Atondido Stories
The Story of a Girl Who Knew What to Say
There was once a rich farmer who was as grasping and unscru-
pulous as he was rich. He was always driving a hard bargain
and always getting the better of his poor neighbors. One of these
neighbors was a humble shepherd who in return for service was
to receive from the farmer a heifer. When the time of payment
came the farmer refused to give the shepherd the heifer and the
shepherd was forced to lay the matter before the burgomaster.
The burgomaster, who was a young man and as yet not very ex-
perienced, listened to both sides and when he had deliberated he
said:
"Instead of deciding this case, I will put a riddle to you both
and the man who makes the best answer shall have the heifer.
Are you agreed?"
The farmer and the shepherd accepted this proposal and the
burgomaster said:
"Well then, here is my riddle: What is the swiftest thing in the
world? What is the sweetest thing? What is the richest? Think
out your answers and bring them to me at this same hour tomor-
row."
The farmer went home in a temper.
"What kind of a burgomaster is this young fellow!" he
growled. "If he had let me keep the heifer I'd have sent him a
bushel of pears. But now I'm in a fair way of losing the heifer for
I can't think of any answer to his foolish riddle."
"What is the matter, husband?" his wife asked.
"It's that new burgomaster. The old one would have given
me the heifer without any argument, but this young man thinks
to decide the case by asking us riddles."
When he told his wife what the riddle was, she cheered him
greatly by telling him that she knew the answers at once.
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