The Magic Ring

Long ago in a village in India, there lived a boy named Shankar. He was thirteen years old and he lived in a small house with his family. He had few friends to play with him.

One day, Shankar and his friends were playing near the farm, when their ball landed in a pit in the bushes. Shankar put a rod to pull out the ball. The rod hit something metallic. They dig it and found a metal box. All were excited thinking they had found a treasure.

Shankar told them that as it was his farm and the treasure belonged to him. The friends agreed. They pulled and opened it. It contained a simple black colored ring. It seemed to be made of some metal but without any precious jewels. It was wrapped in a piece of paper. On it was worded “nobody can own me, but everybody can have me”.

Shankar was disappointed not to find any treasure. Shankar took the box home. He took the ring out and tried it out, which fit him exactly. He was absent-mindedly stroking it wondering about the words written on the paper. Suddenly a thought flashed into his mind. He felt that maybe the ring was magical with wish-fulfilling powers. To test it he wished with all his heart for a new remote-control car. After some time he saw a toy car on the table. His father said that he had bought it as a gift. Shankar realized that the ring was magical. He ran to his room and stroked the ring this time wishing for mouth-watering food. His mother called out to him saying that neighbors have invited him for a feast. He chuckled to himself thinking how fast the magic was done. Next on the Shankar list was to visit a famous adventure park in the city which was fulfilled soon as his father won tickets to it in a lucky draw. Now Shankar became greedy he asked for the fourth wish, to get good marks in school exams but he had not studied anything for his exam. After a few days when his results came, he had failed.

He was sad but he understood the magic ring’s power lasted only for three wishes. He realized that it was not good to be greedy. The magic power was meant to be shared with all. He passed it to his best friend, who too got his wishes fulfilled. Thus, the magic ring passed from one child to another making a chain of sharing, selfless and happy children. One day don’t be surprised if you come across the magic ring.