The Girl with a Beautiful Heart

Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Shireen in a beautiful village of Hunza. She lived in a small house with her stepmother and a stepsister named Mareena. Since her father's death her stepmother made Shireen do all the housework. She cooked, cleaned, washed, and ironed.

One day, Shireen decided to knit herself a sweater with a ball of wool her father had bought her. Winter was just around the corner, so it was the perfect time. She sat on the roof of her house one evening to start knitting but suddenly the ball of wool slipped through her hands and it landed in her neighbor's courtyard. 

Shireen ran, knocked on the neighbor's door and asked about the ball of wool. A sad looking old lady answered, "I will give it to you but first, you have to do something for me" Shireen nodded her head in agreement. The old lady took her in and asked her to smash the dirty plates in her kitchen, cut all the plants in her garden and finally trim her long, tangled hair.

Shireen wondered for a minute at those strange requests and then got to work. Instead of smashing she washed and put away all the plates, watered the plants in the garden and lastly instead of cutting the old lady's hair she braided them nicely.

The old lady who was looking much happier now returned the ball of wool and told Shireen to go through the back of her house and she will find two pools, one with clear water and other with black water, she must dive in each pool three times only and then she can go home.

Shireen did what the old lady told her and when she reached home her stepmother did not recognize her. She looked much more beautiful. Her stepmother asked her what she did, and Shireen told her about the old lady and the pools.

The stepmother threw a ball of wool in the neighbor's courtyard and sent Mareena to get it. When she got back her mother did not recognize her either because she looked worse than before. The stepmother was furious. She asked Mareena what she did and Mareena told her she did exactly what the old lady asked, she smashed the plates, destroyed the garden, and cut the old lady's hair and then she dived into the pool many times so she could be more beautiful than Shireen. The stepmother asked Shireen what she did differently, and she explained that she listened to the old lady's heart and helped her.

The pools did not make anyone beautiful; they only made everyone look more like they were on the inside. And Shireen listened and understood that sometimes when people are sad, they do not know how to ask for something they need.