A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A dying father leaves his son a greyhound, a cat and a bird. The son’s hunting life changes when a magician takes him to a place near the sea and a brilliant ring is discovered. The ring speaks and grants wishes, supplying riches, a golden palace and the conditions needed to marry a princess. The antagonist later tricks the princess into handing it over through an exchange for other rings. On returning, her husband finds the golden palace reduced to a building of clay bricks. The cat and bird undertake the recovery; the greyhound belongs to the initial household but is not given their retrieval actions.

The bird locates the shining ring in a distant coastal palace and carries the cat through the air. On their arrival, rats fear the cat, which demands four strong and courageous rats to help. These dig beneath the palace, but the sleeping antagonist has no ring on his finger. A rat described as a magician locates it in his nostrils. The rats use tails dipped in pepper and oil to make him sneeze it out, and the cat receives it in its mouth. Cat and bird leave with their prize. During the return they quarrel over which should carry it, and it falls into the sea, lodging in a fish’s ear.

The cat rubs its tail in the sand and threatens to dry the sea, frightening the assembled fish. An old fish knows where the ring is and brings it back. The threat wins cooperation; the narrative does not show the cat actually emptying the water. The two companions reconcile and return the ring to their master. His palace becomes gold again, the princess returns, and he ultimately succeeds her father as king. The animals’ speech, flight, negotiation and bungled custody make the rescue a collective undertaking rather than an effortless magical retrieval. Basset’s comparisons to other enchanted-ring tales remain distinct editorial witnesses.

Speaking animal cooperationBird carries catRat-assisted subterranean entryPepper-induced sneezeRing lost during quarrelSea-drying bluff and fish assistance
01

Origins & earliest records

Basset, Nouveaux contes berbères (1897), no. 111, L’anneau magique, complete pp. 138–144. Source note 206, pp. 343–344, records collection in Mzab in 1885 and refers to Étude sur la Zénatia du Mzab, pp. 130–136. No individual contributor is supplied by that inspected note.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete original DjVu pages 177–183 inspected, including the final restored palace and succession. Source note 206 begins on page 382 and ends on page 383; subsequent comparisons are editorial, not substituted for this ending.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Nouveaux contes berbères

    René Basset, translator and editor · 1897

    No. 111, complete pp. 138–144; source note 206, pp. 343–344.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary collected translation; original facsimiles inspectedOriginal collected narrative and source noteResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

FT·3493 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑