The Boy Called No-Wit

“The Boy Called No-Wit”  Retold by Navin

Once upon a time, a man, woman, and their three sons lived in a forest by the sea. One day, the man died. He did not have many material possessions on the Earth, so the widow and her three sons were very poor. In order to survive, the boys had to go far into the forest to hunt. The two elder brothers never allowed their younger sibling to accompany them into the forest and always called him No-Wit. Everyone laughed at the youngest brother because of all the foolish mistakes he made, and all the people in the village thought of him as a simpleton because of his slow ways. However, his mother always said that he would one day prove to be the most intelligent of them all. It so happened that the chief of the village had a beautiful daughter. He said that when she was of age to marry, the man with the most prowess in hunting would win her hand. All the youths in the village practiced hunting and went on expeditions to become better hunters. The two elder brothers, who were preparing to set out on a hunting expedition, were dismayed when their mother commanded them to bring their younger brother along. Grumbling, they called him and went into the forest. Now,  the two elder brothers were the best hunters in the village, but the youngest, who everyone called No-Wit, had no such skill. While his brothers caught many animals, he only found an earthworm. Everyone made fun of him, but he thought that the earthworm was a great curiosity. It was the fattest and longest he had ever seen! He returned home, and while all the other boys in the village were hunting, he sat alone in his backyard playing with his worm. One day, a Duck came down the road and swallowed the earthworm. The furious boy went to the owner of the Duck and demanded that his earthworm be returned. The startled man said that as the earthworm was in the Duck’s belly, there was nothing he could do about it. The boy asked for the Duck, and the man, thinking it was useless to argue with a fool, gave it to him. The boy left the Duck in the backyard and went into his house. A lean Fox came along and, spying the Duck, swallowed it whole. The boy, who was furious at losing his Duck and his earthworm, clubbed the Fox and left it unconscious in the backyard. Lastly, a Wolf, thinking he had found a free meal, ate the Fox. In an outrage, the boy ran out of his hut and shot the Wolf with an arrow. Then he thought to himself, “I am a lucky fellow, for now I have a wolf, fox, duck, and earthworm!” He made a drum out of the skin of the wolf and spent his days playing it. At last, the day came when the Chief would choose his daughter’s husband. All the youths in the village except the boy called No-Wit were invited. The Chief asked the boy to borrow his drum, the only instrument in the village, for the ceremonies. The boy said, “All right, but be very careful with it, as it contains my wolf, fox, duck, and earthworm.” The Chief had no clue what the boy meant, but he agreed to be careful and left. Later, he banged the drum a little too hard, and it ripped beyond repair. The Chief brought back the ruined drum. The boy was  grief stricken, but the Chief said that he could have anything he wanted because he had lost his drum. The boy, seeing a chance for good fortune, requested the hand of the Chief’s daughter. The Chief had given his word, so the boy was married to his daughter, and they lived happily ever after. The two elder brothers and all the youths in the village were stunned, as No-Wit had, in their mind, stolen their bride! But the boy’s mother only laughed and said, “I told you the boy would prove himself more intelligent than you, and now he has done it!”