The other brothers and family members hearing the fall-out, interrupted and questioned the reason for the brawl. There had never been a fight in this big family. There had never been a misunderstanding. The province itself had been known for its peaceable nature ever since Seraphie came into existence. People had not realized it but that was the truth. There had in fact, never been any feud either in the family or even in the whole Cherub Province. And what people still did not realize also was that Seraphie was no ordinary. For them Seraphie was a daughter whose birth was due to her mother’s unfaithful conduct and whose father they still didn’t know.

  There had been no bad blood at all in this no-ordinary family which was managed by heaven’s daughter but that day there was it. It was between the last two brothers, Asa and Jothamus.

  Asa, in his anger for being faced up to, and in his guilt for being the cause of the fight, spilled the beans when he said to Jothamus in front of all, “Why should you make a fuss in the family because of that weird woman you have brought from the world of the devil? It’s gone for good. Do not howl over it as if it were your soul that I had caused to go away.”

  The others didn’t understand much as to what Asa meant but their grandmother Lilium, whom the angel had copulated with, started to recollect and understand what was said in the garden of her dream. She was asked three straight times to choose between a garland and a bouquet. She asked for a bouquet and the angel finally granted her what she wished and 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!”

  The angel in the garden was saying – so then you will have a girl according to your heart’s desire. The baby girl when full-grown shall marry seven men of capability to bring peace and justice and that she shall give birth to seven sons born on seven different days. The angel then mentioned that a strong relation would be built between man and god through her last son.

  Every bit of Lilium’s dream was now being construed. A strong mental and physical relationship had been built between Jothamus, the seventh and last of Seraphie’s sons and Ajubel, the seventh daughter of Uglyface, the king of the veiled world population of gods and goddesses.

  Lilium began to understand clearly why the angel had asked her three times the same question repeatedly. She had chosen a girl instead of a boy!

  The Heavens probably wanted to give her another son but she had had enough sons she thought. She did not want another son to go on a futile attempt to avenge her husband who died as a result of his own curse in the jaws of Uglyface. Her wish to have a girl was granted. She had given birth to a daughter whose beauty never was and never again would be comparable to anything in the entire creation. The birth of a daughter that brought about scores of unprecedented changes; the birth of her that deceived the old traditions and the birth that was accountable for spreading harmony on the land. Nothing could be greater than having been blessed with an extraordinary daughter of unmatched charm who brought together and unified seven noble men from seven different empires by her strong belief in polyandry and manifold marriage.

  And whenever he was tired, he would go to his room, close the door from behind and play the musical instrument at which the figure of his princess appeared and dance before him.

  But what would have been the outcome had she chosen for a boy instead? Perhaps things would have been so different. The boy would have grown as a champion; fine-looking, strong and daring. He would have been the title holder in every event that was competed those days – pinnacle jump, stretched jump, stone throw, spike throw, rope climbing, mountain race, hunting and most imperative to mention - winning the hearts of women. A man’s popularity was those days based on the number of women he got laid with. Perhaps he would have been that popular guy who always got girls melted. And perhaps he would have been the one who would be able to avenge the death of his father and brothers and thus bring an end of Uglyface and his deceitful tricks.

  Yes, it should have been very unlike the present. But why think of that now? Regretting about her choice of a girl over a boy would mean that Seraphie was an unwelcome and unloved child. But once again she realized how much she loved her daughter. She was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened in her life. How could she then regret having chosen her over a son? Whatever the consequences might be, it was her fate and she was destined to endure everything, be it pain and sorrow or joy and amusement.

  For the third time in her dream that night, Lilium found herself again in the same flower garden where she had been two times many years ago. She looked around hoping to find a companion like before but, not a soul was there. As she drifted round the garden smelling the fragrance of those smiling flowers, she heard a choir singing choruses.

  When she looked up, a host of angels in the air beckoned her. She was soon floating like them in the middle of the circle formed by the choir of angels. Higher and higher they went till the pearly gates. When she looked down on the earth, she did not see the garden but instead she saw her body, now loathsome to her eyes, lying unmoved on her bed. She did not want to use that body anymore.

  The gatekeeper of the pearly gates opened a gate for her and when she proceeded into a huge mansion made of pure gold, a king was seated on the throne on whose both sides were also sitting, elders who were many many years old. They looked like men of 30 to 33 years of age but she knew by certain wisdom that they were elders who had lived on the earth and died thousands of years ago.

  The king’s face was far from view. Then a voice was heard from inside, “Thou art blessed for thy strength, woman of the soil. Thou hast lived a worthy life of endurance on earth. But thy three times lack of faith in thy creator (Lilium’s three times refusal to have another son) has earned thee a place three levels lower from the glory of this throne where I, the omnipotent, am seated. Rest now for thou hast done thy task on earth and have earned thy reward of eternal reunion with thy husband and children.”

  And in this manner, the belief system of the people on earth was proved wrong. The creator never did ignore righteous people. Though they were separated by the curse of the earth, Ahisamak and Lilium were finally reunited in spirit.

  Everything was calm and quiet in the morning of the following day after the feud between the two younger brothers. But the grandmother was not seen feeding the doves as usual. The door was secured from inside and she was not responding to the call. They force opened it and there they found her, smiling on her bed, unmoved and still. She was gone. Her prayers were answered. Her dear Seraphie was still with her till her last breath.

  Unknown to the people, Lilium was amalgamated with her husband and children in the spiritual realm which contradicted their belief that Ahisamak had suffered the second death of eternal damnation.

  10

  Seraphie’s Fortieth Birthday

  Just a fortnight after her mother’s painless death, akin to the nature of her birth and mystifying to people’s conviction, the private rest room of the Continent’s Concubine was also found closed from inside even after her usual rise time. When the sons pushed the door open and looked for her behind the curtain which was hung halfway across the room, there she was! Nay! She wasn’t there! neither dead nor alive! Where had she gone?

  It was strange but true; Seraphie was found gone! The quilt, the gown that she wore and everything that enclosed her body were all on her bed in the shape and position of a person lying on the bed. It appeared as though her bodily flesh simply melted and evaporated. The windows were closed from inside. There was no other exit from the room except the small holes of ventilations above the windows. Had she vanished and disappeared like vapor through the tiny holes? It remained a mystery. Only her sons knew without doubt that, that was exactly what really had happened.

  The previous evening, she had gathered them together into her private chamber, calling each of them by name, telling them they were special people, each gifted with amazing abilities. She asked them all to write on a sheet of primeval page what they wanted to achieve most in their life. They wrote and she could, without looking, tell exactly what they had written and that only six of them had done so. “You are my progenies. A mother grants what her progenies wish for. Your dreams shall be fulfilled to the fullest without impediments” she said. And then turning to Jothamus she smiled and continued, “I know you have not written anything on that page but it is there written in your heart. So shall it happen to what your heart is steadfastly inclined, for that is the will of my father”

  She then asked them to escort her to the big dining hall where she had asked the maids to arrange a family party. At the table which was lavishly laid, she said that it was her Ruby Birth Anniversary, her fortieth year on earth.

  When they were all seated, she said a prayer giving thanks to the creator and provider of all provisions and also remembering their grandmother wishing that her soul might rest in peace.

  That was the last evening they spent with their mother. She was in the end, an angel indeed, sent from heaven. An angel who had been born of a widow to help her in distress; she was an angel who had lived on with the people for forty years and they didn’t even realize it. And now she was gone and they missed her as much as they would have missed heaven itself. Her husbands who were away on business had failed to return on the fateful day. They had always remembered their wife’s birthday in the past and would come home all together with costly gifts for majestic paties. But this time they had simply forgotten the day. Perhaps everything was just planned.

  News of the mysterious disappearance of Seraphie spread fast and reached as far as the news of her beauty and personality had reached. The husbands who had favorably been part of her precious life came home to pay their last reverence to their beloved wife. They erected life-size carved figures of Seraphie and her mother Lilium side by side in the courtyard of the castle for people to see and remember in their hearts that once these two great mothers had lived with them to teach them the dignity of life.

  Having paid their respect and erected the memorials, the husbands then returned to their respective kingdoms taking along with them their own sons whom Seraphie had loved and nurtured. The castle in which they had shared the warmth and breath of the angel was left for Jothamus and his father, the mayor, to look after since they belonged there. Seraphie’s purpose of life was consequently fulfilled. The spirit of love and communal understanding, the wisdom and tolerance of heaven, the hearts of forgiveness of one another and the hope of a renewed generation were spread to different parts of the world through her sons who were born of her heavenly origin and separated to settle at different directions of the earth with their fathers after inheriting the greater part of her saintly characteristics.

  11

  The Magic Whip

  All, including Jothamus’s wish, was to be fulfilled. While all his uterine siblings were attaining their mother’s stature and blessing at different parts of the world, this little brother’s wish was yet to be attained. He was not considering it easy to give up on his love. The garden prophecy had to be fulfilled nevertheless.

  Jothamus went back to the land where Ajubel belonged and found her being prepared to be presented to a competent suitor who would please her father by qualifying in the test to be conducted during the great sporting events in commemoration of the ninety ninth blood moon occurrence.

  Uglyface feared just one thing - that his seventh daughter who was born of a mortal woman might marry a human if she was not given away to someone of his kind. But he wanted to be sure that his son-in-law was worthy and able. So he integrated this item as a special extra feature of the competition for the awaited day. Invitations were sent afar.

  When Jothamus met Ajubel and asked her to give him one more chance, she was hesitant at first. But the thought of helping a man whose class her mother was, made her change her mind. She thought for a while and made another instrument from the right side of her underbodice and a hair from the centre-most peak of her head and said, “Take this and go back. Stay away from your people and live a life of a hermit in rumination for forty days and nights from now. Use the instrument wisely and entertain your guests with it. Your food will simply come by itself. Come back after forty days for that is when the battle will exactly take place in heaven and the moon will get blood-red. You shall then prove your worth in the competition and be able to win my hand. Use the instrument erroneously again and you shall lose everything.” So saying and giving him the apex of satiation and then kissing him hard, she tossed Jothamus once again in the air, took a devilishly deep breath and blew him out of her apartment and away upon a bizarre safe ground.

  Jothamus found himself somewhere he couldn’t identify with. There was an aberrant farmhouse in the middle of the dark woods nearby. He went in and stayed there. It was such a place where no one, even gods, could try to come or visit again after turning one’s back to leave the place. It was also a place where the extraordinaries would come by while on their way to respond to the invitation where the competition for the king’s daughter would be held.

  On the first night in the woods a visitor came to put up in the farm house. But finding that someone had already occupied the shelter, the visitor sought the occupant’s permission to let him in and allow him to spend the night in the house. Jothamus allowed the visitor in, on the condition that he had to bear the expenses of preparing meals for both as long as he stayed. The visitor was pleased by the reception and said that he had enough groceries with him.

  At around midnight after eating, when Jothamus played his instrument, Ajubel’s spirit appeared and danced in the moonlight. The visitor, who was awestruck, kept watching the girl dance until at last he fell asleep.

  Next day when the sun had well risen from the horizon, the stranger got up to leave and said to Jothamus, “Dear friend, I am on my way to the blood moon party and to compete for the king’s most precious daughter. But if I could get what you have, I shall not long even for the king’s daughter. Will you thoughtfully exchange it with me for what I have here in my bag?” “What is it that you have in your bag, my friend?” asked Jothamus. “If it is an atypical thing of immense exercise, I shall gladly have it and part with what is mine, but only after four days from now.” “It is a whip, which is in my bag,” said the stranger, “a magic whip that understands its master and follows his orders. I have enough grains that could last for exactly four days for two people.” “But you are the master and what if your whip refuses to follow my orders?” enquired Jothamus with the least curiosity. The stranger told that the one who possessed the whip became its new master. Unless its master gave it away to someone, it remained his and his forever and a day. Even if thieved or robbed off, it would return to its owner. Jothamus showed a little concern and asked for a demonstration.

  The stranger placed his bag on the ground outside the farmhouse and gave an order that the whip might come out. Something started moving inside the bag and a snake-like creature with a shiny eye in the middle of its head peeped and sprung out of the bag. It had sharp split tails and it floated in the air like a flying serpent. The owner said to it pointing at a tree nearby, “Whip! there! the tree! Harm it!” The whip, like a zigzag, crawled in the air and right ahead towards the tree it went and started thrashing the tree, peeling its bark and leaving the tree trunk almost bare. Jothamus was now fairly convinced but he showed less concern for it than he showed for what Ajubel had given her.

  The stranger went on to stay for a few more days and watch the beautiful girl dance every night. Then on the last day of his stay Jothamus gave away his dearly loved instrument to the stranger and took the bag with the magic whip in it. The stranger thanked him and started to go back to the direction from which he came, thinking he had no need to long for the king’s daughter anymore. He felt like he was the luckiest being on earth. For him the king’s daughter was not worth more than what he had found that day. He would not go and compete for her but instead return home with an instrument that would give him comfort in the company of a beautiful girl, who, he thought, would appear and entertain him every night.

  When the satisfied stranger was just a few steps away, Jothamus ordered the whip, “Whip! Follow the man! Bring back what he has taken!” The flying serpent did exactly as it was told. It came out of the bag and flew over to where the man was treading to go away and started giving him lashes after lashes until he let go of what he was holding in his hand. When the instrument was finally dropped to the ground from the visitor’s hand, the whip picked it up with its tail, tangled round it and flew back to its master. The stranger who was feeling on top of the world a while ago was left cursing himself for being the biggest fool on earth.

  That same day towards the evening, another visitor came seeking shelter in the farmhouse. Jothamus allowed him to stay for the night on the same condition that the visitor should prepare and cook for two people. When the visitor had prepared the meal and was half-way eating, Jothamus joined him. And again, after the meal was taken, he played the one-string instrument to lure his guest. Feeling tired after a long journey and having been totally entertained by the magic dancer, the visitor went to sleep. Jothamus remembered what Ajubel had said, “Your food will simply come by itself.”

  In the morning the traveller, before trying to leave, requested Jothamus to give him the instrument in exchange for what he had in his bag. Jothamus enquired what the bag contained and he was told that it contained a shawl which when put on from one side, the wearer would smell and resemble the gods and when worn from the other side, he would have the look of a different man.