Girls to the Rescue by Bruce Lansky

Author:Bruce Lansky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Meadowbrook Books
Published: 1995-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

The Innkeeper’s Wise Daughter

RETOLD BY PENINNAH SCHRAM FROM A RUSSIAN FOLKTALE

One day many years ago, in a small Russian village, two friends, a tailor and an innkeeper, were drinking tea and talking about life. As their discussion went on, it became more and more heated. Each one claimed to know more about life than the other. Their voices grew louder and louder.

Realizing that they could not settle the argument by themselves, they decided to bring the dispute to a wise nobleman, who often served as a judge in such matters. The two friends finished their tea in silence and set out to see the nobleman.

When the nobleman had heard the case, he said to the two men, “Whoever answers these three questions correctly will be the one who knows more about life: What is the most powerful thing in the world? What is the fastest thing? And what is the sweetest? Return in three days’ time with your answers, and I will settle your dispute.”

On his way home the tailor decided on the answers to the riddles. He was confident that he had thought of the best possible answers and couldn’t wait for the three days to pass.

When the innkeeper returned to his home, he was worried that he would not be able to find the right answers.

When his teenaged daughter came into the room and saw his troubled face she asked, “What’s wrong, Father?”

The innkeeper told her about the three questions.

She answered, “Don’t worry, Father. I will give you the answers to the nobleman’s questions.”

When three days had passed, the tailor and the innkeeper came before the nobleman. “Have you found answers to my questions?” he asked.

The tailor answered first. “The most powerful thing is a horse. The fastest is an eagle. The sweetest is honey.”

After the tailor had given his answers, the nobleman turned to the innkeeper.

Then the innkeeper answered. “The most powerful thing is thought. The fastest is light. The sweetest is the love of a mother for her baby.”

The nobleman, waited a moment to consider their answers, and then said, “The tailor answered well. However, the innkeeper’s answers were wiser.”

Turning to the innkeeper, the nobleman asked, “But tell me, how did you think of those answers?”

“I must tell you truthfully that my daughter told me those answers,” replied the innkeeper.

“Since your daughter knows so much about life,” said the nobleman, “I will test her further. Give her these twelve eggs and ask her to hatch them all in three days. If she does so, she will have a great reward.”

The innkeeper carefully picked up the eggs and returned home. That evening he showed his daughter the twelve eggs and told her what the nobleman had said. She took the eggs and noticed how heavy they were. “Dear Father, these are hard-boiled eggs! It is impossible to hatch them. But wait. I know how to answer this riddle.”

The daughter boiled some beans and waited three days. Then she instructed her father to go to the nobleman’s house and ask permission to plant them in the nobleman’s garden.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.