The Charmed Ring

The Charmed Ring

Summary:
Dad gave his son three hundred rupees to start off in life. The son used it to save a cat, dog and snake. His dad kicked him out because of his stupidity. The snake repaid the boy by bringing the boy to the snake king and getting him a magical ring that would grant him whatever he wanted and a bowl that gave him endless food. The boy asked for a castle and a princess. The prince of the land fell in love with the princess and stole the ring and abducted the castle and the princess. The dog and cat helped the boy to get the ring back and they lived happily ever after

Setting:
someplace

Characters:
The boy - hero
The dad - initial problem
The snake - the guy that gets the hero his magical items
The cat/dog - companions, helps the hero
The price/royal family - antagonist/s, the guy/s being jerks and making the hero’s life hard

Themes:
What goes around comes around - the boy does nice deeds, gets repaid in kind, other people try steal the ring, gets repaid in kind
Easy come easy go - the ones that get the ring easily and quickly also lose it quickly

Motifs:
Greed - the dad wants the son to make money, multiple people along the way want the ring for their own greedy purposes

This story sounds like a story of destiny to me. Because normally a princess' destiny is to be with a prince, and in reality such marriage between a princess and a prince normally won't end well. BUT in this story, instead of being with this greedy and arrogant prince, the princess stayed with the kind boy and actually won herself a happy ending. Therefore we can tell that here's a break of traditional fate a princess may have. Same for the boy, normally he would end up being someone just like his father, snobby and superficial. But his kindness leveled him, and made him someone greater.

Friends are always important in our life , jiust like the cat, dog and snake,the boy had help them before , so they had the appreciation for him. In really life it doen't always work like that.,we know how much it is important to have few friends,but we have to fully understand the value of them,or the help for them will just lead you to a wrong track.What goes around comes around,chose friend wisely,but cherish the friendship when it is worthy.

This story is fully base on the author’s message of kindness act would be rewarded and this characteristic of human is so attractive that it could overcome the society-hierarchy and also overweight the characteristic of greedy. (I have read this story myself) At the beginning of this story, the man spend all his money in order to save the lives of the three animals with no rewards promised. Most of us would think this is a ridiculous and unwise choice. But this act fully illustrates the kindness of the man, and he get the powerful ring and the bowl. The bowl brings the princess afterwards and the princess is actually attracted by the man by his good personality(mentioned in the story). On the other hand the Prince with his high status failed to get the Princess since he is greedy.
Question: Why does the author let the kind man lose the ring instead of end the story with the man getting the rewards and live happy ever after? Is it trying to warn us not to be too greedy with the powerful ring?

I totally agree with the analysis you made about the story. However, when reading about the characters analysis, the father as the 'initial problem' caught my attention. The father of the young and kind boy was interpreted as the ‘initial problem’ of the story. This reminded me of some kind of father(parent) and son(child) relationship among people. The plot of the son not living up to the father’s expectations reminded me of a social phenomenon. Nowadays, many youngsters are pondering whether to live up to their parents expectations of future careers, or to pursue their own dreams. In the past, there may also be a problem similar, should one live the ordinary and stable destined life, or the adventure and unknown possibility of another life? Is this story also trying to relfect this question and its cause? Are the youngsters suggested to pursue their own dreams or what they think is right even though it might not seem the best choice at first?