A Clever Daughter

A long time ago there was an old man who had four sons and one daughter. The daughter lived with her husband in a distant place while the sons and their wives lived in their father's house. But neither the sons nor their wives took good care of the old man.

Once the daughter came home for a visit and she asked her father, "Do your daughters-in-law take good care of you, Father?"
"I have become old," said her father, "Who will take care of me now? They will look after me if they can expect something from me."

Hearing of her father's plight, the daughter was sad and she said to him: "Alas, I cannot stay here for long, nor can I come often, Father. A daughter is destined to live away from her parents. Therefore, I'll tell you something and you must do accordingly."

She then gave him a golden chain and said, "You can return it to me later, but now you must wear it, and you can tell your daughters-in-law that whosoever takes care of you will get it."

Needless to say, before long the women noticed the chain and they asked the old man, "Father, what will you do with the golden chain?"

"Ah, the one who takes care of me will get it," said the old man.

Thereafter, the women began to look after him, vying with one another in the hope of getting the golden chain.

Some time after this, the old man got ill and he knew that he had not many days to live. So he hid the chain under a pile of firewood in a corner of the yard.

By the time the daughter arrived for another visit, the old man was dead, and she asked her sisters-in-law, "Did my father leave me a parting message?"

"Oh, yes," they said, "He asked us to tell you that the firewood is especially good."

Hearing this, the daughter went to the courtyard, removed the pile of firewood and recovered her golden chain.