The Peasant’s Wise Daughter

Once there was a poor peasant who had no land, only a small house and one daughter. The daughter said, "Father, we should ask the king for a piece of land that has just been cleared." When the king heard how poor they were, he gave them a piece of land. The father and daughter dug it up and planned to sow corn and grain. When they had dug almost the whole field, they found a mortar made of pure gold in the earth.

"Listen," said the father, "the king was so kind to give us this field. We should give him the mortar as a thank-you." But the daughter shook her head. "Father, if we give him the mortar without the pestle, he will ask for the pestle too. Better say nothing about it."

But the father did not listen. He took the mortar to the king and said he had found it in the cleared field. Would the king accept it as a gift? The king took the mortar and asked, "Did you find anything else?" "No," said the peasant.

Then the king said, "You must bring me the pestle as well." The peasant said they had not found it, but it was like talking to the wind. The king had him thrown into prison and said he would stay there until he produced the pestle.

Every day the servants brought him bread and water—that’s what prisoners get. They heard the man cry out again and again, "Oh, if only I had listened to my daughter! Alas, if only I had listened to my daughter!" He would neither eat nor drink.

The king ordered the prisoner brought before him and asked, "Why do you always cry, 'If only I had listened to my daughter'? What did your daughter say?" The peasant told him, "She said I should not bring you the mortar, because you would ask for the pestle as well." The king said, "If you have a daughter that wise, let her come here."

So the daughter had to appear before the king. He asked, "Are you really so wise? I will give you a riddle. If you guess it, I will marry you." She said yes. The king said, "Come to me not clothed, not naked, not riding, not walking, not on the road, and not off the road. If you can do that, I will marry you."

She went home, took off all her clothes—so she was not clothed—and got a large fishing net. She wrapped herself in it completely, so she was not naked. She hired a donkey and tied the net to its tail, so the donkey dragged her along—that was neither riding nor walking.

She made the donkey drag her in the ruts, so only her big toe touched the ground—that was neither on the road nor off the road. When she arrived like that, the king said she had solved the riddle and met all the conditions.

He freed her father from prison, made her his queen, and put her in charge of all the royal treasures.

Years passed. One day the king was reviewing his troops when some peasants who had been selling wood stopped their wagons before the palace. Some had oxen, some had horses. One peasant had three horses, and one of his horses gave birth to a foal. The foal ran away and lay down between two oxen from another peasant’s wagon. The peasants began to argue and fight. The peasant with the oxen said, "One of my oxen had the foal!" The other said, "My horse had it! It's mine!"

The quarrel came before the king. He gave his verdict: "The foal shall stay where it was found." So the peasant with the oxen got the foal, even though it wasn’t his. The poor peasant who lost his foal went away weeping.

He had heard that the queen was kind because she came from poor peasants herself. So he went to her and begged for help to get his foal back. She said, "Yes, I will tell you what to do, but you must promise not to betray me.

Tomorrow morning, when the king reviews the guard, stand in the middle of the road he will pass. Take a large fishing net and pretend to fish. Cast the net and pull it in as if it were full. And I'll tell you what to say if the king questions you."

The next day the peasant stood there fishing on dry ground. When the king passed by, he saw him and sent a messenger to ask what the foolish man was doing. The peasant answered, "I am fishing." The messenger said, "How can you fish when there is no water?" The peasant said, "It is just as easy for me to fish on dry land as for an ox to give birth to a foal." The messenger brought the answer back to the king, who ordered the peasant brought before him.

"This is not your own idea," said the king. "You must tell me whose it is." But the peasant refused, saying, "God forbid! It was my own idea." So they laid him on a pile of straw and beat him and tormented him until he finally admitted the queen had told him.

When the king returned home, he said to his wife, "Why have you betrayed me? I will not have you as my wife any longer. Go back to where you came from, to your peasant hut.

But I grant you one favor: you may take with you the one thing that is dearest and best in your eyes." She said, "Yes, my dear husband, if you command it, I will do it." She embraced and kissed him and said goodbye. Then she ordered a strong sleeping draught.

She drank a little, but the king drank a lot and soon fell into a deep sleep. She called a servant, wrapped the king in a fine white linen cloth, and had the servant carry him into a carriage.

She drove him to her little house and laid him in her little bed. He slept for a day and a night without waking. When he woke, he looked around and said, "Good heavens, where am I?" He called his servants, but none were there.

Then his wife came to his bedside and said, "My dear lord and king, you told me I could take the one thing that was dearest and best in my eyes. I have nothing more precious than you, so I brought you with me."

Tears came to the king’s eyes. He said, "Dear wife, you shall be mine, and I will be yours." He took her back to the royal palace and married her again. And they are probably still living happily to this day.