Week 5 Story

The Price of Happiness

Once upon a time there was a man that lived with his second wife and children. The man was not the happiest while living with this woman who seemed to always nag. One day his wife suggested that he make a wager with his son whoever had the most bushels of hay by the end of the day would win the bet. The loser of this bet would lose their head. Both of them agreed and they set out to gather hay. The father ended up picking less bushels than his son did. He sent his son to get water at the watering hole fully intending to add the son’s bushels to his own when out of nowhere appeared a lady. She was incredibly beautiful and said to him that she could take him away and make him happy. The woman had one rule though, he was to tell no one of what happened to him and who she was. The man agreed and left with her without saying a word to his son about it. The man lived very happily for many years starting a family with this strange woman. He later found out that she was not a woman at all and that she was actually a witch. He did not care for he loved her incredibly much and was the happiest he had ever been.

               However, time dragged on and he became bored of his life. He wondered to himself how his family he had abandoned. The man begged his wife if he could go see his other family and children. She felt pity on him and agreed but under the condition that he could tell no one of where he had been and who she was. He nodded in agreement and set out for his old house. Upon arriving he was perplexed for he could not find his son. He met up with his wife in the house. He inquired where his son was, the one he had gathered hay with. She told him that he was dead, and she had his head waiting for them to eat upon his arrival. The man was disgusted asking how his wife could do this and what they were to do with the head. The wife said that she would cook it and they would eat it. The son had to pay the consequences of the bet since he didn’t return. The fathered bowed his head and cried out as the wife prepared dinner. The man thought to himself that this wife was the true witch…. The wife kept pestering him where he had been and who he was with. He constantly shut down her advances for information saying that he couldn’t tell her. She eventually said that if you don’t tell me I will kill the boys and cook them like this. The man knew she was telling the truth and cried out knowing he would be losing the family he loved with his new wife. He told his wife for the sake of his children. The wife smiled as she ate her sons head looking at him. The man heard a loud gush of air that brought the news that he was to never see his wife and children again for he had not kept his promise. He ran to the place where his new wife was and couldn’t find the house nor his family. He knew it was hopeless, he was never to see them again.

               When he returned home, he saw his wife laying on the floor in a pull of her own blood with a bird in the windowsill. He bent down and examined his wife to see that there were razorblades shoved down her throat and that she had choked on her own blood. The other children were laying beside her also dead. The bird in the window whistled a tune and spoke saying the deed was done and the witch was dead along with her minions. The man fell back looking at the bird in amazement for the bird had the voice of his dead son. He realized that the bird was the ghost of his dead son come to haunt him for the rest of his life. The man wept for days not knowing what his future was to bring. For he had lost everything he loved in one fatal swoop.

Authors Notes: I merged two stories together; The Boy WhoBecame a Bulbul and Fayiz and the Peri Wife. In both stories there is a father and son. In Fayiz and the Peri Wife the father runs away with another woman that happens to be a Peri. In my story the man runs away with a witch woman that also makes him incredibly happy. In both my story and the original the man wants to return home to his wife and see his family. In The Boy Who Became a Bulbul there is a bet just like in my story for the head of the loser of the challenge. In the original story the man cheats the son out of winning and he dies. However, in mine the father runs away before the challenge is complete and the son dies anyway because his father doesn’t return. In the original of The Boy Who Became a Bulbul the bird that harbors the spirit of the son uses razors on his mother. In my story I used razor blades to kill the mother and the other children who in my story I made out to be minions of the mother. 

Bibliography:  Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer

 

Witch by Unknown