This tale begins with two brothers. Dimitri is rich while Ivan is poor. Each has a horse. One is a stallion and one is a mare. They graze in the same field and of course in time a new foal is born. This birth is the essence of their dispute. Who owns the foal? The brothers decide to ask the Tsar.
"The Tsar knew perfectly well that Dimitri had no claim on the foal but he decided to have a bit of fun at the brothers' expense while indulging his fondness for riddles at the same time."
He sets four riddles:
What is the fastest thing in the world; what is the fattest; what is the softest; and what is the most precious. He tells the brothers they have one week to present their answer.
Dimitri asks his neighbour and her answers are fastest - her husband's horse, fattest is their pig, softest is the quilt she has just made and the most precious is her baby grandson.
Ivan asks his seven-year-old daughter Katya - fastest is the wind, fattest is the earth that gives us food, softest is a child's caress, and the most precious thing is honesty.
The Tsar appreciates the wise answers from Katya but he also knows he has not been especially honest himself. He sets another challenge. He wants to meet this young girl but she cannot come on horseback or on foot, she must not be dressed or naked and she cannot bring a present but she must not be empty handed. Katya solves in this in a very ingenious way using a hare, a fishing net and a partridge. And yes there is that all important 'and they all lived happily ever after' ending.
The subtitle of this book is "A Fairy Tale of Old Russia". The original title was The Wise Little Girl. This is one of those delicious stories which you might have encountered before where a powerful ruler sets a series of riddles and a very clever young child is able to solve each one and save a life. These stories are always so satisfying. You might find a couple of old junior novels in your local or school library called Smart Girls and Smart Girls forever by Robert Leeson.
The first thing you will notice when you open up this book is the way every page is framed with a rich pattern rather like a magic carpet. You might also notice each page begins with an illuminated letter which echoes the framing. Sadly, this beautiful book is now very old (1998) and so it is out of print. I picked it up in a library partly because I saw the author name and partly because the cover looked very inviting.
You do need to know I am a huge fan of Mary Hoffman. I read her book The Colour of Home to groups of Grade Six students in my school library for decades and every time I was moved to tears and the students were silent as the story unfolded.
