Rulka’s Ring
Once upon a time, in a far-off country, there lived a beautiful princess whose name was Rulka. She was so beautiful that a young man only had to glance at her once, and he immediately wanted to marry her. She was the envy of all the women in the kingdom, and many a young man had broken his heart because of his love for her. But although Rulka was so beautiful, she was not a very nice person. She knew she was beautiful, and this made her proud, so proud that she would laugh in the face of anyone who asked for her hand in marriage.
One day, a young prince named Berko came to ask the princess to marry him. Berko was everything a prince should be—kind and gentle, wise and intelligent, and very handsome. When Rulka laughed in his face after he had asked her to marry him, he was upset and offended, so he vowed to teach this beautiful but unkind princess a lesson.
Not long after she had refused to marry Prince Berko, Rulka was walking in the palace gardens when she suddenly saw a ladybird crawling along the leaf of a bush. She picked the little insect off the leaf and gently laid it in the palm of her hand. To her amazement, as she watched, the little ladybird gradually became heavier and started to twinkle until, within a few moments, it had turned into a splendid ruby. The princess was amazed, but she did not stop to think how or why it had happened. Instead, she ran to the court jeweler’s workshop and asked him to make the lovely jewel into a ring for her.
The precious stone was quickly mounted and made into a ring, and the princess wore it on her finger. She decided to play a little game with all the young men who came to the palace to seek her hand in marriage, and before long, it became known that whoever could guess where the precious ruby on Rulka’s finger came from would be allowed to marry the princess. Rulka was sure nobody would guess that the ruby had at one time been a little ladybird.
Many men, young and old alike—dukes, counts, poets, craftsmen, and merchants—were soon flocking to the palace and trying to guess where the princess’s ring came from. Even farmers, laborers, and servants tried to answer Rulka’s question. Fantastic stories and ideas were told, but not one of the would-be husbands could guess the truth. In turn, they were all sent away with the sound of Rulka’s laughter ringing in their ears.
One day, an old beggar came to the palace and asked to see the princess. When Rulka saw him, she laughed out loud, for he was almost bent in two with age, and his clothes were patched and torn, his hair was long, and his face was covered by a large, white bushy beard.
“Surely you have not come to claim my hand in marriage?” said the princess.
“Certainly I have,” said the old man. “I am old, it is true, but I am still very young at heart.”
“Very well. See if you can tell me where this ruby came from,” said Rulka, not suspecting for a moment that the old man would tell her the correct answer. What a surprise she had.
“Your ruby was once a ladybird, which you found in the garden,” said the old man. The poor princess was overcome. She barely stopped herself from fainting, and when at last she managed to speak, she said, “You have given me the correct answer. I will keep my promise and marry you.”
As the day of the wedding drew near, Rulka’s mother and father wept, her relations wept, her friends, and the servants wept, all because the beautiful princess was going to marry a penniless old man. Only Rulka herself managed to stay calm, for although she was still proud and dignified, she realized that she had been wrong in refusing so many suitors, and now she must pay for being so proud.
After the wedding, the old man came to take her away from the palace and her mother and father. “You are now my wife, and you must share my miserable and penniless life with me,” he said.
Rulka said goodbye to all those she loved and left the palace. Her husband took her to an old shack in the forest, and there he gave her a radish and a cabbage leaf to eat. Then he ordered her to take a broom and sweep the earth floor of the shack. “That is where you will sleep tonight, my dear,” he said. “I have no beds, so you must get used to sleeping on the floor.” The princess was very miserable.
“Where are you going to sleep?” Rulka asked.
“I am old and I do not need sleep. Tonight I will stand guard over you instead,” replied the old man.
Rulka was very tired, and within a few minutes, she had fallen asleep on the hard floor, while her husband stood guard by the door.
The next morning she awoke, and to her surprise found that she was sleeping in a wonderful room on the softest bed she had ever been in. As she looked up, the beautiful princess saw that a handsome young man was bending over her and smiling. “But, I don’t understand,” she said as she looked at the young man. She was sure she had seen him before. “How did this happen?”
She remembered the old man and the shack and the rough and hard floor. How could that have possibly changed into this without her knowing?
“Did you know Prince Berko?” the young man asked.
“Certainly, of course, I knew him,” replied Rulka. Then she realized that it was Prince Berko who stood before her.
“But where is my home, and what has happened to my husband?” she asked. “They have vanished.”
“Do you mean to tell me you liked the old man and you would like to return to that tumble-down shack?” asked Prince Berko.
“I made a solemn promise to the old man. Now he is my husband, and the shack in the forest belongs to me,” replied the princess. “I cannot go back on my word.”
“I never thought I would find so much virtue and goodness in you,” said the young man. “I am very happy because, you see, the poor old man you married is really me.”
“You?” cried the princess. “But how could it be you?”
“I decided, with the aid of my fairy godmother, to teach you a lesson and punish you for being so proud. My godmother changed me into an old man, but the spell does not last forever. While you were sleeping, I carried you to my palace.”
Rulka, the lovely princess, could not reply, for she was too happy and too much in love with the young prince.