THE BAD BROTHER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 40, 4 October 1890, Page 18

THE BAD BROTHER.

j q 4% LONG time ago, in a valley in India, there I j/'IV lived two brothers. !!®B SprJL Tne elder was very poor. He gained his l ftV living by selling wood and herbs, and he [/ , was despised by all, as the poor generally JfMV are. WWJ? The younger, on the contrary, was the ‘-'Mjit''-- ’ possessor of a beautiful fortune, but he did not trouble himself about his older brother. One day he gave a grand dinner to which he invited all his rich neighbours. It never entered his head to invite the poor woodcutter. The poor man sadly remarked to his wife, who cried angrily : , ‘ It is much better to die than to submit to such insults. ‘ That is true,’ replied the woodcutter ; ‘ well, I will die.’ He took an axe and a rope and went over the mountain into the forest to a stream where lions and tigeis came to drink. He walked to the source of this stream. There were assembled a troupe of wieked fairies called Dakinis. They were dancing and singing to the sounds of lively music. One of them rushed to a cavity in a rock and threw out a bag, which he brought to his companions, and, striking it with a hammer, he caused all kinds of food and drink to come from this bag. The Dakinis, having danced enough, began to eat and drink, and the inexhaustible bag kept'furnishing them with new meats and new liquors, and finally with jewels, gold and silver bracelets, necklaces and diadems. ' The Dakinis arrayed themselves in all this finery, and the bag and the hammer were put back into the rock. The woodcutter, concealed behind some low bushes, had seen all. When the fairies had departed he cut down some trees with his axe, tied them together with his rope, and made a sort of ladder, by means of which he mounted to the cavity in the rock. He carefully drew out the two secreted instruments and did what he had seen the Dakinis do. Out of the bag came a savoury dinner, which he ate with the greatest relish. Instead of hanging himself, as he had intended, ha returned joyfully home. ‘ Rejoice, my dear,’ he cried to his wife. ‘ Hencefoith we can live like lords,’ and he began to pound the bag with his hammer, and, according to the wish he expressed, the bag produced meats, garments and furniture. From that day he lenounced his wretched employment, and lived in ease and comfort. His neighbours saw this change in his mode of living with surprise. His brother's wife, who was a wicked woman, was almost dead with rage. One day she said to her husbend : * How is it that your brother, who was so poor, has suddenly become so rich’ He certainly must have stolen part of our fortune.’ The avaricious brother was so irritated that he hastened to the woodcutter’s house ami said to him severely : ‘ I wish to know whence your sudden fortune conies ?’ And seeing that the woodcutter hesitated to reply, he added : ‘ I am going to have you summoned before the Cadi, who will have youi eyes torn out.’ ‘No, no!’ cried the honest woodcutter, ‘I have stolen nothing. Look at this bug and this hammer—they arc my fortune.’ ‘ And how can these villainous-looking things be a fort line ?’ The woodcutter then told his brother all that had happened to him. The avaricious man at once took an axe and a rope and set oil'for the forest. On reaching the indicated spot he saw a number of Dakinis gathered about a high rock, howling ami groaning. He drew nearer to see how he might carry away some fairy utensil. One of the Dakinis discoveied him, and cried : ‘Ah there is the wretch who stole our bag and hammer. Let ns kill him '* At these words all the Dakinis precipitated themselves upon the unfortunate man like birds of prey. ‘ How shall we punish him ?’ cried one of them, seizing him by the hair. ‘ Take him,’ replied one of his companions, ’ to the top of the rock and throw him down.’ ‘ No, let us toss him into the water.’ ‘ No, we will cut him in little pieces and throw him to the dogs.’ But another said : ‘ All these punishments will be too short. We must inflict one that will last him all his life, and which will prevent his ever daring to show himself to anyone.’ ‘ What, then’!’ • If you wish, I will give him a nose twenty feet long and tied up in great knots. The man will be so hideous and so mortified that he will only think of concealing himself from the eyes of nil.’

This was done, and the Dakinis departed with shouts of ferocious laughter. The unhappy miser, feeling his deformity, did not dare to return to Ids home. When night came, he wandered forth, trembling with terror, and in despair at his hideous burden. On reaching home he cried out to his wife : ‘ Woe is me ! Do not flee on seeing me ! My face is sadly changed. I am, however, your husband. But I cannot long endure this misfortune. In a few days I shall die.’ He shut himself up in a loom in the back part of the house, not wishing to see anyone, and when the neighbours came to ask him if he was sick, he cried : ‘Ah woe is me ! Woe is me !’ And he concealed himself. Near the village dwelt a venerable lama. The wretched man sent for him to ask his blessing before dying, and he hoped that he could keep his face turned away from him, so that he would not see his deformity. ‘ Turn this way,’ said the holy man. ‘ I must see your face.’ ‘ No. no !’ cried the unfortunate man. The lama insisted, and at length he turned his face toward him. The old man fled, uttering a cry of horror. The miser begged him to return, promising him rich presents. He told him his story and asked if he could not find a means of delivering him from his deformity. ‘ I must consult my books,’ replied the lama. ‘ I will return to-morrow.’ ‘Do not fail to return,’said the poor man, ‘for if you cannot help me I have made up my mind to die.’ The next day the lama appeared again. ‘ I have found a remedy, and there is no other,’ he said. ‘ To restore your face to its proper form I must have your brother’s bag and hammer. ’ The miser, recalling his cruel conduct to his brother, declared that he could ask nothing of him. But his wife said that she had no scruples on that point. Shewent boldly to the woodcutter, whom she had looked upon with such cold disdain when he was poor, and begged him to lend her the two precious articles. He could not, however, confide his treasure to this greedy woman, but. he went himself to his brother’s bedside, and asked how he could be useful to him. ‘ Look,’ said his brother, showing his horrible deformity. ‘ that is what I obtained from the Dakinis. If, with your bag and hammer, you can rid me of this monstrosity, I will give you half my fortune.’ ‘ Agreed, but I want a promise in writing.’ The agreement was drawn up in legal terms and signed.. The brother set to work, and with the fairy hammer he beat off, successively, eight knots from the nose. He was about to knock off the ninth, when the wife cried : ‘ Stop ! My husband can keep that knot.’ She thought that the agreement would be of no account if one knot was left by the brother, and she hoped to demolish this last knot herself, and to save the money, which she could not bear to part with. As the brother left the house she slipped behind him and seized the hammer ami ran back with it. He pursued her and tried to retake it. But she reached the house before him and shut the door in his face and rejoined her busband with the fairy instrument. ‘ Now to w'ork,’ she said. ‘ You shall be cured and we shall have to pay nothing.’ But she did not know that it was necessary to use the magic hammer with the greatest precaution. She took it in her powerful hand and struck such a blow’ upon her husband's head that she split it open. So the sick man died, and according to law, all his property went to his brother.