Inspired by the Brother Grimm’s fairytale ”Die Kluge Bauerstochter” (The Wise Farm Girl), Carl Orff wrote his favorite opera, ”Die Kluge” (The Wise Woman) – a story of the king and the clever woman, performed for the first time in 1943.
Against the advice of his clever daughter, a farmer gives the King a golden mortar found in his field. Now, he is supposed to sit in the dungeons, till he agrees to bring the King the golden pestle that he has allegedly hidden. ”Oh, if only I had listened to my daughter”, mumbles the farmer. The King becomes curious about this daughter, and asks her to be fetched. She quickly solves three riddles that the King gives her. He is so delighted with the clever farmer’s daughter that he marries her.
