From The Charmed Ring
(Cat and Dog by Charles Jervas on Wikipedia Commons)
Plot: A young man is given three hundred rupees by his father to make his fortune in the world. He immediately spends his money buying a cat, dog, and snake who were in danger of being hurt. His father is furious and throws him out of the house. The snake, it turns out, is the son of a man who possesses a magic ring, pot and spoon. The man and the snake travel to his home under a magical lake and the father give the young man his magic ring, pot, and spoon, as a thank you for saving his son. The son then returns to the surface where the magic ring creates a beautiful home with a beautiful princess inside who he marries. The pot and spoon provide them with all the food they could possibly want. One day the princess’s hair floats down the river to a nearby kingdom where a prince finds the hairs and falls impossibly in love with her. He is on his death bed pining for this unknown princess so his father, the king, enlists the help of an ogress to find her. The ogress pretends to be the princess’s godmother and she invites her to stay. The ogress tricks the princess into giving her the ring and then makes the house disappear, bringing it to the dying prince. He makes the house and princess appear and asks her to marry him, she asks him to wait a month. The cat and dog then go on a quest to get the ring that the ogress has swallowed to help the young man get his wife back. The cat kidnaps the prince of rats on his wedding day and makes another rat get the ring from the ogress to save his life. With the cat carrying the ring, the dog swims across the river with the cat on his back. The dog gets jealous and threatens to drop the cat if he does not give him the ring. The cat gives it to the dog who drops it where it is eaten by a fish. The cat then threatens a bird into getting the ring back from the fish. The dog, again, gets jealous and asks the cat to carry the ring. Again, the dog drops the ring and it is carried by a kite into a tree. The cat retrieves it again and this time the dog apologizes for his selfishness. They bring the ring back to the young man who reunites with his wife and lives happily ever after.
Ideas: I really liked this story. It reminds me of a lot of other fairy tales I have read where animal helpers aid a person in their quest. I especially liked the dynamic between the dog and the cat in this story. I would like to do basically this same story, except instead of a young man the princess could be the protagonist in the story. This would require some adjusting but I think the story could be fun if the dog and cat are trying to rescue the princess because she is their friend instead of the young man.
Story Source: From Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs
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