Tales I May Think Of...

A Fairy tale: Boy Who Feared Loss of Loved One

Once upon a time, in a distant village, there lived a boy. He lived with his sister and parents in a lovely house. Everyone in the family loved one another.

The boy liked fishing and swimming very much. He and his sister would always go to the river to play. They would bath there, splash water on each other and enjoy themselves. Both parents would also feel very happy looking at their children in such Joy.

The family would also go to the nearby hill for picnic. Father would always be the first to reach at the top of the hill followed by the boy. He and his father would then spread the mattress to sit in the shade of apple tree. Mother would pack sandwiches filled with jam which the boy liked and sandwiches filled with peanut butter which his sister liked. Everyone, in the shade of apple tree would eat the lunch and chat.

The boy's Father was a carpenter. So he would mostly be in the garage with logs of wood. One day while making a cupboard father needed some nails and hammer. He had mistakenly left them in his room. Father called the boy and asked him to bring them in garage. The boy, happy to help his father quickly did so.

Another day, in the morning, mother was preparing the lunch for everyone. Then she remembered that the box of salt is empty. She called the boy and asked if he could go to market and buy home some salt. To help his mother, boy went to the market in the village. He there bought half a kilo salt and brought it back home. Mother thanked him and kissed him on his forehead for helping her.

The same day, in the afternoon, his sister was studying in her room. But she couldn't understand it. She asked the boy help. He, being intelligent himself, helped her understand the problems. She also thanked him and promised to come with him to play in the river the next day.

In this way everyone in his family lived happily. But the boy himself couldn't be truly happy. At nights, when his mind would be empty, sad thoughts would start rushing in. He would sometimes whimper to himself. 'what would happen if someone from my family passes away, how would we live then? What if I myself die?' he would think.

The boy didn't know what happens after death and so it would worry him. Those thoughts would come at him every other night and made him suffer dearly. He, then would try to think about other things and somehow sleep.

One day, A tragic accident happened to the boy's Father while returning home and he lost his life. Sky fell down over the once happy family.

For days the boy, his mother and his sister wept over the loss of their father. Mother, now being the head of the family pulled herself together as time passed. She started her own tailoring shop to feed her family. Little sister would also help her mother in the work. Eventually she also got over her father's death.

Only the boy couldn't do so. His worst fears had come true. He didn't know what happened to his father after he died. He started feeling resentment toward his own mother and sister for forgetting their father.

One day he decided. He would somehow find someone who knows what happens to people after they die. He packed his clothes, took the money he had saved and left home to find such a person. He took an oath never to return home until he finds the truth.

In his quest he left his home, his village and even his country. He travelled far and wide.
He would visit churches, temples, mosques and graveyards. He would ask religious and dark people alike. 'Where do people go when they die?'

One such day while travelling, he sat outside a temple. There he asked a man the same question.

" What a strange and mysterious question! Sadly I don't know it's answer." The man said.
" But there lives a very old lady on the outskirts of this village. Many say that she is a witch. But she may know answer to this question." he told the boy.

The man though, warned the boy to be careful and not do anything reckless. The boy decided to go to that old lady and ask her the question.

Far from the village's last house and near the bottom of hill he found the hut where the old lady lived. The atmosphere started getting gloomier as he neared the hut. The air became more stagnant and somewhat fetid.

He knocked on the door made of dried fodder and branches. A frail old lady opened the door. The boy couldn't clearly see her face, but she looked withered and bent. She wore stained and rugged grey gown. In all her appearance her eyes were the most gloomy and pitch black. The boy asked her if he could talk to her. The old lady nodded slowly. Then he told all about what had happened to him and asked the same question he had asked everyone.

"Hmm, where goes the loved one you ask?" She spoke in a rough low deceiving voice.

"They indeed stay here, wander here and there. Some remember, some forget and all wander."

As she spoke somehow the boy felt light in his mind. Someone spoke in his own voice, "she says right. Father also must be wandering, we can't abandon him, we should follow father."

"You speak right" the old lady supported the voice.

The boy with full of doubts, left the hut. But he couldn't leave the voice from the hut. It kept whispering in his ears. "Our father remains lone. He wanders without goal, we can save him. Yes we should follow him and save him."

He endured this voice for weeks. It would haunt him every night in his dreams. One day unable to bear it, he gave himself to the voice.

When the boy did so, he found himself in the river. Under the control of the voice, the boy had jumped in the river from a bridge with stones tied to his feet. It suffocated, water pored in his lungs. He tried to go to the surface but the tied stones stopped him. His consciousness lessened. Then it all stopped.