Once upon a time, there was a king who wanted to find kind, clever people to help him look after his land. But he did not want boring questions from dusty old books. So he made up funny riddles instead, and he sent a friendly official riding from village to village to ask them.
The official rode and rode, clip-clop, clip-clop, past green fields and wide rivers. One morning he came to a little village where a father and his young son were ploughing a rice field. The father walked beside the big buffalo, and the boy splashed along behind, singing a happy song.
The official stopped his horse and smiled. "Good morning, sir! How many rows does your buffalo plough in one day?" The father scratched his head. He had never counted. The little boy ran up, bowed politely, and said, "Excuse me, sir. May I answer with a question? How many steps does your horse take in one day?" The official blinked. Then he laughed out loud. "I ride all day long, and I have never counted!" The boy grinned. "Then my father ploughs all day long, and he has never counted either!"
The official hurried back to the palace and told the king. The king stroked his beard and chuckled. "Let us try one more riddle." He sent three big boy buffaloes and three baskets of sticky rice to the village, with a message: "Take good care of these three buffaloes. Next year, they must have nine baby calves."
The whole village buzzed with worry. "Boy buffaloes can't have babies! What shall we do? What shall we do?" But the little boy tugged his father's sleeve. "Don't worry, Father. I have an idea." He asked the villagers to cook the sticky rice and share it at a big picnic, and he gave the three buffaloes plenty of sweet green grass. Then he and his father walked all the way to the palace.
At the palace gate, the boy stood in the courtyard and cried very loudly, "Waaah! Waaah!" The king heard him and called him inside. "Little one, why are you crying?" The boy sniffed and said, "Your Majesty, I want a baby brother to play with, but my father won't have a baby for me!" Everyone in the hall burst out laughing, and the king laughed too. "Oh, little one, a father can't have a baby!" The boy wiped his eyes and gave a big smile. "Then, Your Majesty, boy buffaloes can't have calves either." The king clapped his hands. "Well done! I only wanted to see who could think things through so nicely." He sent more rice to the village, and he let the three buffaloes stay to help the farmers plough.
Not long after, a neighbouring kingdom sent a visitor with a friendly riddle. He carried a beautiful spiral seashell and a long, thin thread. "In our land we love puzzles," he said kindly. "If anyone can pull this thread all the way through the twisty inside of the shell, our two kingdoms will be good friends for a long, long time." The king's wise men turned the shell this way and that way, but the thread got stuck, stuck, stuck. So the king sent for the little boy.
The boy held the shell, tilted his head, and hummed a little song. "Tiny ant, tiny ant, carry the thread along. Sweet honey waits for you, so march and sing a song!" He gently tied the end of the thread around a big ant, loose and light like a belt, and he put a drop of honey at the other end of the shell. The ant smelled the honey and walked, walked, walked around and around the spiral, pulling the thread behind. Out it came! The boy untied the thread and gave the ant a big drop of honey to say thank you.
The visitor clapped and cheered. From that day on, the two kingdoms were friends and sent each other gifts. The king gave the boy and his father a little house with a garden near the palace, so the boy could live with his father and go to school. He grew up hardworking and kind, and he always loved finding gentle, clever ways to help everyone around him.
Parent tip: Pause after each riddle and let your child guess an answer before you read the boy's reply.
Ask your child: After the story, you can ask: “Who was kind in this story, and what did they do?”
This is a gentle retelling with only friendly riddles, lots of laughter and nothing scary.