The Resourceful Girl

Once upon a time, there lived a poor fisherman. He had a wife and two children—a daughter and a son. No matter how many times he cast his net, he caught nothing but roach.

One day, when there was nothing left to eat in the house, not even corn porridge, the fisherman said to his wife:

"I’ll go cast the net one more time. Maybe I’ll catch at least some fish. Then you won’t have to eat just corn porridge."

The fisherman went to the river, cast his net, and sat on the shore, waiting.

When he began to pull in the net, he felt it was heavy.

"It seems like a big fish has been caught," thought the fisherman. He pulled with all his strength and hauled in the net.

He looked and saw that it wasn’t a fish but a golden mortar. The fisherman was overjoyed and ran home as fast as he could. He called his wife, son, and daughter.

"Look what I caught!"

His daughter said to him:

"What are you going to do with a golden mortar? Fish would be much more helpful against hunger."

"You don’t understand anything!" the fisherman snapped. "I’ll give this mortar to the king, and he will reward me generously."

"Go," replied the daughter, "but the king will say to you, 'What will I do with a mortar if there’s no pestle?'"

The fisherman went to the king’s palace and presented him with the golden mortar.

The king became angry and said to the fisherman:

"Fool, what will I do with your mortar if there’s no pestle?"

The poor man didn’t know what to say. He stood confused in the middle of the royal courtyard, scratching behind his ear and muttering:

"It seems my daughter was right."

The king heard the fisherman muttering to himself, frowned, and asked sternly:

"What are you muttering about, ignoramus?"

"I’m saying that my daughter was right. She warned me, 'It’s pointless to go, Father.' She guessed exactly how you would respond."

"Your daughter must be clever if she can guess others’ thoughts so well. Tell her to bring me a salad called 'Oh! Oh!' tomorrow. If she doesn’t fulfill my command, I’ll have both of you executed."

The unfortunate fisherman trudged back to his village, his head hanging low, cursing himself for his carelessness.

At home, he tearfully told his daughter:

"What a fool I was not to listen to you! Now we can’t avoid execution."

And he told his daughter about the king’s whim.

Tears rolled down his face one after another. But the girl wasn’t frightened and calmly said:

"Don’t worry, Father, everything will be fine."

She went to the garden, picked a lot of lettuce, put it in a basket, and scattered needles among the lettuce leaves.

The next day, the girl went to the king with the basket. When she entered the royal hall, she handed the closed basket to the king and said:

"Here is your salad 'Oh! Oh!'"

The king opened the basket, touched the lettuce, and pricked his finger painfully on a needle.

He jerked his hand back and involuntarily cried out, "Oh! Oh!"

When the pain in his hand subsided, the king said to the girl:

"You really are clever. This is indeed a salad 'Oh! Oh!' But you won’t get off so easily. Tomorrow you must come to me neither dressed nor undressed, without touching the road or the path, neither on foot nor on horseback, and you must stop neither inside my palace nor outside."

The girl returned home and told her father about the king’s orders. The poor father nearly went mad with grief. He ran around the room, shouting like a madman:

"Now my daughter is doomed, now my daughter is doomed!"

"Don’t grieve, Father," his daughter reassured him. "You’ll see how well I’ll fulfill all the king’s commands."

She borrowed a sheep from the neighbors, undressed, draped herself with a fishing net, and rode the sheep to the king’s palace.

When she arrived at the palace, she stopped the sheep so that it stood halfway across the threshold of the royal hall. When the king saw the girl, he asked in surprise what all this meant.

The girl replied:

"It means I’ve fulfilled all your commands. You see, I’m neither dressed nor can you say I’m undressed. I didn’t touch the road or the path with my feet. I arrived here neither on foot nor on horseback, and my sheep stands neither inside nor outside your hall."

The king was even more amazed by the girl’s resourcefulness. But this time, he didn’t give up. He ordered his servants to summon the girl’s father, mother, and brother. Then he commanded a roasted rooster to be brought to him. The king cut the rooster and gave the head to the girl’s father, the back to her mother, the legs to her brother, and the wings to her.

"Now tell me, why did I divide the rooster this way?" the king asked with a mocking smile.

The girl wasn’t embarrassed at all and boldly answered the king:

"You gave the head to my father because he is the head of the family. You gave the back to my mother because all the household burdens rest on her shoulders. You gave the legs to my younger brother because he must quickly carry out our parents’ tasks. And you gave the wings to me because I will soon fly away from home."

Then the king, impressed by the girl’s answers, said:

"I admit, you’ve won."

And so, a simple girl proved to be smarter and more resourceful than the mighty king.

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The Resourceful Girl

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