The Kind Shepherd and the Curious Girl

Once upon a time, there was—or perhaps there wasn’t—a very poor widow, and she had a little boy. Though she worked from dawn till dusk, she lived in poverty, feeding her son the bitter bread of orphans and quenching his thirst with salty tears.

The boy grew older and said to his mother:

"Enough of you suffering alone. I’ll go work as a farmhand!"

"Very well, my son, go, but don’t forget me!"

"I’ll visit when I can, and if I can’t, I’ll send word," replied the boy, and off he went.

The boy came to the king:

"Take me as a shepherd, great sovereign! For many years, my poor mother has fed me. Now it’s my turn to feed her."

"How could I not take such a sensible boy! You value your mother’s care—you’ll be of great use. Tend my sheep for three years."

The boy tended the sheep, never taking his eyes off them, protecting them from heat and cold.

Three months passed. The boy went to visit his mother, bringing her sheep’s cheese, butter, and flour.

As he walked, he saw a little snake on the road. He carried it into the bushes and said:

"Don’t crawl onto the road, silly thing, or you’ll be trampled!"

But the little snake crawled back onto the road—it was still foolish and didn’t understand.

The boy carried it deeper into the bushes and saved it from harm.

When the boy had finished his term, it was time to return to his mother. The king gave him sheep as payment and sent him home.

The boy walked along the road, playing his flute and herding the sheep. Suddenly, he saw a snake on the road!

"Greetings, human. Do you recognize me?" said the snake in a human voice. "I haven’t forgotten that you saved my life. I’ll reward you for your kindness—you’ll understand the language of plants and all creatures. A sheep will bleat, a horse will neigh, a dog will bark, a bird will chirp, a tree will rustle—you’ll understand it all. But remember: if you reveal your gift, you’ll turn to stone," said the snake, then slithered into the bushes.

The shepherd stood frozen. He thought he must be imagining things. He approached an old tree and tapped it with his dagger, as if intending to chop it down.

"No, no, I’m hard to cut down. My trunk is tough—you’ll break your dagger! Better cut down a young tree," said the old tree.

The shepherd approached a young tree, and it wept:

"I want to grow big. Don’t destroy me!"

The boy smiled. He drove the flock further. One sheep tripped over a stone and grumbled angrily:

"May you turn to stone!"

The shepherd found it funny and smiled. He walked on, herding the sheep. At the back of the flock limped an old, lame sheep, with a lamb running beside it. The boy heard the lamb bleat:

"I feel so sorry for you, Mama. You limp and always fall behind the others."

"Hey, little one, do you think I’m really lame?" said the old sheep to the lamb. "I’m carrying the profit of the whole flock, that’s why I limp."

The boy thought, "I must take care of this sheep. Without it, the whole flock will be useless."

He walked on. He saw a house at the edge of the road. In the yard, grain was drying, and a little girl was guarding it, shooing away birds.

She noticed the shepherd on the road, got scared, and darted into the house. As soon as she disappeared, birds swooped down noisily and began pecking at the grain.

"Thank you, shepherd! May you have as many sheep as there are grains here! We’ll eat our fill while your flock passes!" chirped the birds.

The boy laughed and shooed the birds away. The little girl ran out into the yard and asked:

"Why are you laughing?"

The shepherd didn’t answer—he couldn’t break the snake’s command—and silently walked on. But the girl followed him. She kept asking why he had laughed. The boy grew annoyed by the curious girl. He stopped in a field under an old oak tree and lay down, pretending to nap. "Maybe she’ll leave me alone," he thought.

On the tree sat a crow and her fledgling.

"I’ll peck out this man’s eyes right now!" cawed the fledgling.

"Wait, little one," said the mother. "Humans are cunning. Maybe he’s not asleep. He might catch and kill you."

The fledgling didn’t listen. It flew down from the oak and was about to peck the boy’s eye when it got caught! The boy grabbed the fledgling!

"Mama, help! Mama, help!" cried the fledgling.

"How can I help you, foolish one? If the man understood our language, I’d tell him there’s a jug of gold buried under the oak. He’d let you go in gratitude for that," replied the mother crow.

The boy released the fledgling, dug up the ground with a stick, and found the jug of gold.

The curious girl saw all this and was very surprised.

"Tell me, why were you laughing? Tell me, how did you know there was gold buried here?" she pestered him.

"I won’t tell you anything! Leave me alone!"

But the curious girl didn’t give up. She followed the shepherd all the way to the village, repeating, "Tell me, tell me!" The boy grew angry:

"If I tell you, I’ll turn to stone! And I want to see my mother!" Still, the girl wouldn’t leave him alone—she was too curious and stubborn.

The boy arrived home, but the girl wouldn’t let him talk to his mother. She kept insisting:

"Tell me quickly why you were laughing! I need to go home, the birds will peck all the grain!"

The boy went out into the yard and heard the rooster say to the cat:

"Why are you sitting there so glum? Get up, run around!"

"It’s easy for you to run around the yard, chasing hens, but I’m so worried!"

"Worried about what?"

"About what? If the boy reveals his secret to that girl, he’ll turn to stone! Who will feed us then?"

"Is the boy really that foolish? He should take a switch and beat the curiosity out of that girl," said the rooster.

The boy marveled at the rooster’s wisdom. He grabbed a switch and forever cured the curious girl of asking about things that didn’t concern her.

The viziers were impressed by the clever, resourceful boy and his wise words.

"Such a smart boy deserves to be the heir," they said, and took him to the king.

More fairy tales

• The Daughter of the Sun
• One Earned Ruble
• Being a Tsar is Not a Craft
• The Sun and the Rain
• About a Tsar and His Son