Once upon a time there was an old man. He had spent his life working hard but still didn’t have very much money.
One day he went for a walk, thinking about how he wished he had more money. As he was walking, he saw an egg just lying on the ground. Absentmindedly, he picked it up and continued walking.
Suddenly he came to his senses. Sitting in front of him was a giant! He was very frightened, but he knew he had to use his wit to escape this situation.
He said, “Giant! How lovely it is to meet you. I am the leader of the construction workers who are building the khan’s new castle. I was sent to look for you.”
The giant was confused. “Why would the khan send for me?” “He’s looking for the strongest people in all the land so he can build his castle as efficiently as possible.” replied the old man.
The giant laughed. “You are part of this group? You cannot possibly be one of the strongest men in the land.”
“I’ll prove my strength to you.” the old man said. “See that plant over there? The meadowsweet? See if you can squeeze the juice out of it.”
The giant grabbed the meadowsweet and squeezed as hard as he could, yet he couldn’t squeeze a single drop out of it.
Then the man tried. He secretly kept the egg he had found before in his hand, so when he squeezed tightly, the yolk of the egg dripped down his hand as if he had squeezed it out of the plant.
The giant was shocked and scared of the old man’s “strength”. He was so scared he said, “Old man, please spare me. Let me give you some gold in exchange for telling the khan that you couldn’t find me.”
The old man pretended to think for a second. “Ok, fine. Give me the gold and I’ll be on my way.”
So the giant gave him the gold. Due to his quick thinking at that moment, the old man never had to worry about money again.
