The Clever Girl Fairy Tale

In a small village at the foot of the Ala-Too mountains lived an old herdsman named Sapar and his only daughter, Aisuluu. From a young age she herded the animals with her father, counted the stars and listened to the old people talk. She grew up very bright and quick-witted.

Whenever the villagers had a quarrel, they went to Aisuluu for advice. Once two neighbours could not agree whose foal it was. Aisuluu said, "Let the foal go between your two mares. Whichever mare it runs to, that is its owner." And the quarrel was settled at once.

News of this reached the khan himself. The khan was annoyed. "Is there really someone in my land cleverer than me? We shall see!" He called the herdsman to the palace and handed him thirty eggs. "By tomorrow, hatch chicks from these. If you don't, you will lose your head."

The old herdsman came home in despair. "I am done for, my daughter. Chicks cannot hatch in one night," he said. Aisuluu picked up an egg, weighed it in her hand and laughed. "Don't worry, Father. These eggs are all boiled. The khan is testing us."

At dawn Aisuluu boiled a handful of millet, tied it up in a scarf and went to the palace herself. "Your Majesty, my father is sitting on the eggs. But when the chicks hatch, they will need food. Please plant this millet and grow it by tomorrow," she said, holding out the scarf.

"Silly girl! How can anything grow from boiled millet?" laughed the khan. Aisuluu bowed politely. "And how can chicks hatch from boiled eggs, Your Majesty?" The courtiers could hardly keep from laughing. The khan turned red and said nothing.

But the khan thought up a new test. "Tomorrow you will come to me neither walking nor riding, neither dressed nor undressed, neither with a gift nor without one," he ordered. "This time she won't manage it," he thought.

The next day Aisuluu came to the palace riding a goat. The goat was small, so one of her feet dragged along the ground: neither walking nor riding. She had wrapped herself in a fishing net: neither dressed nor undressed. And between her cupped hands she held a sparrow.

When she reached the khan, she said, "Your Majesty, I have brought you a gift," and she opened her hands. The sparrow fluttered up and flew out of the window. "Here I have brought a gift, and yet there is no gift," said Aisuluu.

The khan sat for a long time, and then suddenly laughed out loud. "I thought I would defeat you, but you have defeated me. Your wisdom is worth more than gold," he said. And he gave the herdsman and his daughter rich gifts.

From then on, whenever a difficult quarrel arose in the land, the khan asked Aisuluu for advice. And people there say: "Wisdom comes not with years, but from the head."