Once upon a time, there was a couple who lived very happily in a cottage. They had a lucky gold ring, so they never wanted for anything. They did not, however, know that the ring brought them good fortune.
So one day, they sold the ring. After that, they became steadily more poor. One day, they had nothing at all left to eat. They had a cat and a dog who were also starving. The two animals wondered how to get the ring back. The ring was kept safely in a chest in the house of the person to whom it was sold.
The dog finally had a bright idea. “You must first catch a mouse,” he told the cat. “We will take it to the house where the ring is. Threaten to eat it so that it may gnaw through the wood and get the ring out.” advised the dog.
So, the cat caught a mouse and they set off for the house where the chest was. On the way, there was a river. The cat couldn’t swim. So, the dog carried it on his back and swam across the river.
When they reached the house, the cat asked the mouse to gnaw through the wooden chest. It gnawed till a hole was made. The mouse fetched the ring and gave it to the cat. The cat put it in its mouth.
It ran back to the river where the dog was waiting for it. Back they went across the river, the dog carrying the cat on his back. When they reached the other bank, the dog shook himself to shake off the water. The clever cat meanwhile streaked off home.
The dog ran after it, but when they came near the house, he had to run all around it. The cat, on the other hand, leaped up on the roof and managed to reach home much faster. By the time the dog reached home, the cat had given the ring to its master and mistress and was being praised and cuddled.
“You brought back our ring! What a good cat you are!” praised the couple, promising it lots of fish and milk.
But they were annoyed that the dog had done nothing to fetch their ring back. The cat sat on the rug, preening and purring, while the dog was scolded and beaten.
The dog was very angry. Let alone reward him, they punished him! He chased the cat and snapped at it whenever he could. Since that day, dogs and cats have been sworn-in enemies.
