The Wise Son

“The Wise Son” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Mohummad Umair, Al Muntazir Boys Primary School, Tanzania.

The Wise Son

Once upon a time there lived a man. He had two sons. They became rich in a few years. But the physical appearance of both of them was more or less similar and had all the best qualities in them. People loved them because they were very nice. When the father’s business started booming he wanted one of his sons to take his place and the other would assist him. But because both were very good the father couldn’t decide whom to choose.

So he thought of an idea. He told his sons about his query and asked both of them to give their test to the father. In return the father asked them to answer the riddle as well as do one activity for him. If they pass out both, that son would be the head of his business and other will assist him. The eldest son became over confident.

The first was the riddle. He said, “There are 24 soldiers, one pink princess and the whole is the kingdom.” The eldest brother replied it is a bulb and the youngest one explained and replied it is a tongue, twenty four teeth and a mouth is the kingdom. He continued, ‘The second activity was that you have to fill your room with anything you wish but it should not be empty.” Then the brothers filled their room with hay and darkness. When the father arrived, he first went to the eldest brother’s room and saw that it was filled with hay. Nothing was empty but the father was a bit happy and left and then he went to the youngest brother’s room, the youngest brother called his father in the room and closed the door of the room. The father got angry and said 'what is this'! The father was angry because the room was filled with darkness, after one minute the youngest brother turned on the torch then the son told that 'look daddy the room is filled with light and nothing is empty'.

When the father came out from the room then he called his two sons and told them about who is the head of his business. It is the youngest son and the eldest brother will assist him. The eldest brother got sad and started crying and the smallest brother looked at his brother and said 'it is okay if you be the head of the business'. The eldest brother said “okay.” “But I will be the assistant and help you” said the youngest brother. “Ok” said eldest brother. To see that their father become happy and proudly hugged them. After a few months, the sons got married, they became famous and had four children. Both of them became business men and had special life. But the eldest was not happy because the youngest brother made him rich. Then he decided to kill his youngest brother. He was not able to do it so he killed himself.