A clever girl

 Nani (grandmother) and her loved granddaughter, Zuzu, were drinking tea in the garden. "Nani, can girls help (کمک) our country? Or can only men help it?" asked Zuzu. Nani smiled and told Zuzu a story because stories are friends that never leave us (آنها هرگز ما را ترک نمی کنند).

Once there was a rich governor
( استاندار ثروتمند ) of a large province (استان). He had a clever (باهوش) and beautiful daughter. He wanted to find a good husband for her. He sent a message ( پیام )
to all the people that the best hunter
( بهترین شکارچی ) in the land could marry
( ازدواج کردن ) his daughter.
     A village boy, named Pazir, heard the message. He thought, "If I could marry the governor's daughter we would not be poor
( فقیر ) any more!" So he kissed ( او بوسید ) his mother goodbye and said, "I will try my best, mother!"
     That day Pazir met a stranger ( یک غریبه ) on the road. The stranger asked Pazir where he was going. When the stranger heard
( او شنیده ) Pazir's story, he said, "You will never win the hunting contest with that old gun ( تفنگ قدیمی )! But I can give you a gun that never fails (هیچگاه ناموفق نیست)." The stranger showed Pazir the finest ( بهترین ) gun he had ever seen.
    "I don't have money for your gun," said Pazir. "My mother and I are poor people."
     "You don't need money," laughed ( خندید ) the stranger. "You just need to sign
( برای امضا ) this paper."
     Pazir could not read so he said, "What does the paper say?"
     "It says that after 7 years you must be my servant ( برده ) unless ( مگر اینکه ) you can ask me a question I can't answer (نمیتونم جواب بدم).
     Pazir thought, "After 7 years the stranger will forget ( فراموش کردن ) me!" So he signed
( او امضا کرد ) the paper and went off with his new gun. To everyone's surprise, Pazir won ( او برنده شد ) the hunting contest!
     Pazir married the governor's daughter. They were very happy together and now Pazir could care for ( مراقب باش ) his mother.
     But before you can say, "Zenda baad!"
7 years past and Pazir began to worry
( نگران شدن ) that the stranger would come to take him away.
     "Why are you so sad?" asked his dear Benesh. Pazir told her the story of the stranger and how he got his new gun by signing the paper. Benesh said, "Oh, my poor Pazir. That man tricked ( فریب خورده ) you! But don't worry ( نگران نباش ), my loved husband. I know what we can do." And then she told him her plan ( طرح ).
     Early the next morning, Benesh washed herself ( خودش را شست ) with honey ( عسل ). Then she opened a bed pillow ( بالش ), covered herself ( خودش را پوشاند ) with the feathers ( پرهای پرنده ), and then ran off.
     Soon the stranger came to take Pazir away. Pazir said, "O.K. I will go with you. But first, let me hunt with the gun one more time."
     "As you wish," said the stranger. "Shoot ( شلیک ) that small bird in the tree."
     But Pazir said, "That is too small! Let us walk farther ( دورتر راه برو ) and find ( پیدا کردن ) something bigger."
     They walked a little more and the stranger said, "Shoot that sheep ( گوسفند )
in the field! I don't have all day to wait
( منتظر بماند ) for you."
     But Pazir said, "It is not a feast day
( روز جشن ), I cannot kill a sheep! Let us walk a little more."
      Suddenly ( ناگهان ) they saw something big and very strange ( عجیب و غریب )!
      The stranger said, "Shoot that!  Shoot that!"
      "Yes, yes!" said Pazir, "But what is it?!"
      The stranger said, "I don't know!  It doesn't matter. ( مهم نیست. ) Just shoot it."
      Pazir laughed and said, "It does matter! (مهم است) You said if I asked a question
( من یک سوال پرسیدم ) you couldn't answer
( شما نتوانستید پاسخ دهید ) I did not have to go with you. Be gone, Stranger!"
     That day, everyone heard how Benesh saved ( نجات دادن ) Pazir from the stranger. After that ( بعد از آن ), no one was ever tricked by him again.
     Nani smiled at Zuzu. "Do you understand, Zuzu? Girls are kind, strong ( قوی ), and clever ( باهوش ). They will always help our country."

 

 This old, old story is told in various similar ways in many different European folk tales. This is a retelling from the book, Clever Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folktales by Alison Lurie.