One day an old Romani grandma told a young man and woman that it was their time to prove themselves by taking the things the families had made to the market and trade them for food and other things the family needed but could not make themselves and they would have a celebration. She warned them not race the horses, but ride them gently and kindly. Once in the town and in the middle of swapping a basket for a large bag of flour, the boy saw a procession of soldiers going by, when asked who they were he was told they were with the king looking for the Romanies and when he found them he was going to take their gold.

The young man and woman got on their horses and road them back to the camp as fast as they could to warn the family that the king was on his way. Whilst the grandma chided the youngsters for riding the horses so fast, she understood why. The Romanies did not want to lose their gold so took off all of their rings, bangles, earrings, necklaces and put them into a pile on a rug on the grass and set about thinking of places to hide it. Adults in panic came up with a number of places which weren’t any good; putting it in the river, a tree, burying it, every idea was rubbished by other adults for the reason that they had to be able to take their gold with them. They were running out of time and the adults started to fall out with each other and the grandma had to shout at them and remind them to set a better example to the children. Then a young girl whispered her idea to her grandma and the old woman laughed and ordered the rest of the family to melt the gold down and hide it where the girl had suggested. The king and his men came along and ripped open beds, checked in boots and coats in babies shawls, the river, the wagons, the trees, the grass, but they couldn’t find the gold. The King told them he knew they had hidden it and he would check their previous camp and then he would be back and he would find it.

As soon as he and his men rode off the Romanies piled everything that wasn’t ruined onto their wagons and set off, they travelled all day and into the night until they could travel no further. On waking the next morning they took the gold from the hiding place and melted it down once more and made it back into jewellery and to this day, Romani adults are always reminded about Grandma and her wisdom in listening to the child who turned out to have had the best idea and saved the Romani gold.