Year 5: The Barber's Clever Wife

by Narinder Dhami

Published 20 September 2004
This is comical retelling of an Indian legend from the Punjab, about a lazy barber and his quick-witted wife. When the barber drives away all his customers with his slapdash techniques, his wife sends him to the king to seek financial help - or else they'll starve. The king provides them with a plot of barren land, but thanks to the clever wife's fertile imagination the couple's fortunes take a turn for the better. But will her ingenuity be any match for the trickery of a persistent band of thieves, determined to cash in on the couple's new-found success?