Then the angel started to leave. He gave a gentle leap off the flower bed and floated in the air. But before he went up farther in the skies, he looked down and asked the woman one last time, “Tell me woman, which one shall I grant you, a garland or a bouquet?” The woman gave the same answer without brooding much over the repeated questions. The angel lastly said, “So be it then as your heart desires! The bouquet shall you be granted. She shall unite seven heads and hearts to resolve differences and raise seven happy days. From the last of her creation shall mental and corporal rapport be built between man and god!”

  Lilium didn’t bother what the angel meant. She was too absorbed and carried away with the excitement of having a daughter who would comfort her and help her shed no more tears.

  6

  Seraphie

  “Open up mother, here we come,” there was a knock on the door. Still engrossed in the dream, Lilium went towards the door and when she opened, a group of boys stood before her with hands behind their back. She was rubbing her eyes when suddenly these little brats pelted cow’s excrement on her face and ran away.

  Few months later after bearing all the brutes and insults, she gave birth to a lovely baby-girl through the effort of her own labor. She named her Seraphie, for she was conceived of an angel. Seraphie grew up into a fine looking, adorable young girl whose beauty cannot be described by any form of human or animal language. Her magical gaze could change the mind and attitude of a person. There was love and admiration in her voice. Her eyes were an appeal to every passer-by. No one could withhold himself or herself from her concern. Her birth brought about calmness in the whole village. Lilium was no more ridiculed by the grown-ups or poked fun at by the children but regarded as a blessed lady whom the gods had shown favor. Even the goddesses and the fairies and the angels too, admired Seraphie’s beauty with jealous eyes for even they could not make over themselves into such a supernatural looking beauty.

  Apart from her adorable look, Seraphie was always ready to lend a hand to her mother in many ways. The mother-daughter friendship was an inspiration to all. She learnt how to speak accurately when she was barely two years old. She would greet and talk to every person walking by. She would watch her mother executing the household chores. She would keenly watch her tendering the plants in the garden. When she was five years old, she was able to substitute her mother in all the work. She could even perform elaborate actions and activities, much to the delight of her mother.

  That was not the end. Seraphie could put the letters together and read them well though nobody in fact had given her any form of education. She would say to her mother that her father taught her many things in her sleep and that he would one day come to take her. Her mother knew it all. She prayed in silence that Seraphie should not be taken away from her as long as she was alive on the earth. She was also worried on the other hand that her daughter would be measured as extraordinary and might be watched upon by people with jealousy.

  But Seraphie knew the heart of her mother. She did not do anything that would astonish a man so much so that he began to figure out her origin. She was tactful with every situation that came. For instance, she did not grow faster than any ordinary child or she did not say that she could float in the air or live without food or that she knew what people had in their mind. She behaved only like a gifted child, who was simply adorable and endearing.

  Seraphie was also hospitable and responsive to all. There was not a person she didn’t like or otherwise in her circle of amity. That made her unique from all others who were picky about friends and people around them. She would never try to break up from any group of friends but she would try to build a stronger bond of connection among them by her fine understanding of reconciliation. She was not spoiled by praise or not deterred by criticism though nobody obviously ever did criticize her. She was never seen down in the dumps. She was always willing to take troubles and help others.

  This child was just far too ideal in every way of life. She was a wonderful child sent from Heaven to live amongst the people, influencing them in good conduct. She respected every individual whether young or old. Her golly had an impact on the entire people of her village. News about her spread even beyond the village. Her story was told by all and sundry to one and all.

  When she came of age and her standing boomed, many came up to ask for her hand. But she would smile and bashfully run off.

  One year on one occasion, she willingly expressed her desire to marry not just one man but a man each from all seven territories of the land. This startling and shocking statement made her mother Lilium apprehensive. She tried to reason with her in private by telling her that her statement would enrage the people as it was against the old practice and the breach of the tradition which nobody was allowed to disrupt. How could a woman possibly marry seven men? That thing had never once taken place in all the past or the present.

  But in her modesty and humility, she said that old traditions were to be altered for good. She said that it was her mission to astound the world by the act of sharing her warmth and breath with one and all. And she could disprove the philosophy of selfishness and monotony in life only by marrying a man from every kingdom to enrich the value of the whole landform through her inspirations. She had to trim every garden and water every plant. If she failed to do that, she wouldn’t have fulfilled the purpose of her existence. “You chose me to do this,” she said to her mother as if reminding her mother of something she had been forgetting.

  Lilium then recollected and remembered what the angel had said in her dream, “So be it then as your heart desires! The bouquet shall you be granted. She shall unite seven heads and hearts to resolve differences and raise seven happy days…!” ‘…unite seven heads and hearts, what did it mean?’ she said to herself. ‘…unite seven heads and hearts − marry seven men and unite them physically and emotionally; that’s it,’ she thought, though the conjecture was not quite conclusive.

  Seraphie’s popularity spread far and wide and fast like wildfire. Proud and overconfident rich merchants and brokers came with gifts that could attract every soul. Princes and noble blood asked for her hand with pledge and promises to treat her with the comfort of heaven. But she affirmed that she would become the wife of seven noblest men from seven kingdoms who had the purest hearts of selfless gentlemen who would be willing to enjoy and share her warmth, from whom she would carry and bear a child each.

  So, when she was 18 years old, she knew a man of her choice from one of the seven kingdoms and gave birth to a son on the first day of the week. She called her Peres. She let her mother nurse the child and then knew one man again from another kingdom through whom she gave birth to her second son named Zerasen on the second day of the week. After a year she gave birth to yet another son on the third day of the week from yet another man of another kingdom and she called him Hesron.

  In this way she married three other men from another three kingdoms of the continent. Lastly she married a man from her home kingdom and in total, she had tied the knot with seven men from seven different kingdoms who understood and accepted the terms and conditions of marrying her. She gave birth to a son from each of her seven husbands.

  7

  The Seven Sisters’ Trap

  The names of the sons born to Seraphie from her husbands in chronological order were: Peres, Zerasen, Hesron, Nashom, Salomon, Asa and Jothamus, the youngest. Peres was born on the first day of the week; Zerasen on the second day of the week; Hesron on the third day and so on till the seventh son Jothamus who was born on the last day of the week, all in the exact corresponding order of the days of the week. No wonder the angel in the garden said, “So be it then as your heart desires! The bouquet shall you be granted. She shall unite seven heads and hearts to resolve differences and raise seven happy days….” The angel assuredly meant that Lilium would be given a girl according to her heart’s desire and that the girl would marry seven men and give birth to seven boys born on seven different days of the week!

  The boys were all born healthy and appealing to the eyes. When they were small, they were all in the charge of Lilium, their grandmother who herself had given birth to, and took care of two less than ten sons and a daughter.

  Seraphie’s husbands were men of valor and know-how, who came from noble families and who, according to her prudent judgment, had the noblest heart. They brought their wealth and luxuries to the village from their kingdoms and jointly built a giant castle where there were separate chambers for each of them. They would often go away long and then come back with riches to the family and merchandise to the village. They set up different establishments in the village which caught people’s interest. Together with the wisdom of their beautiful wife, they changed the village’s old tradition into a more orthodox administrative system and helped the people come to the mainstream.

  The village was in fact changing into a small town. People from different walks of life and from different directions started visiting the village-town, some to see the rapid growth taking place in the village while many others to see the splendor of the lady who had married and was living with seven men. Soon it got the awareness of the king of the land who also came to visit the place.

  Pleased with the advancement taking place at the little-known village, the king expressed his wish to name it as one of his potential provinces. And so the village which was then frequented by many and visited by tourists and trades people was named by the king’s council, ‘Cherub Province’. Seraphie, who was then known as ‘Mother of Seven Days’ was also accredited ‘The Continent’s Concubine’. Her seventh husband who was also a noble born from the home kingdom became the mayor of the province.

  The seven sons of Seraphie who were born of different fathers grew up strong, vigorous and bold in Cherub Province. They treasured one another very much. In fact, there had been no record of such an alliance even among any brothers of the same parents like the closeness among these half-brothers. Polo, which was a game played by the gods in the mythological period, and hunting were their most favorite games among many others.

  One day, when the youngest brother Jothamus was 15 years old, he was, as a birthday surprise, taken along for hunting in the jungles. Jothamus was excited to be finally allowed to join his brothers in jungle exploration. The jungle was covered with dense vegetation dominated by wild flora. It was a less civilized and unruly space but he was thrilled to be outside the control of the rapid civilization taking place at home.

  The sun had been at its highest point but Jothamus’ first hunting day brought no luck for the hunters. They hadn’t had any game or quarry yet coming along their way. They had imagined a big one – a deer, a boar or even a ferocious bear! But not a mouse squeaked or a bird flew by. Everything was calm and a chilly gust of wind blew on. Jothamus began to feel the loneliness of the jungle but he was not afraid for he felt secured with his brave elder brothers around.

  With no sign of any luck even at the approach of evening, they decided to go back lest it should be too late for them to return. Late? Yes, late they were and also lost and hungry!

  In the early part of that year, an old prophetess from their province who had lived three hundred years, had cautioned just before her last breath, that it was a forbidden year for anyone to venture out far into the woods as it was the devil’s year of hunting. The forecaster narrated that the moon would turn blood red in another ten years’ time as a result of the battle between Heaven and Hades which was fought every hundredth year. “When the moon gets red the devils rejoice,” she recounted. “And a decade before the event, they stalked about in human territory to lay traps and ensnare flimsy people to bring up for the big events.”

  It was told that during that time Uglyface, the greedy fulfiller of curses and king of the devils, would go rummaging around to ploy human beings which he would conserve till the rare occurrence. On the night when the moon would be blood red and full, he would sacrifice life forms and drink pure lifeblood to his fill to boost his immortality and to strengthen his kinds by invoking the blessing of his originator - the king of Hades. “This,” said the dying prophetess “is the devils’ greatest festivity commemorated every hundredth year.” She said that there would be feasting and sporting events of all immortal spirits for seven days following the day of the blood moon. All male subjects would compete for the hands of the king’s daughters who were believed to be the most attractive immortals in the kingdom beyond this world.

  But the prophetess’ mythical story was like nothing more than droplets of water falling on yam leaf. The gutsy, haughty and unafraid brothers, born of different heads and same body, thought nothing would match their combined strength, not even the devil. And they knew the jungles better than anybody in the entire kingdom. But now they were there, lost in their own jungle.

  It was dusk but they still couldn’t find their way home. They found themselves coming back to the same spot again and again even after moving away from it many times. The moon rose and it was shining in its full bloom. They decided to spend the night under the moonlight in the jungle and find their way on the next day. After all, for them it was fun. They ate wild apples which tasted good when no food was served. The bushy ground was spongy enough and dry leaves were a good substitute in the absence of woollen covers and quills.

  Jothamus, now fifteen, had his first wet dream that night in the forest. A girl rubbed him gently and he was at the climax when he came out even before a stroke. He awoke at midnight feeling awkward, thinking his brothers might have seen him tossing in his dream but he found that they were fast asleep. The fire had almost doused and the horses were occasionally wagging their tails. He went back to sleep.

  At first light, he had one more dream of the same kind. A beautiful lass at the door smiled at him. He knew not whether to smile back or not to. The lass came in and gently pushed him onto the couch. He could feel the delight of her soft kiss on his lips. It gave him a hard-on and once again he came out just by a pressure over his body. Then he woke after the peak of pleasure and found his horse standing next to him and almost stamping him on his dick and licking him on the face. His brothers were up and ready. This time they had really seen him reacting in his dream. “An erotic nightmare eh! Kissed by a girl when your horse licks you awake,” said Peres and they all had a good laugh.

  As the lost brothers roved through the forest to find their way back the next day, they were suddenly greeted by a tusked wild boar which, as quickly as it appeared, banished into a thicket of bushes. In their quest to kill at least an animal so that they did not face the embarrassment of coming home empty handed, they waded through a thicket of spiky bushes. And in their ignorance, they didn’t know that the thicket they were wading through in search of the animal that suddenly appeared and disappeared was the so-called ‘yellow river’, the border that separated the hidden world of the immortals from the living world which was once traversed by their eight uncles in the past leading to their death.

  When the seven brothers crossed the perceptibly thorny but virtually safe undergrowth, they were overwhelmed as they were hailed by what they couldn’t resist. The boar was gone astray but a bevy of seven ladies in their age groups, perhaps sisters, were humming and gathering wild flowers.

  There was music in the air soothing and comforting to the ears. The hunters dismounted; all of them stood still and watched; almost forgetting that they were lost and not realizing that they had already been trapped in a kingdom beyond their kingdom.

  One of the girls turned and saw them. She winked at the rest and they all turned and came forward hypnotizing all the brothers with their enchanted attractiveness, each girl claiming each brother for her husband; the eldest woman claiming the eldest brother and so on till the youngest woman, who claimed the youngest brother Jothamus as hers. The brothers followed in silence, in submission to the bevy’s invitation, all thinking that they had not seen such good looks before. Jothamus however, was only partially hypnotized and he thought something was not quite right.

  At a distant not far, a king, looking out of the window, was watching through his telescopic eyes, his faithful daughters returning home, each with a live and healthy human. They were sent on a mission to catch pure lifeblood for him.

  Soon these brothers of the same mother and different fathers found themselves in a new strange world where they began to live as husbands of seven sisters who were daughters of the same father but different mothers.

  There at home they were considered as lost but here they were treated as the king’s own sons and the subjects of the king addressed them with regard. The king himself was superficially kind and the princesses served them with food and drinks that made them healthier each day.

  8

  Jothamus and Ajubel

  The seven brothers didn’t know for how long they had continued their stay in the unknown land. They didn’t know that they were growing fatter each day. They didn’t know that they had been drugged with pretentious care. They didn’t realize that they were lured by black magic. All that they knew was that they were content and at ease.

  All but Jothamus, was getting stout and strong. Only Jothamus had been half-awake all this time; semi-strong-minded to unearth the mystery of this land. He was anxious and nervous. It was only he and none of his brothers, who knew that they were in a strange and unnatural land. He knew that he had to do something quickly to escape from there. So to get himself fully awake and to find a break out from there, he planned to draw special attention from his so-named wife, the king’s youngest daughter. He refused to eat or drink whatever was served and forced himself to become slight and skinny.