''The Wise Little Girl'' (russian: Мудрая дева) is a Russian

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

collected by

Alexander Afanasyev Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (Afanasief, Afanasiev or Afanas'ev, russian: link=no, Александр Николаевич Афанасьев) ( — ) was a Russian Slavist and ethnographer who published nearly 600 Russian fairy and folk ta ...

in ''Narodnye russkie skazki''. This type of tale is the most common European tales to deal with witty exchanges.Stith Thompson, ''The Folktale'', p 158-9, University of California Press, Berkeley Los Angeles London, 1977

Synopsis

Two brothers rode together, a poor one on a mare, a rich one on a stallion. The mare gave birth in the night, and the foal went under the rich brother's cart, so he claimed the cart had given birth to it. The emperor heard of their dispute at law and summoned them to ask them

riddle A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requir ...

s: what were the swiftest, fattest, softest, and loveliest things in the world? The rich man went to his godmother and got answers: her husband's bay mare, a pig that they had been fattening, eiderdown, and her baby nephew. The poor man lamented his fate, and his seven-year-old daughter, his only child, heard him and gave him answers: "Tell the Emperor that the fastest thing in the world is the cold north wind in winter. The fattest is the soil in our fields whose crops give life to men and animals alike, the softest thing is a child's caress and the most precious is honesty." The emperor gave her more difficult tasks which she was able to complete with her wisdom.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wise Little Girl Russian fairy tales Fairy tales collected by Alexander Afanasyev Female characters in fairy tales Riddles Fictional horses