ken 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 ha