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As soon as he said these words the sovereigns began to come raining down. The sovereigns fell on his head, his shoulders, his arms; they fell all over his body. He tried to get to the door, but the rain of gold made it impossible. Soon the gold covered all his body. He couldn’t move, and it still rained. At last the floor could bear the weight no longer, and the goldsmith and the gold fell into the cellar.

When the neighbours heard the terrible noise, they came running and broke open the door. But they were too late. The greedy goldsmith was already dead.

So they sighed and said, “What a misfortune it is to have so much money!” And they all put in their pockets as much money as they could carry and went away.

Meanwhile the farmer came home and showed the ring to his wife.

“We are lucky people,” he said, “our fortune is made. But we must be careful. We must choose the right wish.”

His wife was delighted.

“Let’s wish for some more land,” she said. “There is a nice bit of land between two of our fields. What do you say to that? I think it’s the best wish we can have.”

But the farmer answered, “I am sure we can wish for something better than that. If we work hard for a year, we shall perhaps be able to buy this bit of land.”

So they worked very hard for a year and as the harvest was good, they had enough money to buy that bit of land easily.

“You see,” said the farmer to his wife with a smile, “we have that bit of land now, and we still have our wish.”

“Then perhaps we shall wish for a cow and a horse?” offered his wife. “Our life will be easier then. We shall not have to work so much.”

“My good wife,” said the farmer, “let’s not waste our wish, just for nothing. I think we shall get a horse and a cow even without it.”

So they again worked day and night for a year and the harvest was good again. At the end of the second year they had enough money to buy a horse and a cow. The farmer was very pleased and said, “Again we have got what we wanted, and we still have our wish. What lucky people we are!”

But his wife did not agree with him. She was very angry with her husband.

“You cant’ say that!” she cried. “I really can’t understand you. I wonder at you. You always complained that we had to work so much. You always wanted to have many nice and useful things. And now when you can have anything you desire, you work from morning till night and make me work as much. We work and work and work. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. And the best years of our lives go by. You might be a great man – a king I dare say! You might have your cellars full of silver and gold. And you are nothing, just because you cannot decide what to wish and cannot use your wishing ring.”

“Stop worrying about this wish,” the farmer answered firmly. “We are both still young, and life is long. Remember there is only one wish in the ring. It is very easy to make a mistake. And if we make a mistake, we shall be so unhappy. We shall never forgive ourselves. No, no! We must keep our wishing ring. It has already brought us good fortune. We must not use it yet. Be reasonable, my dear. Cheer up and try to choose the best wish.”