MAGIC RING POWERS

A beautiful witch-maiden explains the powers of a precious gold ring in ‘The Dragon of the North’, a fairy tale in Andrew Lang’s Yellow Fairy Book, which I read eagerly a long, long time ago.

She says: “If I put the ring on the little finger of my left hand, then I can fly like a bird through the air wherever I wish to go. If I put it on the third finger of my left hand I am invisible, and I can see everything that passes around me, though no one can see me. If I put the ring on the middle finger of my left hand, then neither fire nor water nor any sharp weapon can hurt me. If I put it on the forefinger of my left hand, then I can with its help produce whatever I wish. I can in a single moment build houses or anything I desire. Finally, as long as I wear the ring on the thumb of my left hand, that hand is so strong that it can break down rocks and walls.”

A ring like that could definitely come in handy.