Meri's eyes stared at the ring, her pale cheeks coloured with a deep flush, and she had a violent internal struggle. Finally she stepped nearer, took and pressed the ring with ecstasy to her lips, and said in a broken voice and with an emotion so strong that it dried her tears:
"My ring which he has worn ... my ring which has protected him ... you are innocent of his death; he gave you away, and then came the bullets and death. Do you know, Gustaf Bertel, and you, his wife, the power of this ring? In my youth I one day went into the wilderness, and there found a dying man, who was languishing from thirst. I gave him a drink from the spring, and cooled his tongue with the juice of berries. He thanked me and said: 'My friend, I die, and have no other recompense to give you than this ring. I found it in former days on an image of the Holy Virgin, which alone lay uninjured in the midst of the broken fragments of Popery in Storkyro Church; and when I took the ring from its finger the image fell to dust. The ring has both the power of the saints and that of magic, for with me the greatness of the ancient occult knowledge goes into the silence. He who wears this ring is secure against fire, water, steel, and all kinds of dangers, on the sole condition that he never swears a false oath, for that destroys the power of the ring; with this ring goes happiness in peace, and victory in war; love, honour, and wealth; and when it is worn by three successive generations, from father to son, then from that family shall come brilliant statesmen and generals...'"
Here Meri paused; all listened with intense expectation.
"But," she added, "if the ring is worn by six generations one after the other, then a mighty royal house will spring from that family. 'But,' said the old man to me, 'you ought to know that great dangers accompany great gifts. False oaths and family enmity will constantly tempt the owner of the ring, and thus endeavour to neutralise its power; pride and inordinate ambition will constantly work within him to prepare his fall, and a great steadfastness in the right path will be necessary, joined with a meek and humble heart, to vanquish these temptations. He who wears this ring will enjoy all the prosperity of the world, and only have to conquer himself; but he will also be the most formidable enemy of his own happiness. All this is signified: by the letters, R.R.R., which are engraved on the inside of the ring, and interpreted thus: Rex Regi Rebellis—the king rebellious against the king; the happiest, the mightiest among men, has to fear the greatest danger within himself.'"
"And this ring, O Regina, is ours!" exclaimed Bertel, with both fear and joy. "What a wealth and what a responsibility goes with this ring."
"Power! Honour! Immortality!" caed Regina with transport.
"Beware, my daughter!" said Meri sadly. "Behind these words lie the greatest dangers."
Old Bertila looked at the ring and the young people with a contemptuous smile.
"False gold!" he said. "Vanity! Useless ornament! False ambition! This is a worthy gift to go in inheritance from generation to generation among the nobility. Come, Larsson the younger, you, who are also of peasant origin, and who wish to return to your station, although you too have been a soldier. I will give you something which is neither gold or a useless ornament, but which will bring you more blessings than all the kings' rings in the world. Take my old axe with the oak handle from the wall there; yes, fear not, there is no magic in that; my father forged it with his own hand, in Gustaf Vasa's time. With it father and I have felled many a heavy tree in the forests, and cleared many a field. May it pass in inheritance within your family, and I promise you that he who possesses my axe shall be blessed with happiness and contentment of mind in his honest labour."
"Thanks, thanks, Father Bertila," answered the captain joyfully, and, with an air of importance, tried the edge of the old man's axe. "If we took a fancy to engrave any inscription on it, I should propose R.R.R., Ruris Rusticus Robustus, which is to say briefly: 'The deuce, what a big, bulky chopper! a very beautiful and intellectual saying among those in olden times."