Girls to the Rescue

by Bruce Lansky

  “Whoa,” her pa said, stopping the buggy beside the cornfield she was planting and stepping to the ground. “Savannah, I’ve missed you. How could I have left you? I was so foolish. I had everything I needed right here,” he said, looking around at the fertile fields.

  “What have you done with our farm, Savannah?” He stood there amazed. “It’s beautiful! Your corn rows are so straight. Why, you’re a better farmer than I am.”

  “Oh, no, Pa,” Savannah said. “I was just trying to keep the orphan pigs fed. That was all. They needed food. I was only trying to keep us all fed.”

  “Well, I’m home now,” he said. “I’m home to stay, if you’ll let me. I’m a farmer. I belong on this land. I’m not a big-city person. I love you, Savannah. You are my daughter. Billie doesn’t need me. I’m back if you’ll have me for your pa again.”

  “Yes, Pa! Of course I’ll have you!”

  They both heard the crack of a whip as Billie jolted away in the buggy, its fringe flapping in the wind.

  Jackson bent to hug Savannah and then looked around at the straight rows of newly planted corn. “What a good job you did, my Savannah girl! A real good job! I am so proud of you. Proud to be your pa. You saved the farm. You are my real happiness. You gave me something to come home to.

  “And I have brought something back for you, Savannah girl,” her father added, stepping out the front door, and returning with a suitcase. “Go ahead, open it,” he said.

  “Oh, Pa,” Savannah gasped, after she lifted the heavy lid. “Ma’s beautiful red dress! You saved it for me! Oh, thank you so much!”

  Savannah and her father continued to farm along the Blue River for many prosperous years. Savannah always remembered the happiness she felt when her father returned. She also kept her mother’s red dress until it was time to give it to her own daughter years later.

  Kimi Meets the Ogre

  AN ORIGINAL STORY BY LINDA CAVE

  Long ago in Japan, a village lay snuggled in a valley surrounded by gently rolling hills. It was a farming village with rice fields that went up the hillsides like stair steps. Towering above the hills was a great mountain.

  As in most villages, people told stories about their ancestors and how the village came to be. The storytellers spoke of a great samurai warrior who had once come to this valley and been attacked by a terrible ogre. After a long fight, the samurai defeated the ogre and sent him to live up in the mountain. Then the samurai settled down in this beautiful valley. The story had been told many, many times. No one knew for sure whether the tale was true, but whenever thunder echoed from the mountain top, the villagers said that the ogre must be stamping his feet.

  Each family in the village claimed the samurai as an ancestor. One family had an old woven blanket that had, supposedly, once belonged to the samurai. Another family had a beautiful horse that was supposed to be a descendent of the samurai’s horse.

  But the family of Kimi and Taro had a special treasure—a giant sword in a beautifully carved wooden case. Kimi and Taro’s parents said the sword had belonged to the samurai and claimed it was sharper than any knife. The scabbard for the sword was as long as their father was tall. The children had never seen anyone use the sword. In fact, they had never seen it out of its scabbard. But Kimi and Taro kept the scabbard polished until it glowed in the firelight, and all the villagers greatly admired it.

  Although no one had ever seen the ogre, all the children in the village knew stories about him. When they heard thunder, they teased each other that the ogre was coming to get them. Taro not only teased his friends, but he also loved to make up scary stories about the ogre sneaking into the village while everyone was asleep. And soon all the children were repeating Taro’s words.

  Taro was delighted that his friends wanted to hear his stories. He began to make up more and more tales about the ogre to impress them.

  One day, while he was telling one of his ogre stories, a friend asked how he knew so much about the ogre. Not wanting to admit he was just making it all up, Taro claimed he had been to the mountain and had seen the ogre. The children began to laugh. They all knew Taro had never been on the mountain. Soon they all went off to play and left Taro sitting alone.

  Taro decided the only way to get his friends back to hear his stories would be to go to the mountain and find the ogre. The next morning he took a handful of rice cakes and walked up the hillside to the mountain. The sun was hot and the path up the mountain was steep. He climbed for nearly an hour before he got tired and decided to stop and eat. After his snack, Taro took a little nap. When he awoke, it was late afternoon. Taro was too scared to stay on the mountain in the dark, but he didn’t want his friends to laugh at him. So he decided to go back down the mountain to the village with an exciting story. In fact, by the time he got near the village, Taro had made up a thriller.

  When he arrived back in the village, Taro leaned against a tree and pretended to be out of breath from running home. It wasn’t long before all the boys and the girls gathered around to hear what had happened. Taro told them about his dangerous climb to the ogre’s cave. He claimed the ogre had been walking around the mountainside. As his friends’ eyes grew wide, Taro kept adding to the tale, describing the ogre in terrifying detail.

  “He was taller than a tree, and his footsteps shook the ground. The ogre could take a deep breath and blow down trees. He had cruel, yellow eyes as big as rice bowls. His teeth were as long and sharp as daggers. But most terrible of all were the ogre’s heavy boots. With just one step, he could easily flatten a whole house.”

  Taro claimed he had hidden behind a huge rock and had barely escaped when the ogre saw him. He told his friends he had run all the way back to the village in hopes that the ogre would not follow him. He feared the ogre might flatten the village and smash them all. Taro was thankful to have been able to outrun the ogre and keep the village safe.

  The children listened to Taro’s every word. They were amazed to hear how brave he had been. All the children were amazed except Taro’s sister, Kimi. She knew Taro was a good storyteller. She also knew he was not terribly brave.

  The village children ran home and told their parents about Taro and the ogre. For several days, everyone told Taro how brave he was to find the ogre. They were grateful he had been able to save the village by outrunning him.

  However, soon the people began to think about how terrible it would be if the ogre did come to their village. He might begin to carry off their oxen. He might even decide to carry away the villagers. What if he stomped into the village and flattened their homes? What if he blew away their rice crops? The village was not safe. Someone must drive away the ogre. But who? Why Taro, of course! Who else knew where to find the ogre? And, after all, hadn’t he already saved the village from the ogre once?

  The village elders came to Taro and Kimi’s house. They told Taro he must go back up to the ogre’s cave and drive the ogre away from their mountains. Of course, Taro knew he had never seen the ogre. In fact, as far as he knew, the ogre was just a local legend. He figured he’d go up the hill, stay there for a while, then come back and claim the ogre was gone. That would be easy.

  Kimi, on the other hand, was not so sure. She suspected her silly brother had never really seen the ogre. But she was smart enough to know that if the ogre really existed, Taro would be in big trouble. So, while Taro promised to drive away the ogre the very next day, Kimi began to plan. All day the village children came to wish Taro luck. All day Kimi made preparations.

  Early the next morning Taro was packed for his great adventure. All the people of the village came to see him off. With the villagers waving and smiling, Taro started walking past the fields on the hillside. Though Taro didn’t know it, Kimi was packed, too. Quietly, she started out on an alternate path.

  Taro walked bravely until he was out of sight of the village. His plan was to find a nice, shady place to picnic and to nap until late afternoon. Then he would go home and tell the village he had had a terrible fight wi
th the ogre. As he walked, he began to make up a story about fighting the ogre and scaring him away. Taro was so busy thinking up his story, that he kept walking farther and farther up the mountainside. Soon he had reached a big rock standing in the path. He started around the rock to look for a place to have his meal, when he suddenly stopped.

  There, on the other side of the rock, was the ogre! He was so tall that his head reached above the trees, even though he was sitting down. The ogre seemed to be enjoying the warm sun. When he opened his mouth to yawn, Taro could see that the ogre’s teeth were indeed as long and sharp as daggers.

  Taro just stood and stared for a whole minute. He would have run away, but he was too scared. He would have hidden behind the rock, but he couldn’t move. The ogre stretched and turned toward the rock. Then he saw Taro. Taro was just about to scream for help when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

  “Oh, there you are, dear brother,” said Kimi. “You forgot your food. How do you expect to kill ogres on an empty stomach?”

  Before Taro could even speak, Kimi bowed to the ogre.

  “You didn’t tell me you were going to meet small forest spirits, Taro,” Kimi continued. “I am honored to meet you, little spirit.”

  “Small?” asked Taro.

  “Little spirit?” asked the ogre.

  “I must apologize for my rude brother,” Kimi said to the ogre. “He is a famous warrior, and he’s been asked to kill the ogre who lives on this mountain. But first he has to eat. I’m sure he’d share his food with you, but he needs all his energy to meet the big and terrible ogre.”

  “Famous warrior?” asked Taro.

  “How big?” asked the ogre.

  As Kimi talked, she pulled a large cart out from behind the rock.

  “Oh, absolutely huge!” said Kimi. “Now you,” Kimi turned to look at the ogre. “You seem to be a nice, polite little spirit. You’d better get away from this mountain. That awful ogre could easily stomp on you with one foot. Taro, you remember what you said about the ogre you saw up here? You said he could flatten our whole village with his boots.”

  “I did?” asked Taro.

  “A whole village under his boots?” asked the ogre.

  “Why, just last month, my brother killed an ogre who had eyes as big as rice baskets. And he says this ogre is even bigger.”

  “Rice baskets?” asked Taro.

  “Even bigger?” asked the ogre.

  “Here, Taro,” said Kimi. “You’d better sit down and have your meal.”

  Kimi pulled a rice cake out from under the cover on the cart. It was the biggest rice cake Taro had ever seen. She could barely lift it with both arms. “You can start with this little morsel,” Kimi said.

  Then Kimi climbed up into the cart. She began rummaging around and making a great clatter. “Now I know I brought a knife and some jam,” she mumbled.

  The ogre stared at the cart as Kimi continued to dig around inside. These people were not the least bit afraid of him. In fact, they were getting ready to kill an ogre who was much bigger than he was—an ogre who could flatten him under one foot. Why, just look at the size of that rice cake. This must truly be a great warrior!

  At last, Kimi stopped tossing things around in the cart. “Oh, here it is,” she said. “I sharpened your big sword this morning. I knew you wouldn’t want to use it to spread jam, so I brought this little butter knife from the kitchen. Here it is.”

  Then Kimi pulled back the cover on the cart.

  Taro stared.

  The ogre’s mouth dropped open.

  There, gleaming in the sun, was the samurai’s sword. The huge sword as tall as a man.

  “That’s a butter knife?” the ogre asked. “You have a bigger sword for killing ogres?”

  “Oh, of course!” said Kimi. “My brother has a tremendous, extremely sharp sword for killing ogres. This is just a dull, old kitchen knife.” Then Kimi turned to face her brother, “Now, Taro, as soon as you finish eating, we can go find the ogre. Please excuse us, dear spirit ... dear spirit?”

  But when Kimi turned back to see the ogre, he was no longer there. The ogre was not going to wait around for Taro to get out his sword. No sir, he was going to find a mountain where he was the only ogre, the biggest ogre, far away from this ogre-killer and his sister. He hoped he’d never run into them again. And he never did.

  The Innkeeper’s Wise Daughter

  RETOLD BY PENINNAH SCHRAM FROM A RUSSIAN FOLKTALE

  One day many years ago, in a small Russian village, two friends, a tailor and an innkeeper, were drinking tea and talking about life. As their discussion went on, it became more and more heated. Each one claimed to know more about life than the other. Their voices grew louder and louder.

  Realizing that they could not settle the argument by themselves, they decided to bring the dispute to a wise nobleman, who often served as a judge in such matters. The two friends finished their tea in silence and set out to see the nobleman.

  When the nobleman had heard the case, he said to the two men, “Whoever answers these three questions correctly will be the one who knows more about life: What is the most powerful thing in the world? What is the fastest thing? And what is the sweetest? Return in three days’ time with your answers, and I will settle your dispute.”

  On his way home the tailor decided on the answers to the riddles. He was confident that he had thought of the best possible answers and couldn’t wait for the three days to pass.

  When the innkeeper returned to his home, he was worried that he would not be able to find the right answers.

  When his teenaged daughter came into the room and saw his troubled face she asked, “What’s wrong, Father?”

  The innkeeper told her about the three questions.

  She answered, “Don’t worry, Father. I will give you the answers to the nobleman’s questions.”

  When three days had passed, the tailor and the innkeeper came before the nobleman. “Have you found answers to my questions?” he asked.

  The tailor answered first. “The most powerful thing is a horse. The fastest is an eagle. The sweetest is honey.”

  After the tailor had given his answers, the nobleman turned to the innkeeper.

  Then the innkeeper answered. “The most powerful thing is thought. The fastest is light. The sweetest is the love of a mother for her baby.”

  The nobleman, waited a moment to consider their answers, and then said, “The tailor answered well. However, the innkeeper’s answers were wiser.”

  Turning to the innkeeper, the nobleman asked, “But tell me, how did you think of those answers?”

  “I must tell you truthfully that my daughter told me those answers,” replied the innkeeper.

  “Since your daughter knows so much about life,” said the nobleman, “I will test her further. Give her these twelve eggs and ask her to hatch them all in three days. If she does so, she will have a great reward.”

  The innkeeper carefully picked up the eggs and returned home. That evening he showed his daughter the twelve eggs and told her what the nobleman had said. She took the eggs and noticed how heavy they were. “Dear Father, these are hard-boiled eggs! It is impossible to hatch them. But wait. I know how to answer this riddle.”

  The daughter boiled some beans and waited three days. Then she instructed her father to go to the nobleman’s house and ask permission to plant them in the nobleman’s garden.

  “Beans?” asked the nobleman. “What sort of beans?”

  Taking the beans from his pocket, the innkeeper showed them to the nobleman and said, “The beans I want to plant are boiled beans.”

  The nobleman burst out laughing and said, “Don’t you know that you can’t grow beanstalks from boiled beans?”

  “Certainly,” replied the innkeeper, “but if you think my daughter can hatch chicks from boiled eggs, perhaps you’d like me to plant these boiled beans in your garden.”

  From the answer the nobleman immediately realized how clever the innkeeper’s daughter
was. So he said to the innkeeper, “Tell your daughter to come here in three days. She must bring me a gift that is not a gift.”

  The innkeeper returned home even more perplexed than before.

  When his daughter heard what she had to do, she laughed and said, “Don’t worry, Father, I know what to do.”

  The next day the daughter said to her father, “Go to the marketplace and buy a nightingale.” This request puzzled her father, but he loved his daughter and knew her to be wise, so he did not question her. Instead, he went to the marketplace and bought a nightingale.

  On the third day, the innkeeper’s daughter went to visit the nobleman. As she approached his house, the nobleman saw her and came out to greet her.

  The innkeeper’s daughter extended her hands, showing the songbird she intended to give as a gift. The nobleman reached out to take it, but just at that moment the young woman opened her hands and the nightingale flew away. Clearly, she had brought a gift that was not a gift.

  The nobleman laughed and called out, “You are very clever indeed! I would like to marry you, but on one condition: You must promise never to interfere with any of my judgments. If you do, I will send you back to your father.”

  “I will marry you,” said the innkeeper’s daughter. “But I also have one condition: If I do anything that causes you to send me away, you must promise to give me whatever I treasure most in your house.”

  They each agreed to the other’s condition and were married.

  After some time passed, a man came to speak with the young wife, who had become known for her wisdom. “Help me, please,” the man begged. “I need your advice.”

  “Tell me what is wrong, for you look very troubled, sir,” she answered. And the man told her his story.

  “My partner and I share a barn. He keeps his wagon there, and I keep my horse there. Well, last night my horse gave birth to a foal under the wagon. So my partner said the foal belonged to him. We argued and fought and then brought our dispute to your husband. Unfortunately, he judged that my partner was right. I protested, but he didn’t change the decision. Now I must give the foal to my partner. What can I do?”