The Clever Girl of Kairouan
A Tunisian folktale from the ancient city of Kairouan about a poor man and his brilliant daughter. When famine strikes, the man seeks help from a corrupt judge who sets an impossible condition: 'You must come to me neither dressed nor undressed, neither walking nor riding, neither by day nor by night.' The man's daughter solves the riddle: she wraps herself in a fishing net so she is neither clothed nor naked, rides a donkey with her feet dragging so she is neither walking nor riding, and arrives at dawn—the moment between night and day. When the judge tries to swindle her father, she outsmart