The losing of the Master of Nottingham's ring
This is an elaborate story about the twelfth-century Master of Nottingham, his daughter and a woman named Margaret Ford.
According to the story, the Master of Nottingham had made a magic ring. His daughter, unaware of the ring's properties, put it on one day and wore it to a fair. At the fair, however, the ring was swallowed by a goose. The goose was bought by a man who brought it home to the village of Fiskerton for his wife to cook. As she was reemoving the innards of the goose the man's wife, Margaret Ford, discovered the ring and set it on the table next to three eggs she happened to place there. These eggs quickly hatched, producing a miniature viol with arms and legs which played itself; a tiny ship of ivory with sails of linen that sailed through air; and a phoenix. Realizing by these tokens that the ring was magical, Margaret Ford began using it for her own malicious and selfish ends.
Word of Margaret Ford's magic eventually arrived in Nottingham where, having put so much of his power into the ring, the Master had begun to fall grievously ill after its loss. His daughter therefore decided to set out herself to recover the ring.
On her way to Fiskerton the daughter encountered several victims of Margaret Ford's magic: an eternally burning forest, a woman partially transformed into a fish, and a village whose people were plagued with "vivid images of all their worst fears constantly before their eyes." As soon the Master of Nottingham's daughter arrived at Fiskerton Margaret Ford knew by her magic why she was there, beat her and put her to work with the servants. The Master of Nottingham's daughter lived in Margaret Ford's household for about a year until she was able to implement her clever plan to recover the ring.
Having by guile obtained the ring the Master of Nottingham's daughter set off for home, but was hotly pursued by Margaret Ford and her servants. On three occasions the Master of Nottingham's daughter was almost overtaken, but she was saved each time by those victims of Margaret Ford's wicked magic whom she had previously met. Once she reached Nottingham she gave the ring back to her father who instantly recovered and righted all the wrongs Margaret Ford had done [25].
According to Jonathan Strange, however, this popular and moral version of the story is not true. Strange claimed, on the contrary, that the Master of Nottingham's daughter and Margaret Ford were both members of a fellowship of female magicians which the Master, Hugh Torel, jealously sought to abolish. At last the persecuted women left their homes to live in the forest, and there obtained the kindly protection of the great AureateThomas Godbless [25].