The Wise Old Woman and the Wooden Chest

 In a quiet village lived an old woman who valued her independence above all else. Surrounded by wealth but longing for love, she finally decided to reunite with her family. Yet danger awaited her on the forest road — thieves lurked in the shadows. With wit and wisdom born of age, she devised a clever plan to protect her treasures and herself. This is the tale of how intelligence and foresight can outshine even gold.

There was an old woman who lived in a village. She lived alone in a big house. She had a lot of gold and silver jewelry. She was very wealthy. She had many servants and maids who did all her work for her.

She had been living alone for a very long time. Her family lived in the very next village. Family members would come to visit her from time to time. They would tell her, "It's been too long now, living alone. Come, live with all of us. We keep worrying about you."

But the old woman wanted to stay in her own house and preferred living alone. The family members would give up and go back. After much thought and deliberation, the family said, "Alright, when you feel like you want to live with us, send us a message or just come yourself. We won't bother you now."

A lot of time passed like this. Now she had become very old. She walked bent over, leaning on a stick. She started missing her family. Now she wanted to live with her family.

She felt that she had caused her family a lot of worry and now she didn't want to trouble them anymore. So, the old woman wanted to go to her family herself.

When she started preparing to travel, she remembered that she had a lot of valuable jewelry and precious gems. She couldn't travel with so much expensive wealth. The path went through a forest where thieves and dacoits lay in wait, ambushing people. News of robberies came every day.

She was very worried: "Why did I keep all this valuable wealth with me? What should I do now?" After much thinking, the old woman devised a plan.

She asked the village carpenter to build a very big and strong wooden chest, so big that she could sit inside it. She called all her servants and told them, "I want to go to my family, and all of you will take me there."

The chest was prepared. The old woman fixed the day for departure and informed her servants.

The next day, the old woman put on all her jewels, sat inside the chest, and told the servants, "I can't walk, so you all carry me by lifting the chest." The servants did exactly that. And in this way, through her cleverness, the old woman reached her family safely.