The Clever Daughter

In the mountains of Chosytsjia, there lived an old man and his wife. They had two sons and a daughter. When the children grew up, the daughter got married and moved away, while the sons married and stayed to live with their parents. Everyone lived well and worked together harmoniously.

But then disaster struck. First, the mother died from a terrible illness, and soon after, both sons passed away as well. The old man was left with his two daughters-in-law. He could no longer work in the fields, and all the household responsibilities fell into the hands of the daughters-in-law.

Time passed, and the daughters-in-law began to treat their father-in-law worse and worse. They bossed him around, sending him to do hard labor: chopping wood, fetching water, or even herding sheep in a snowstorm. And they fed him very poorly—only cold, stale flatbreads and dried blood from an old yak. The old man grew weaker by the day from the unbearable workload and soon looked like a man on the verge of death. Finally, he decided to send a message to his daughter, asking her to send him something to eat.

He went out to the main road, where cattle were driven and caravans passed, and sat by the roadside, waiting for a traveler. The sun's rays warmed him, and the old man dozed off. At that moment, a caravan of yaks passed by.

"Hey! Hey!" shouted the lead driver. "Old man, why are you sitting on the road? Aren't you afraid the yaks will trample you?"

The old man woke up and politely asked the drivers to send his regards to his daughter and tell her: "Your mother and brothers have died, but your father is still alive. He is now a shepherd for his daughters-in-law, who feed him stale flatbreads and dried yak blood. He hasn't tasted *dzamba* or rye beer in ages!"

The caravan continued its journey and soon arrived at the village where the old man's daughter lived. Upon hearing how her father was living, she wept bitterly:

"Poor, poor man! He never thought he would have to endure such hardship in his old age! He's so frail, yet they send him to herd sheep in the mountains and feed him stale flatbreads! What kind of life is this?"

She found out when the caravan would return and secretly placed a large and precious stone—turquoise—inside a small clay brick. She gave it to the drivers and said:

"Tell my father that if he wants his life to improve, he should look inside this brick but keep it and not sell it!"

Meanwhile, the unfortunate old man kept driving his herd to the road, eagerly awaiting news from his daughter. Finally, the caravan arrived, and the drivers handed him the brick, relaying his daughter's message. The old man thanked them, cracked open the brick, and found the turquoise inside.

He felt sad, unable to understand why his daughter had forbidden him to sell the stone. He returned home, glanced at his daughters-in-law, and suddenly had an idea: this turquoise would be useful! "What a clever daughter I have!" he thought to himself.

The next morning, when the younger daughter-in-law was away, he took out the precious stone and showed it to the elder daughter-in-law:

"My daughter sent me this stone yesterday. It's very valuable, but I won't sell it. When I die, I will leave it to you!"

Hearing this, the elder daughter-in-law was delighted and thought, "The old man won't last long, so I'll soon be rich!"

From that day on, her attitude toward him changed completely. She began to care for him, stopped scolding him, no longer sent him to herd sheep, and stopped feeding him yak blood.

At noon, the younger daughter-in-law returned home, while the elder one went out. The old man took out the stone again and said:

"My daughter sent this to me. It's a precious thing! But I won't sell it. I want to leave it to you after I die."

The younger daughter-in-law was very pleased. "He's old and won't live much longer," she thought. "In the meantime, I should treat him well and feed him better so he doesn't change his mind."

And so, the younger daughter-in-law also began to care for the old man. Both women did their best, each believing that she would inherit the precious turquoise after her father-in-law's death.

A year passed, and the old man fell seriously ill. Sensing his approaching death, he took out the precious stone, hid it inside a clay brick, and placed the brick on the sooty end of a beam protruding over the hearth. Near the hearth stood a large water tub. The old man looked into the water and smiled at something.

When the daughters-in-law came, he asked them to send for his daughter:

"I want to see her one last time and close my eyes in peace! And if she doesn't find me alive, tell her my words:

The dragon stretches over the water like a bridge,
Its tail, black, is reflected in the water;
If you raise your eyes, you will see it,
In the tail of that dragon lies the turquoise."

The old man died before his daughter could arrive. The daughters-in-law immediately began searching for the turquoise. They turned everything upside down but couldn't find the stone. Frustrated, they had no choice but to wait for their sister-in-law. When she arrived, she learned of her father's death and wept.

She performed the memorial rites and then asked the daughters-in-law:

"Did my father leave any message for me before he died?"
"He did," they replied, "but we didn't understand his words:

The dragon stretches over the water like a bridge,
Its tail, black, is reflected in the water;
If you raise your eyes, you will see it,
In the tail of that dragon lies the turquoise."

The old man's daughter was clever. She immediately understood: she went to the water tub, looked into it, and saw the reflection of the beam. The end of the beam was blackened with soot. She reached out her hand and found the brick.

And so, the precious turquoise returned to the wise daughter of the old man.

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The Clever Daughter

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