The Clever Ajida
故事全文
An old tribal chief paced around his home muttering to himself, “My daughter is at a suitable age to get married, but I can't find someone worthy of her! What should I do?” As the chief worried about his daughter, he heard someone shouting about a bear attack. One of the tribesmen announced, “A black bear has come down from the mountains to hunt us for food, let's think of how to get rid of the bear!”
Suddenly, a young man named Ajida raised his hand and said, ”Don't worry! Let me deal with the bear!” Everyone turned around to look at Ajida. He was skinny and short, and they wondered if he could really do the job. But Ajida climbed up a tree the next day with a dead chicken and a bow and arrow. He thought to himself, “I stuffed the chicken full of poison. The bear will surely die if he eats the chicken.” He was happy with his plan.
After a while, the bear emerged from the tall grass. Ajida threw the chicken from the tree and said, ”Stupid bear! Come eat this fresh and juicy chicken!” The bear was so hungry that he ate the chicken very quickly. Soon, the bear died from the poison. After the bear fell to the ground, Ajida climbed down from the tree and took out his bow and arrow. “All I need to do is to shoot two arrows at the dead bear, and everyone will think that the bear died from my arrows.” Soon after, Ajida became the hero of the tribe.
Two years later, the people of another tribe wanted to invade the land that belonged to Ajida's tribe. Everyone in the tribe chose Ajida to come up with a solution. Ajida thought about it and told his fellow tribesmen, “Let's weave many pairs of huge straw slippers! Then, let's mix sugarcane bagasse with yellow mud, and place these near the entrance of our village.”
After a few days, the enemy tribesmen arrived. Their chief saw the huge straw slippers, and something that looked like huge droppings. He felt frightened and told his men, “My goodness! So many giants live here! Look at the size of their feet! We won't be able to defeat them. Let's get out of here!” The enemy tribesmen ran away in fear. In the end, Ajida not only used his wit to save his tribe, he also married the chief's beautiful daughter.
