Once a princess was very pretty as well as very clever. As a debater, none could outspeak her. Her father the king said that he who won her in a debate would marry her and take half of his country. Seven brothers from another country heard about it and they went to have a contest with her.

On the way they found a bag and the youngest brother picked it up and carried it along against the advice of his elders. Next they found a dead fowl. He picked it up again despite his brothers’ objection. In this manner, he picked up a string, a spoon, a big rope and a goat horn that was curved like a spiral.

They went to the palace and declared that each of them wanted to have a debate with the clever princes. The defeated challenger would have his left ear pierced with a hot iron. The eldest went in first, the room had all the windows shut. He said:

“It is stuffy and hot here.”

“An oven would be much hotter.”

He had nothing to say in reply. He had his left ear pierced. The other five met the same fate. The youngest brother went in. He said:

“It is stuffy and hot here.”

“An oven would be much hotter.”

“I imagine I could bake my bird here” (He produced the dead fowl).

“I am afraid fat would fall out from your bird if it were heated.”

“Don’t bother, I have a spoon here to take care of the fat.”

“Your spoon might get broken because of the hot fat.”

“Never mind. I have here a string to bind the break.”

“Your sentences are broken and short.”

“Fix this rope to the ends of my sentences to lengthen them.”

“So, you are crooked.”

“Not as crooked as this spiral horn.” She could not say anything to his last remark and therefore she was defeated. The youngest brother married her and got half of the country from his father-in-law, the king.

Sourced from Culture and Folklore of Mizoram by B. Lalthangliana