Once there lived a king who was known for his courage and integrity. When he died he left all his kingdom and the treasure of the palace to his younger brother, and his son `Prince Gorgian`. His brother was a very greedy and cunning man. Gorgian’s uncle ignored his late brother’s wishes; he took the kingdom and all the treasures in the palace for himself and left Gorgian with a few pieces of jewellery and some coins. Then he sentenced the poor prince to exile. The prince had no other alternative, so he was forced to leave his rightful kingdom.
While passing through the woods, Gorgian saw a parrot who was crying in his cage. He begged the prince to save him from his terrible master. The kind-hearted prince purchased the parrot from his master with the few coins and jewelry that he had and set the parrot free. The parrot was grateful for Gorgian’s help and gave him one of his feathers as a gift. A He told the prince to keep it safe and blow on it thrice whenever he required any help from him. The prince thanked the parrot and moved on.
On his way, while crossing the forest he heard the painful cries of a lioness. The prince was frightened by the lioness, so he ignored her voice and very slowly tried to get as far away as possible. But the lioness called him and requested him to help her by pulling out the thorn that was stuck in her feet. The prince told her that he was scared that if he freed her from her pain, she would kill him. She convinced him very politely and promised him a magical gift if he helped her. The prince pulled out the thorn and she offered him a strange box and asked him to open it whenever he would want to fulfill the most important wish of his life. He thanked the lioness and moved ahead in his journey.
Next, he came across a river. On the riverbank, he saw a snake being attacked by a mongoose. He saw that the snake was bravely trying to protect itself but to no avail, so the prince ran to save the snake's life. The snake thanked the prince and told him that when his father comes to know that he saved his life, his father would offer him whatever he might ask for. Gorgian agreed to go with the snake to meet the snake’s father. On their way, the snake told the prince that his father has a mysterious golden ring that he always wears on his head and advised him to ask for that ring as his reward. The prince did the same and got the ring from the snake`s father. The snake told the prince that the magical ring will make him a rich man. If he would touch any object with this ring and order it to turn the object into gold, the ring would do so. The prince was very thankful for such a wonderful gift.
Soon after he had left the snake, Prince Gorgian reached a new city. He liked that place and decided to stay there. Once as he was passing by a garden in the city, he saw a beautiful girl there. She was so attractive that he could not switch turn his gaze away from her. He followed her and came to know that she was the daughter of the king of that kingdom. He wished to marry her. He came to know that the king has declared that he will marry his daughter to the man who could build a golden castle overnight, on the bank of a river nearby. He approached the king and undertook the challenge, but requested him not to send anyone with him from his side for his help. The king agreed happily.
At the riverbank, the prince opened the box which was presented to him by the lioness: a short man of 1.5 feet with a long beard appeared and asked him for his wish. The prince told the tiny man to build a huge castle for him. The tiny bearded man granted his wish and created a castle in no time and then he vanished into thin air. The prince then took out his magical golden ring and converted the castle and its contents into gold. The king and the whole city was astonished to see the grand castle: the king was so pleased that he married his daughter to Gorgian. The king asked the prince what would he like to receive as the wedding gift. The prince asked for the golden castle that he had created. The king gifted it to them, and they both started living blissfully.
One day, the prince told the princess about his golden ring and how he had created the castle. The princess was struck with wonder on learning about the ring, and she requested prince to convert her hair into gold strings. The prince granted his wife’s request.
Some days later when the prince was out of the city due to some work, the princess was standing on the rooftop enjoying the sunny afternoon. A prince of another kingdom was passing through Gorgian’s city, and he saw the beautiful princess on the rooftop. One look at the princess and he fell madly in love with her. On returning to his own kingdom he told his father, the king, about the princess with golden hair. The spoilt prince that he was, he obstinately told his father that he would marry no one but the princess with golden hair otherwise he would die.
The king sent his soldiers and they abducted the princess with golden hair from her castle and handed her over to his son. The princess refused to marry him and told him that she would marry him only if her prince does not come for her in the next three months. She knew in heart that her husband loved her dearly and would definitely come to rescue her soon.
Meanwhile, when Prince Gorgian returned to his castle, he was informed by princess` maidservant that the princess had been kidnapped by some soldiers. He became extremely worried and wondered about where they might have taken her. He searched for her all around his kingdom but in vain. Suddenly he remembered the parrot`s feather that he received as a gift. He immediately blew on it thrice. At that very moment, the parrot appeared in front of him and asked Gorgian how he could help him. The prince narrated the whole incident and asked the parrot to help him find his wife.
The parrot flew from land to land, city to city, from house to house until he the princess. He returned to the prince and told him where his princess was. The prince followed the flying parrot in his boat and reached the city where the princess was held captive. He decided to reside there until he got his princess back.
During his stay, he got to know that the king of that kingdom was a wicked man and very cruel to his people. There was a lot of crime and unrest in the capital city; the people were not happy and the king always ignored them and was oblivious to the woes and troubles of his subjects. Most of his soldiers were also very unhappy with him. They wanted freedom from his dictatorship. The prince took advantage of the situation; he acquainted himself with the key inhabitants of the city, became close to them, and encouraged them to raise their voice against the tyrant king.
Eventually, there was a great rebellion against the king and city-wide protests in the capital. When the king got to know about the whole incident, he ordered his soldiers to capture Prince Gorgian and bring him to his court. The moment the soldiers approached him, he brought them to his side, by offering gold coins and other expensive gifts created with the help of his golden ring. He managed to convince all the soldiers sent to capture him to join him against the king. In a months’ time, he had the whole of the tyrant king’s army on his side and thus, was able to defeat the king and his son.
In the end, the prince got his beautiful princess back. Moreover, he circulated back all the wealth of the residents which had been accumulated by the defeated king in his fort using wrong means. As a result of all the good deeds that he did for that kingdom and its people, he was crowned as the new king by the people of the kingdom. He got back all that he had lost initially and more. As King Gorgian, he ruled justly and enjoyed a peaceful and happy life with his queen and his people.