The Aunts

The Aunts

Once, in a Portuguese town, there lived a grandmother and her granddaughter. The girl was kind, curious, and skilful at many things, but her grandmother had one habit: whenever she wanted to praise her granddaughter, she exaggerated a little.

One day a young king rode past their house. He saw the girl at the window, greeted her, and stopped to talk.

The grandmother was so delighted by the important visitor that she said at once, “Your Majesty, my granddaughter is such a clever seamstress that she can sew a shirt so fine it will pass through the eye of a needle!”

The girl’s eyes grew round.

“Grandmother…”

But the king was already interested.

“Really? I have never seen such a thing. If you can do it, show me tomorrow.”

When he left, the girl sat on a bench and nearly cried.

“I can sew, but I cannot work magic. How can a whole shirt pass through the eye of a needle?”

A soft knock came at the door.

On the threshold stood an unknown elderly woman with a basket of thread.

“I hear you need help,” she said. “I know an old secret of very fine cloth. I will help you if, at the great celebration, you call me Aunt and seat me beside you. Do not be ashamed of the plain clothes of an old craftswoman.”

“With pleasure!” said the girl. “But why do you ask for such a promise?”

“Because people sometimes admire a wonder and forget the hands that made it.”

They worked together. The old woman brought extraordinarily fine cloth, the girl sewed small, even stitches, and by evening the shirt was ready. Folded in a special way, it truly passed through the large eye of an old needle.

The next day the king was amazed.

But the grandmother, seeing his delight, could not restrain herself.

“And that is not all! My granddaughter can hear a conversation from three leagues away!”

The girl nearly dropped the needle.

The king laughed.

“Now that is a true riddle. Tomorrow I will go hunting. If you tell me what we spoke about far in the forest, I will admit that your grandmother does not exaggerate.”

When he was gone, the girl put her hands to her head.

“Grandmother! Why did you say that?”

“I wanted everyone to know how extraordinary you are,” said the grandmother guiltily.

That evening another knock sounded. This time a second elderly woman came, carrying a long wooden listening tube, like those shepherds sometimes used to send signals in the hills.

“I know the path to that forest,” she said. “From the hill, hunting horns and voices can be heard well. I will help you if you call me Aunt at the celebration.”

“Agreed, Aunt,” the girl smiled.

They climbed the hill. The wind was blowing in the right direction, and through the tube they could make out pieces of the distant conversation. The king was saying to his companions, “Today the wind smells of the sea. There will likely be rain this evening.”

The next day the girl repeated the words to the king.

“Wonderful!” he cried.

And the grandmother, forgetting their earlier talk, added, “My granddaughter can also wind a whole enormous skein of yarn in half an hour!”

The girl closed her eyes.

“Grandmother…”

The king no longer laughed.

“Let us not invent more trials,” he said. “But if you wish to show another skill, I will watch.”

At home, the girl spoke seriously to her grandmother.

“I love you, but I do not want to spend my life proving other people’s exaggerations. I am good enough as I am.”

The grandmother blushed.

“You are right. I carried it too far.”

But the great skein of yarn already lay on the table, and the girl wanted to finish what they had begun.

For the third time, someone knocked at the door. A third elderly woman came with a marvellous spinning frame on which thread ran as swiftly as a little stream.

“Together, we can do it,” she said. “At the celebration, call me Aunt.”

“Of course.”

In half an hour, the yarn was wound.

The king looked at the three wonders, then said, “What interests me now is not how you did these things, but why you look each time as if you wish to explain something.”

The girl gathered her courage and told the whole truth: her grandmother had boasted, and three unknown women had helped her fulfil those impossible promises.

The king did not grow angry.

Instead, he laughed.

“So your greatest skill is not sewing magic shirts or hearing across three leagues. You can accept help, remember those who gave it, and at last tell the truth. That is far more useful.”

Time passed. The girl and the king saw one another often, talked a great deal, and became close friends. When they later both chose to marry, the palace held a great celebration.

During the feast, there came a knock at the door.

The first old woman entered. She wore enormous round spectacles and carried a needle almost as long as a spoon.

The girl stood at once.

“Come in, Aunt! Sit beside me.”

The guests smiled.

“I need these spectacles,” the woman explained solemnly, “because I spent so many years looking at tiny stitches that I decided I wanted to see everything large!”

A moment later, the second aunt appeared. She carried such a long listening tube that she almost struck the chandelier.

“Come in, Aunt!”

“And this tube,” said the old woman, “is so I never have to listen from three leagues away again. It is better to ask directly!”

At last, the third aunt came with her spinning frame. She had fixed two comically long wooden handles to it.

“Why are they so large?” asked the king.

“So that everyone may see,” she said, “how silly it is to demand that a person do enormous work in a tiny amount of time.”

The hall burst into laughter.

The grandmother laughed too, then lifted her cup of fruit drink.

“I have one more announcement to make. My granddaughter cannot do everything in the world. And that is wonderful. No one can.”

“At last, a truthful compliment,” said the girl, and embraced her.

From then on, the three elder craftswomen really were called Aunts. They often came to the palace and taught children to sew, spin, listen to the wind, and, most importantly, never be ashamed to ask for help.

The king made one simple rule: if someone boasts about another person’s abilities, they must first ask that person whether she truly made such a promise.

For sometimes the hardest wonder is not passing a shirt through the eye of a needle. It is saying in time, “I cannot do this. But I can learn, or I can ask for help.”

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨