Old People Have Plenty of Wisdom

This is what happened in ancient times.

The province of Shinano was ruled by a prince who was known for his robust health, was in the prime of his life, and could not stand old men and women.

"They are slovenly, and the principality gains nothing from them," he would say. Those who had passed the age of seventy were all, without exception, exiled to a remote island. It was very difficult to survive there, and the elderly could not provide for themselves and quickly perished. The hearts of the people of Shinano were filled with grief and hatred for the prince, but there was nothing they could do.

There is a place in Shinano called Sarashina. There lived a peasant with his elderly mother. He could not stop thinking about the fact that his mother had already turned seventy and that the prince's officials would soon come to take her away. Could she endure such a distant exile? He was so distraught that he could no longer work in the fields—everything was falling apart in his hands! Tormented to the core, he decided it would be better to take his mother away himself rather than wait for the heartless officials to send her to an unknown fate.

On the evening of the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the full moon bathed the fields and forests in clear light. Trying not to reveal his plan, the peasant said to his mother:

"Mother, isn’t the moon exceptionally beautiful tonight? Let’s go to the mountains and admire the moonlight."

He carried his mother on his back and set off. First, he walked along a deserted path through a clearing, then entered the forest. There, the old woman began breaking branches from the trees on either side of the path and throwing them to the ground. The peasant was surprised:

"Mother, why are you doing this?" The old woman smiled but said nothing. The peasant continued deeper into the mountains. He passed through the forest, crossed a valley, and climbed to the top of a mountain. There, a dead silence reigned; not even birds flew over this mountain. The bright moonlight made it as light as day, so much so that one could see a cricket quietly chirping in the thick grass.

The peasant set his mother down on the grass, looked at her, and tears streamed from his eyes.

"What’s wrong?" asked the old woman.

Her son knelt before her and confessed:

"Listen to me, Mother! I deceived you when I invited you to admire the moon. I brought you to this remote place because you have already turned seventy-one, and I fear that you will be sent into exile on a distant island. So, I came up with this plan to keep you from falling into the hands of the merciless officials. Please, forgive me!"

The old woman was not at all surprised by his words.

"I understood everything long ago and have come to terms with my fate. You must return home and work hard. Leave quickly, or you will lose your way," she replied.

The peasant was deeply saddened by her words. He could not bear to part with his mother for a long time, but she persuaded him, and he reluctantly started back. The branches scattered on the ground guided his way, and he never once lost his path.

"How thoughtful Mother was, scattering those branches so I wouldn’t get lost on the way back!" he thought with deep gratitude.

Returning home, he sat at the entrance and gazed at the moon shining over the mountain peaks. An unbearable sadness overwhelmed him, and tears streamed down his face. "How is Mother now, up there on the mountain?"

This thought saddened him even more, and without hesitation, he stood up and set off along the familiar path, not even noticing that it was already past midnight. When he, breathless, climbed the mountain where he had left his mother, she was sitting in the same spot, in the same position as when they had parted, her eyes closed.

"I acted very badly by abandoning my mother, but now I will never leave you here. We will return, and I will take care of you as I should," said the peasant, and they returned home together.

However, they could not live as before: the old woman might eventually be seen by the officials.

After some thought, the peasant dug a hole under the floor and settled his mother there.

One day, an envoy arrived at the prince’s court with a letter from the ruler of a neighboring province. The letter read: "Make me a rope out of ashes, and if you cannot, I will wage war against you and destroy you."

The ruler of that province had a strong army, and there was no hope of victory. The prince, finding himself in a difficult position, summoned his advisors, but no one knew how to make such a rope.

Then, a proclamation was made throughout the principality: "Whoever can show how to make a rope from ashes will receive a great reward from the prince."

The people could talk of nothing but the invasion and devastation that would befall their homeland if they failed to make a rope from ashes.

"It’s unlikely anyone can do it," people said. No one could think of how to approach the task. Then, the peasant thought: "Perhaps my mother knows how to do it?"

He went down to the cellar and told his mother what was troubling the people. The old woman laughed:

"That’s as easy as can be! You need to soak a rope thoroughly in salt and then burn it—that’s all!"

"Truly, the wisdom of the elderly is unmatched," the peasant thought with pride. He immediately went to the palace and explained how to make a rope from ashes. The prince was delighted and rewarded the peasant with a large sum of money. The seemingly impossible rope was handed over to the envoy, who hurried back to his master.

Not long after, another envoy arrived from the neighboring province. This time, he brought a precious stone and a letter that read: "Thread a silk thread through this stone, and if you cannot, I will wage war against you and destroy you."

The prince examined the stone from all sides. There was a hole in the stone, but it was so narrow and winding that threading a thread through it seemed impossible.

The prince summoned his advisors, and they declared the task unsolvable.

A great reward was offered to anyone who could figure out how to thread a silk thread through the hole in the stone. But no matter how much people racked their brains, they could not come up with a solution.

Once again, the peasant went to his mother for advice.

"What’s so difficult about that? Smear honey on one end of the hole, tie an ant to the silk thread, and let it go from the other end. The ant will crawl toward the smell of honey through all the twists and turns and pull the thread through the hole," she replied with a smile.

The peasant hurried to the palace, stood before the prince, and recounted everything he had heard from his mother.

The prince was very pleased and rewarded him generously. The envoy, receiving the precious stone with the silk thread threaded through it, returned home.

The ruler of the neighboring province was disheartened when his envoy returned. "Indeed, there are wise people in Shinano! It’s not so easy to take control of that land!" he thought.

In Shinano, everyone calmed down, thinking that the enemy had given up and would not bother them again.

But soon, for the third time, an envoy arrived with a letter. This time, he led two mares. "Determine by sight which mare is the mother and which is the daughter, and if you cannot, I will wage war against you and destroy you," the prince read in the letter.

He looked at the horses, but they were as alike as two drops of water: both the same height, the same color, and even moved and frolicked in the same way. The prince pondered, summoned his advisors, but once again, they could not come up with a solution. Reluctantly, he had to announce that anyone who could solve this new challenge would receive any reward they desired.

The people were stirred. Those hoping to earn the reward came in droves to the palace and examined the horses brought from the neighboring province. But even the most renowned horse doctors shook their heads in confusion.

Once more, the peasant turned to his mother. After listening to her son, she smiled and said:

"Well, that’s not so difficult either! My late husband once told me about such a thing. You need to place a bundle of grass in front of the horses. One will immediately pounce on the food—that’s the young horse. The other will wait until the first has eaten its fill and then finish the leftovers—that’s the mother."

The delighted peasant ran to the palace and requested:

"Please, allow me to distinguish the mare from her daughter!"

He scattered fresh grass before the horses, and everything happened just as the old woman had said: one horse immediately began eating the grass greedily, while the other stood calmly, watching as the first one fed.

At this, everything became clear to the prince.

"There can be no mistake here!" he said, hanging labels on the horses and handing them over to the envoy.

"You are absolutely correct," the envoy said gloomily and set off on his return journey.

"You have proven wiser than all. I grant you whatever you desire!" the prince said to the peasant, amazed by his cleverness.

The peasant realized this was the perfect time to ask the prince to spare his elderly mother.

"I don’t need money or possessions," said the peasant.

The prince’s expression changed, but the peasant quickly continued:

"I ask you to spare my mother’s life." And he told the prince everything without holding back. The prince listened, his eyes wide with astonishment. Upon learning that all the challenges had been solved thanks to the wisdom of the old woman, he was deeply impressed.

"It is truly said that the elderly possess great wisdom!" he exclaimed. "This wise old woman has saved us all from disaster. I forgive the peasant for hiding his elderly mother, and from now on, I will not exile the elderly to the island."

The peasant was richly rewarded, and the people rejoiced without end.

And since the last challenge, on which the ruler of the neighboring province had placed the most hope, was successfully solved, he had to abandon his plans to conquer the province of Shinano.

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Old People Have Plenty of Wisdom

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