ing
in his possession the royal signet-ring and with having invented the
tale that he found it inside a fish. The king, however, admits the
truth of the story, rewards the fisherman, and gladly receives the
ring. As soon as he places it on his finger he recognizes his bride and
his love for her is renewed.63
The
Khedive Tewfik Pasha related, about 1880, his experience with a certain
Ahmed Agha, a Turk, who possessed a magic ring. It was a plain hoop of
gold set with a red stone (probably a carnelian), and was said to have
come from Mecca. The Turk claimed that by its help visions could be
seen, and the Khedive consented to make a test of the ring's virtue.
Ahmed said that he required for the experiment the assistance of a
child under ten years of age, whereupon the Khedive summoned a little
girl from the harem to act as assistant, or we might rather say
principal. The Turk attached to this girl's head a silver plate on
which a verse of the Koran was engraved, and placed in her hand the
mystic ring with the red stone which, he declared, would change from
red to white if the experiment was to be successful. A few moments
after the preparation had been made, the girl cried out: "The stone has
changed to white." Hereupon the Khedive asked her to describe a number
of persons she had never seen, and she invariably gave correct answers.
Tewfik was so much impressed by the experiment that he exclaimed : "I
can believe it, and yet I cannot understand it." A few days later he
sent word to the Turk that he wished to borrow the ring, but the man
besought him not to take it away. An offer of £100 from a court noble
was also refused. Finally, Ahmed was summoned
63 Arthur A. Macdonel, " A History of Sanskrit Literature," New York, 1914, pp. 354-358.
