- Genre
- Tale of wit
- Source status
- variant tradition
- Motifs
- clever child, riddling speech, two roads, royal command
The tale: an editorial retelling
A nobleman travelling to an estate reached a fork and lost his way. He entered a cottage and found a three-year-old child. Asked about his family, the child replied, “Father has gone to fetch bread already eaten; Mother has gone for fire. My brother ploughs, then hunts hares when tired: he leaves the dead ones and brings the live ones home. My sister chases devils in the storeroom.”
The puzzled nobleman asked for directions. The child had him carry him outside. “That road is short, but will take a long time. The other is long, but with good horses it takes about an hour.” The nobleman chose the short road, became stuck in a marsh and lost a whole day. Returning by the longer road, he reached the cottage quickly.
He asked the child to explain. His father had lent grain to neighbours in spring and was now collecting repayment: their eaten bread would return to his family. His mother gathered firewood. His brother combed lice from his hair while resting, killing those that fell and carrying the live ones home. His sister was preparing the warp for weaving, and her balls of thread jumped like little devils.
The child grew so clever that the king invited him to court for advice. One day the king threatened to hang anyone who said that one of his horses had died. Soon a horse did die, and its keeper dared not announce it.
The young man offered to help. He stood below the royal window, groaning. “My horse must have died,” said the king. “You have spoken the forbidden words yourself,” replied the young man. “Under your order, you should be punished.” The angry king banished him from his country.
On his way the young man bought a cartload of sand and obtained a document saying that the earth belonged to him. He had the cart placed by the palace and walked about on its sand. The king ordered him away again, but he showed the document. “I am standing on my own land.” Seeing that he could not defeat the young man with words, the king allowed him back.
About this version
J. Spudas recorded this version in Linkuva in 1932 from seventy-one-year-old Karolis Valiulis, archive reference LTR 337(19). Its childhood riddles, roads, forbidden words and privately owned earth form one extended tale.
All those episodes remain in this retelling. The explanations are the tale’s wordplay; buying a cartload of sand does not provide a real exemption from a country’s law.
Telling and discussing the tale
Read the child’s first answers without their explanations and invite guesses, then compare them with this version. The road question distinguishes distance from travel time; the royal episodes distinguish a rule’s literal wording from its intended meaning.