Once it happened, when the king was sitting on his throne, then a traveler from a far away place came to him and without saying even a word, just made a circle around the king’s throne with the end of his stick and then stood aside. The king did not understand what he wanted to convey by doing this. He summoned his court but none of them could understand the fact. It was a great shame for the king that in his whole kingdom there was no one who could unravel the secret. The king gave a strict order that all wise men should be hanged if they cannot solve this riddle. When the king’s men went away in search of a wise man, they came across a lodge. When they went in they saw that there was a cradle which was rocking but there was no living soul who rocked it, similarly in the other room also there was a rocking cradle but here also there was no one. Then they went up the house roof and there they found that wheat was spread to dry but there was no wind blowing, but the reed was moving and it also was scaring the birds away so that they don’t eat away the wheat.
The king’s men were surprised. They went to the lower room, there they saw a weaver who was sitting in front of the loom and working. The weaver had tied the thread to the lever, the other to the shuttle, and the third to the ring. When the weaver weaved the threads went in different directions and rocked the cradle and the reed.
- Do you see! This man is no less than a wise man.
The king’s men told him how the stranger had drawn a circle around the king’s throne and that no one was able to solve this riddle, what the stranger wanted to convey? So they asked the weaver to accompany them and try to solve the enigma.
- If you solve this, you will get a grand prize from the king- they told him.
The weaver thought for a while and then took two ragdolls and a hen with hen with him and then went to the king’s court with them. When he reached the palace and saw the stranger, he threw the rag dolls on the floor in front of the stranger. To this the stranger took out a handful of millets from his pocket and spread that on the floor. The weaver in response left the hen on the floor, which ate away the millets in a second. Then on seeing this the stranger took his slippers and ran away.
- What did the stranger want to say?- they asked the weaver.
- The stranger wanted to inform our king that his king was preparing against us, and that he would conquer our lands, and he wanted to know if our king is ready to submit to him or he wants to have a war. I threw the ragdolls in front of him to tell him that they are kids in front of us and it would be better if they stay at home playing with the dolls, and leave this idea that they are capable of fighting with us. The stranger spread millets on the floor conveying that their soldiers are countless. I in response left the hen there, responding that our one soldier is enough for them and it will destroy their whole army.
The king awarded the weaver handsomely and wanted to make him his minister, but the weaver did not agree. He just accepted some trifle in return for his service, and while leaving he said to the king:
- Oh, my King, I just want one thing that from now on you must know that there are wiser people than your ministers in the populace and please consider the weavers and cobblers also as your people.
Translated from Hungarian by me
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