Resumo de Karakalpak Folk Tales

The Clever Old Man by Quatbay Utegenov

Once upon a time there was a Khan and he had forty wazirs. One day he sent out the forty wazirs with the following tasks:
?First. Bring me a person who is the lowest of the low (the worst man) in the world.?
?Second. Bring me the worst bird in the world.?
?Third. Find the worst grass in the world.?
As the forty wazirs were going through a forest, they came across a thorny bush and they cut it down.
?This is the worst plant in the world because when you walk on foot it will tear your clothes; when you walk barefoot it will painfully prick your feet; and if you take it by hand it will prick your hand,? they said.
As they were looking for the worst bird, a pheasant took off before them and panicked their horses. Then the wazirs thought that it was the worst bird in the world and shot it down to take it to the Khan. Then they met an old shepherd and asked him his life?s story. Narrating his story, the old man added: ?I have never been married in my life and I have been grazing sheep since I was seven-years-old.?
The forty wazirs thought this might be the lowest of the low in the world, bound his hand behind his back and took him along with them.
The old man asked the wazirs: ?Where are you taking me??
The forty wazirs answered: ?The Khan set us three tasks, we are now fulfilling those tasks.?
The old man said: ?What kind of tasks are they, my dear boys?? Then the forty wazirs said: ?He told us to find a person who is the lowest of the low in the world, and we have found you; he told us to find the worst bird in the world, and we have found this pheasant; and he also told us to find the worst grass in the world, and we have found this thorny bush.?
The old man said: ?My dear boys, you have found one of the things that the Khan ordered you to find, but you have not yet found the other two things.?
The wazirs asked: ?Which have we not found? This thorny bush inflicts damage on people by tearing their clothes; the pheasant unexpectedly takes off and panics horses; as for you, you have never been married so far and you have not seen the pleasures that life offers a human being and all your life has been wasted by grazing sheep only. So all the three things that we have found are the worst and lowest things.?
So the forty wazirs brought what they had found to the Khan. First the Khan called the old man and listened to his life?s story, and agreed that he was the lowest of the low since he had not seen the pleasures that life offers a human being, and told the wazirs to untie his hands and give him some oatmeal soup.
The wazirs produced the other two worst things.
The Khan said: ?These two things are not the worst things in the world.? At that moment one of the wazirs said: ?Yes, that is exactly what the lowest of the low person told us.?
When the Khan heard this, he said: ?How could the lowest of the low know this? Fetch him to me immediately.?

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