the time.

One day, Anna, the maid, was combing Princess Julia’s hair. She sat by the window, and on the table in front of her lay her ruby ring, and it sparkled as the rays of the sun caught it. At that moment, a jackdaw flew past the window. Jackdaws love shining things, and when the bird saw the ring, it swooped down at once, snatched it from the table, and carried it away in its beak. Princess Julia was very angry. “Stop the jackdaw at once and get back my ring,” she called.

Anna, the maid, went running out into the garden to try to catch the thieving jackdaw. She saw it perched in a tree and ran towards it. As she approached, the jackdaw flew away, but the ring slipped from its beak as it flew and dropped straight into the lake. “Oh dear, I shall never be able to get it back for the princess, and she will be so cross,” sighed poor Anna.

To Anna’s amazement, a fish popped its head up out of the water. In its mouth was the ruby ring. She was even more amazed when the fish spoke, “If you will promise to bring me a slice of the royal cake every day, I will give you back the ring,” said the fish.

Anna promised at once, and the fish gave her the ring. She told Princess Julia about her promise, but the princess only laughed. “What does a silly fish matter?” she asked. “We have the ring back, so why bother?”

However, Anna was determined to keep her promise, and every day she went down to the lake with a piece of the royal cake. It was not always easy to get a slice of the cake, and one day, there was no cake at all, for Princess Julia was out. Anna went down to the royal kitchen to see if she could find a cake anywhere from which she could cut a slice, but the head cook caught her.

The head cook was a very bad-tempered person, and he marched Anna straight to the king and accused her of stealing from the royal kitchen. “Dismiss her at once,” said the king. “We can’t have that.”

Anna went down to the lake for the last time. “I’m sorry, fish, I cannot keep my promise any more, for I am being sent away,” she said.

The fish’s head appeared above the surface of the water. “I will let you off your promise if you will bring me one red rose from the princess’s garden,” replied the fish.

“I will get you a red rose at once,” said Anna. She ran to the princess’s rose garden. There was the rose bush, but there was only one red rose on it. The rose bush grew by the sun-dial, and on the seat beside the sun-dial sat Princess Julia, polishing her fingernails until they shone. The ruby ring lay on the sun-dial beside her.

Anna was sure that selfish Princess Julia would not give her the rose if she asked for it, so, wishing to keep her promise to the fish, she crept up behind the princess, reached out, and pulled the branch of the rose bush to her and gently plucked the one red rose. She let the branch go, and it swished back, startling Princess Julia so that she turned suddenly to see who was behind her. Then the princess noticed that her ruby ring was not on the sun-dial where she had placed it. She was sure that Anna had come back to steal it. “Guards, seize that girl,” she cried. “She has stolen my precious ring.”

Anna fled, taking the red rose with her. She rushed down to the lake and tossed the rose into the water. The guards were close behind her, and they caught her and took her before the king.

The king was very angry. “Where is my daughter’s ruby ring?” he thundered, and he refused to believe Anna when she said that she did not know and that she had only been picking a red rose to give to the fish in the lake.

Nobody believed that Anna was telling the truth, so she was put in a dungeon until the king decided what was to be done with her. Anna felt very lonely and miserable, and then, in through the bars of the window, flew a raven. It carried something in its beak. “This is to show that the fish has not forgotten you,” said the raven. It was a slice of cake.

Princess Julia was sure that Anna must have hidden her ring somewhere, so she went down to the lake to look for it. As she stood there, an amazing thing happened. Out of the still waters of the lake rode a handsome prince on a milk-white horse. Princess Julia hardly believed her eyes.

The prince rode towards the castle, and Princess Julia ran to tell her father. “A handsome prince is riding towards the castle,” she said. “I am sure he must be coming to ask for my hand in marriage.”

The prince rode up to the palace and asked to be taken at once to the king. He was led into the royal throne room, and there, sitting on two thrones, were the king and Princess Julia, but the prince did not ask for her hand. “Where is Anna?” he cried.

“She is in my dungeon,” said the king. “She has stolen a valuable ruby ring.”

“You are wrong,” replied the prince. He pointed to the skirt of Princess Julia’s dress, and everyone saw the ring caught in a flounce of her dress. She had swept it off the sun-dial as she turned to see who was behind her.

“Set Anna free,” demanded the prince, and the king, who was afraid of him, did as he had commanded.

As soon as he saw Anna, the prince asked her to marry him. “I was put under a magic spell and doomed to remain a fish until someone cared for me enough to obey my orders,” he said. “You have broken the spell for me.”

The prince took Anna on his horse, and they rode away to his kingdom, where they were married at once. Anna became Princess Anna, and she always wore the beautiful ruby ring, which was a special present from the prince.