week 6 story: the death of four brothers

After our father died, my three brothers and I went through a lot. We lost the house and any money my dad had left. Our parents were dead and we didn’t have anything. So, we decided to head south to a small town called Sacrifice where our grandfather lived. It’s about 400-something miles from where we were. We hadn’t seen grandfather in many years, but I thought now’s the time to reconnect. And well, we needed a place to stay.

When we got there, we were devastated to learn he had passed. But my uncles, on our mom’s side, took us in. As long as we focused on our academics and were behaved they would let us stay. They didn’t have much money either, but at least we had food and a bed to sleep in. Over time though, things changed. They were mean drunks--always making us do things for them. The house was always a mess and we’d end up cleaning up after them. On top of concentrating on our studies. We felt discouraged. Stuck.

One day, I was walking alone in the woods, feeling really discouraged. I had no money. I was struggling with my academics. I didn’t want to stay with my uncles any longer. I was going to kill myself. I’d be happier and free from my sufferings. I went to find some rope so that I could hang myself from a tree. I ran back to the shed at the house, found one, and quickly made a noose. I was hurrying back to the words when I ran into my little brothers. Oh, my brothers, I remembered.

“What’s that in your hands?” the second oldest, Beau, intrusively asked as he nodded towards the rope.

Before I could even explain, the second youngest of us four, Liam, yanked it out of my hands. “It’s a noose!” I felt a little ashamed. I was drowning in my own sorrows, I didn’t even think about them.
“What makes my big brother, Noah, want to end his life?” Theo, the youngest, asked weepingly.

I couldn’t lie to them, my baby brothers. I told them of my sorrows and the shame I felt for not having money. “Noah, you are a smart man,” Theo consoled. “Money isn’t everything. It doesn’t always equal happiness. In fact, money can create things that cause sorrow. Seeking virtue is what will bring happiness.”

Somehow, my brother’s words encouraged me. My attitude changed instantly. “What virtue should we seek to acquire?” I asked. We discussed for several minutes and decided each of us would learn some knowledge of science. We were going to go in four different directions on Earth, then reunite back in the woods to present what we discovered.

When we all got back to the woods, I asked my brothers what they learned. “I have discovered a science of putting the proper flesh on the skeleton of any body,” Theo announced.
Then, Liam stated next, “I have discovered a science by which I can put the proper hair and skin on the flesh of a skeleton.”

“I have discovered a science by which I can put eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and internal organs to a flesh-covered skeleton with hair and skin,” Beau reported.
Then I told them, “The science I learned is that when the vital organs are ready, I can give life to this being.”

So, we put our new knowledge and skill to the test. Theo found deep in the woods the remains of a large skeleton, unaware of the creature the skeleton was once housed in. He added flesh to the bones. Liam dressed the flesh-covered skeleton with skin and hair. After that, Beau supported this creation with organs. Lastly, I delivered a breath of life to this creature.
It was a mistake.

The thing we created; that I gave life to was a lion. My brothers and I screamed and ran off in horror. We had split up in different directions; we couldn’t help each other. The lion was ferocious with its sharp teeth, hefty body, and nasty roar. No one could survive this lion. Yet, as I escaped the lion’s rage and watched from afar, the lion tore my three brothers’ bodies to pieces and devoured them before he departed deep into the woods.

“Anyway, so that’s my story,” Noah cried as he told one of the townsmen he’d just met. “I can’t stop thinking about that day. I should’ve known. I feel awfully guilty for my brothers’ killings. The day my brothers died, I died, too.” 

Ferocious lion. Web Source: flickr

Author's Note: I adapted this story from "The Four Brothers" of the Twenty-Two Goblins story translated by Arthur W. Ryder. I wanted to create a story that was modernized while keeping most of the original story's elements. My story is also told from the eldest brother's point of view rather than the third-person narration. In the original story, at the end the king tells the goblin that the eldest out of the four brothers should be considered the most blamed/guilty for the murders of these boys because he gave life to a creature that he recognized was a lion. So I kept him alive in my story (they all die in the original). The eldest brother feels responsible for his role in creating the lion that kills his brothers and he has to live with that guilt.