| The Three Brothers
Long time ago there lived a village headman with his wife. The wife of the headman died soon after giving birth to a baby boy. The headman was heartbroken but his family and friends persuaded him to marry again so that the child could get a mothers love and affection.
Soon the village headman got re-married. Luckily, his second wife turned out to be a large-hearted and sensible woman. She gave the child all the love and care that he would have received from his own mother. After few years, she gave birth to two more children, both were boys. But her affection for the oldest never ended. She treated all three kids alike and the two younger ones never realised they had a stepbrother. The three brothers loved each other very much.
When the headman passed away, the widow delegated all the responsibilities of the household and the fields to her eldest son. The boy managed them so well that soon the family prospered and became wealthy. This made the neighbours feel jealous. So they planned to tell the widow’s sons the truth about their eldest brother. They also advised them to drive him away from the house and take their share of property.
The boys decided to kill their elder brother. When they told their mother about what they planned to do, she said to them: "Don't bloody your hands; I will get rid of him for you." That night when everybody was asleep, she suddenly jumped out of bed and started shouting: "Snake! Snake!!"
"Where’s the snake? Where did you see it, mother?" asked the eldest son, getting up from his bed. “Son I saw it disappearing into your stomach." The boy turned frightened and pale. Since that day on, he lost all his hunger for food and would lie on his bed the whole day. Soon he became weak.
The neighbours rejoiced and took advantage of the situation. They built a wall across the widow's courtyard and claimed a part of the house as their own. In the fields they shifted their boundaries to enclose large portions of the widow's lands.
The younger sons could not deal with the situation and one day they said to their mother: "If our elder brother was not bed-ridden, such terrible things would not have happened to us." The widow kept quiet, but in the dead of the night she again started shouting: "Snake! Snake!!" Everyone again woke up.
"Where’s the snake?" asked the eldest son softly. "Son, I saw it coming out of your stomach," replied the woman. "It disappeared into the darkness." From that day on the condition of the eldest son started improving. Soon he recovered from his illness and was able to walk into the courtyard where he saw the new wall. "Who has built this!" he shouted. The neighbours came running and meekly pulled down the wall.
The next day itself he went to see his fields. There he saw some new boundaries so he again shouted in anger "Who has done this!" The neighbours trembled in fear and quickly broke the boundaries.
His mother then called her younger sons and asked them “did you see your elder brothers’ capabilities”. Do you still want to kill him or throw out of the house”. The sons in shame replied “No…No”.
The three brothers with their mother lived happily forever.
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