The Spring of the Vilas

The Spring of the Vilas – Retold by Navin

Once upon a time, there was a rich man. He had a lot of wealth and could buy whatever he wanted. However, he was still a very good man. He had two young sons, and he taught them to help others and to be kind from an early age. The older son paid no heed to his father – he was greedy and dishonest. He bullied his younger brother and was a miser. The younger brother on the other hand, took his father’s teachings to heart. He was known to readily share everything he owned, only spoke kindly, and never stole or cheated. One day, the father died. In his will, he told the brothers to share his wealth equally. The elder brother tore the will and said to himself, “That fool will give alms to every pauper until Father’s estate was completely gone! I shan’t let that happen!”

He told his younger brother, “You are a fool of a dunce and shouldn’t get a penny of the estate! I will give you three gold ducats and a horse, now GET OUT! If you fuss, I won’t even give you this.”

The younger brother peacefully said, “Brother, you are doing wrong.” “So what?!” spat the elder, “Wrong is stronger than right in this world. Leave me!” The younger brother mounted his horse and rode away slowly.

A few years later, the brothers met each other on the highway. “God bless you, my dear Brother!” cried the younger son, overjoyed to see his brother.

“Fool, fool! Don’t god-bless me! Don’t you know that the devil is more powerful than god?!” roared the elder brother. “That is not so,” replied the other. “I wager you a gold ducat that the next person on the road will agree with me,” said the evil brother. The pair continued along and a monk came up to them. When presented with the question, the monk said that the Devil was supreme. The devil had actually come in disguise as the monk, but the brothers did not know, and continued on. After a baker, farmer, and merchant had walked by and given the same answer (all of them were really the disguised devil), the younger brother had lost his three ducats and his horse. “What do you say now?!” yelled the older brother.

“That good is stronger than evil, just as god is stronger than the devil,” came the reply. The incensed older brother shouted and pushed the younger down to the road. He rubbed sand in his eyes, kicked him, and put a pat of mud in his hair. The younger brother sat peacefully in the middle of the road without saying a word of reproach. When the older had finished and lay gasping for breath after his outburst, the younger said, “God bless you brother, I hope you feel well!” The older brother shook his head with disbelief and said, “You are a stupid fellow.” He mounted his horse and left. The younger brother sat for a while. Then, he  crawled to a spring at the base of a nearby tree and slept. In the night, he woke to the sound  of splashing and laughter. He was blinded by the sand, but he heard beautiful voices belonging to vilas, or fairies. “Sisters,” one said, “if any man knew that we bathed here, he could cure any disease with this water, even the leprosy of the king’s daughter! Haha! Too bad for them that nobody knows our secrets!” The vilas finished their bathing and left. The younger brother swam into the pool and washed himself. Instantly, his bruises vanished, his hair shone, and the scratchy sand disappeared from his eyes! He took some water in a tin and brought it to the king. He felt that it would be a kind deed to help the princess. When the water touched the princess’ skin, all of her rashes from leprosy vanished! The king was overjoyed and had the young man married to his daughter. Eventually, the younger brother inherited the throne, and he lived happily ever after with his wife.

Meanwhile, his evil elder brother had heard about the luck of his brother. He was filled with envy, and he went to the spring to discover the secret of his brother’s success. The vilas were also enraged when they found out that their secrets had been revealed. They went to the spring, and thinking that the elder brother was the culprit, threw him down a chasm into hell. The devil did not help him the least bit!

Moral: Good will always triumph over evil.