Sage Damsel, The

AN OLD man and an old woman died, and left behind them a son young in years, who was rich neither in wits nor goods. His uncle took him home, gave him to eat and drink, and when he grew up sent him to watch the sheep. And one day he sent for his kinsman and resolved to test his wits; so he said to him: "Here thou hast a flock of sheep, drive them to market and make profit out of them in such a way that both thou and the sheep shall get fat upon it, and the sheep be all brought back whole, and yet all, to the very last one, be sold for ready money."

               "How is that to be managed?" thought the orphan, who drove the sheep into the open field, sat by the roadside, and fell a-thinking. A lovely damsel passed by that way, and she said to him: "Of what art thou thinking, good youth?"

               "Why should I not be thinking? My uncle has taken a spite at last against me, a poor orphan; he has given me a task to do, and cudgel my brains as I may I cannot see how it is to be done."

               "What task has he given thee?"

               "Well, look here; he says, 'Go to market, drive those sheep thither and make a profit out of them, but so that thou and the sheep shall grow fat upon it, and the sheep be brought back whole, all down to the last one, and yet be sold for ready money.'"

               "Well, that's no very tricky task," replied the damsel. "Shear the sheep, take the fleeces to market and sell them, then thou wilt make a profit out of them, and the sheep will remain whole, and thou wilt be able to feed thyself on the profits."

               The youth thanked the damsel and did as she said. He sheared the sheep, sold their fleeces at the market, drove home the flock, and gave the money he had made out of them to his uncle. "Good," said the uncle to the nephew; "but I am sure thou didst not work this out with thine own wits, eh? Didn't some one or other teach it thee?" The youth confessed: "Well, I certainly did not do it by my own wits, but a lovely damsel came by and taught me."--"Well, then, thou must take this sage young damsel to wife. 'Twill be a very good thing for thee, for here art thou an orphan with neither stick nor stone of thy own, and nothing much in the way of wits either!"--"I don't mind if I do marry her," said the nephew to his uncle.--"All right, but thou must render me this one service. Take corn to town to the bazaar. According as thou dost sell it and return again, I'll wed thee to this damsel."

               So the nephew went to town to sell the uncle's corn, and on the way he met a rich miller.--"Why art thou off to town?" said the miller.--"I am going to the bazaar to sell my uncle's corn."--"Then we'll go to town together."--So they went along the road together, the miller in his gig with his plump brown horse, and the orphan in his little cart with his thin gray mare. They encamped side by side in the open field to pass the night there, took out the horses, and themselves lay down to sleep. And it happened that self-same night the gray mare dropped a foal. The rich miller woke earlier than the orphan, saw the foal, and drove him beneath his gig. When the orphan awoke a hot dispute arose between them. The orphan said: "It is my foal, because my mare dropped it." The covetous miller said: "No, 'tis mine, because thy mare dropped it beneath my gig." They wrangled and wrangled till they resolved to go to law about it, and when they arrived in town they went to the court to fight the matter out there. And the judge said to them: "In our town we have introduced this custom into the tribunals, that whoever wants to go to law must first of all guess four riddles. So tell me now: what is the strongest and swiftest thing in the world; what is the fattest thing in the world; and what is the softest and what the sweetest of all?" The judge gave them three days to guess, and said: "If you guess my riddles, I will judge betwixt you according to law; but if not, don't be angry if I drive you away."

               The rich miller went to his wife and told her how the matter stood, and what riddles the judge had given him to guess. "All thy riddles are but simple ones," replied the miller's wife; "if they ask thee what is the strongest and swiftest thing in the world, tell them that my father has a dark-brown horse so strong and nimble that it can run down a hare. And if they ask thee what is the fattest thing in the world, dost thou not know that in our stall we are fattening up a two-year-old boar, and he's getting so fat that his very legs won't be able to hold him up? And as for the third riddle, what is the softest thing in the world, why it's quite plain that that's a down pillow; thou canst not imagine anything softer than that. And if they ask thee what is the sweetest thing in the world, say: 'Why, what sweeter thing can a man have than the wife of his bosom?'"

               But the orphan went out of the town into the fields and sat by the roadside and racked his brain. He sat and thought of his misery; and along the road, close to him, passed the self-same lovely damsel. "Why art thou so racking thy brains again, good youth?"--"Why, look here, the judge has given me four such riddles to guess that I shall never be able to guess them all my days," and he told the damsel all about it. The damsel laughed, and said to him: "Go to the judge and say to him, that the strongest and swiftest thing in the world is the wind; that the fattest of all is the earth, for she feeds everything that lives and grows upon her; the softest of all is the palm of the hand, for however soft a man may lie he always puts his hand beneath his head; and there's nothing sweeter in the whole world than sleep." The poor little orphan bowed to the very girdle to the damsel, and said to her: "I thank thee, thou sagest of maidens, for thou hast snatched me from very ruin."

               When the three days had passed, the miller and the orphan appeared in court, and told the court the answers to the riddles. Now the Tsar chanced to be on the bench at that time, and the answers of the orphan so pleased him that he ordered that the cause between them should be given in his favour, and that the miller should be driven with shame from the court. After that the Tsar said to the orphan: "Didst thou hit upon these answers thyself, or did some one else tell thee?"--"To tell the truth, they are not my own; the lovely damsel taught me these answers."--"She has taught thee well too, sage indeed must she be. Go to her and tell her in my name that if she be so wise and sensible she must appear before me to-morrow: neither on foot nor on horseback, neither naked nor clothed, and with a present in her hand that is no gift. If she accomplish this I will reward her as becomes a Tsar, and make her higher than the highest." Again the orphan went out of the town, and again he fell a-fretting, and he said to himself: "Why, I don't even know how and have no idea where to find this lovely damsel; what sort of a task is this that I am bidden to give her?" No sooner had he thought this than the sage and lovely damsel again passed by that way. The orphan told her how his guesses had pleased the Tsar, and how he wanted to see the damsel himself and have proof of her wisdom, and how he had promised to reward her. The damsel thought a bit, and then said to the orphan: "Fetch me a long-bearded billy-goat, and a big net for catching fish, and catch me a pair of sparrows. To-morrow morning we'll meet here, and if I get a reward from the Tsar, I'll share it equally with thee."

               The orphan carried out the orders of the damsel, and waited for her next morning at the roadside. The damsel appeared, stripped off her sarafan, [1] and wound herself in the long fishing-net from head to foot; then she sat on the goat, took a sparrow in each hand, and bade the orphan lead the way to town. The young man brought her to the Tsar at court, and she bowed low to the Tsar and said: "Behold, O sovereign Tsar! I come to thee neither on foot nor on horseback, neither naked nor clothed, and I have brought a present in my hand which is no gift."--"Where is it?" asked the Tsar. "Here!" and she gave the Tsar the live sparrows, and he was about to take them from her hands when the sparrows wriggled out and flew away. "Well," said the Tsar, "I see thou canst vie even with me in wit. Stay at my court, and look after my children, and I'll give thee a rich recompense."--"Nay, my sovereign lord and Tsar, I cannot accept thy gracious favour; I have promised this good youth to share my reward with him for his services."--"Look now! thou art witty and wise; but in this matter thy head is turned, and thou dost not judge according to reason. I offer thee a high and honourable place with a great recompense; why then canst thou not share this reward with this youth?"--"But how can I share it then?"--"How, thou sage damsel? Why if this good youth be dear to thee, marry him; for honour and recompense, and labour and sorrow and bright-faced joy are shared by husband and wife half and half."--"Thou too art wise, I see, O sovereign Tsar, and I'll gainsay thee no longer," said the lovely damsel. So she took the orphan for her husband, and though the orphan had no very great mind, his heart was simple and good, and he lived with his sage wife all his life in contentment and happiness.