Influences

Oh from that old book, little girl reading of the fisherman's clever daughter, or in another, the farmer's clever daughter, always a man of humble birth, a commoner, but with a daughter who knew a thing or two.

Always the king would come, or the king's advisors, always the father put in danger if he doesn't answer important and impossible questions, always great rewards if he is successful. And always, the daughter comes up with the answer. A favorite conundrum of the little girl's, after all the rigamarole with the dad, the handsome king challenges directly for the clever daughter, he says "she must come to me, neither riding nor walking, neither clothed or naked ..." and some other impossible stuff as well.

And the daughter is so cool ... she comes to the King riding a donkey, a small animal, with her feet dragging on the ground, so she is neither riding or walking ... and she winds a fishnet around her body, so she's neither clothed nor naked. And she ends up victorious in this game of riddles.

The little girl has no interest, really, in the father or the king, after all, she's only a little girl. But the clever daughter, that just tickles her, all the different ways of looking at a question, all the different ways to wisdom.