Once upon a time in Russia, there was a small village where almost everyone raised horses. In October, a big livestock market took place in the main town. Two brothers, one rich and one poor, went to the market. The rich brother, Dimitri, rode a stallion, while the poor brother, Ivan, rode a young mare.
At dusk, they stopped by an empty hut
and tied their horses outside before going to sleep on two piles of straw. In
the morning, they were surprised to see three horses instead of two! A foal had
been born during the night. The foal, after drinking its mother’s milk, took
its first steps. The stallion greeted it with a happy whinny. When the brothers
saw the foal standing beside the stallion, Dimitri exclaimed, "It's mine!
It's my stallion's foal!" Ivan laughed and said, "Stallions don't
have foals! It was born to my mare!" But Dimitri insisted, "It was
standing near my stallion, so it's mine!"
The brothers argued and decided to
take their dispute to the judges in town. It was a special day when the Emperor
himself was administering justice. They told the Emperor their story. The
Emperor knew the foal belonged to Ivan but was annoyed when Ivan nervously
twitched his eye, so he decided to have some fun. The Emperor said, "I
can't decide who should have the foal. I'll give it to whoever solves these
riddles: What is the fastest thing in the world? What is the fattest? What is
the softest? And what is the most precious? Return in a week with your
answers!"
When Dimitri returned home, he asked
a clever neighbor for help. She demanded her entire debt be forgiven in
exchange for the answers. She said, "The fastest thing is my husband's
horse. The fattest is our pig. The softest is my feather quilt. The most
precious is my nephew."
Ivan, a widower, went home to his
small daughter. She was very smart for her age. Ivan shared his problem with
her, and she said, "Tell the Emperor the fastest thing is the north wind
in winter, the fattest is the soil that grows our food, the softest is a child's
touch, and the most precious is honesty."
A week later, the brothers returned
to the Emperor. Dimitri's answers made the Emperor laugh, but Ivan's wise
answers made him frown. The Emperor asked Ivan who gave him the answers, and
Ivan said it was his daughter. The Emperor, still annoyed, decided to test her.
"Bring your daughter here in seven days. She must come neither naked nor
dressed, neither on foot nor on horseback, and neither empty-handed nor bearing
gifts. If she does, you'll get the foal and a hundred silver ducats. If not,
you'll be punished!"
Ivan went home sad, but his daughter
said, "Catch a hare and a partridge, both alive. You'll get the foal and
the silver ducats. Trust me!" On the day of the test, the palace was full
of people waiting to see what would happen. Ivan’s daughter arrived, draped in
a fishing net, riding the hare, and holding the partridge. She fulfilled all
the conditions. The Emperor, impressed but still testing, said, "You must
come neither empty-handed nor bearing gifts." The girl held out the
partridge, which flew away when the Emperor tried to take it. The Emperor,
admiring her cleverness, asked if Ivan really needed the foal. She replied,
"Yes, we live on the hares he catches in the rivers and the fish he picks
from the trees!" The Emperor laughed and said, "Whoever heard of
hares in the river and fish in the trees?" The girl quickly responded,
"And whoever heard of a stallion having a foal?"
Everyone laughed, and the Emperor
gave Ivan the hundred silver ducats and the foal, proclaiming, "Only in my
kingdom could such a wise little girl be born!"
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