How the Wicked Sons Were Duped

Eunice de Souza is an author of four books for children and a lecturer in English literature from Bombay (India). Her books are full of folk wisdom, faith and courage of people. Among these books you can find Himalayan Tales you will get acquainted with one of them which is called “How The Wicked Sons Were Duped”.

Once upon a time there lived an old man who had three sons. They were lazy, idle youths who refused to work for a living. One day the old man fell ill and thought he was dying. So he called his sons to him and distributed his wealth equally among them. Soon after this, however, he recovered from his illness. But his sons did not dream of returning the money to him. Instead, they spent large sums of it on gambling, entertaining their friends and buying expensive clothes. Their father could not bear to see his hard-earned money squandered in this way. But when he tried to stop them, they insulted him.

At last the old man could bear it no longer. He went to a friend of his to tell him about all that was happening to him and to ask his advice. The friend was very sorry to see the old man in such a state for he knew how hard he had worked to make his fortune. He thought for a while and said, “I have a plan. Tell your sons that I had once borrowed some money from you several years ago, but have not been able to return it so far. Now that my business is doing well, I would like to return the money to you. I shall come to your home with some heavy bags. Tell your sons they can have them only after your death. Let us see what happens”.

A few days later, the friend came to the old man’s house with three servants burdened with heavy bags. “My friend,” he said to the old man. “Forgive me for not returning your money for so long. Here in these bags are a thousand silver coins. I am returning the five hundred you lent me and the balance five hundred are a gift to you for your kind and timely help.”

The sons were very pleased to hear all this. They were sure their father would distribute the money among them as he had done before. All three began to be so anxious to please him that they got in each other’s way.

“Shall I bring you your shawl?” one said. “There is a cold wind blowing.”

“Shall I keep you company this evening?” the second offered. “You are alone too often.”

“Can I bring you your hookah?” begged the third.

The old man smiled. “My sons,” he said, “you are true sons. In return for all your kindness to me, I shall leave you all this money. After my death you may use it as you wish.”

A year later the old man fell ill and died. The sons rushed to the bags and opened them eagerly. They were full of nothing but stones.

At first they were angry. But when they thought about it they admitted that they had received exactly what they deserved.

EXERCISES

I. Read the tale.

a) Find words and expressions which are similar to phrases given below:

to do nothing

to enjoy oneself

to play risky and dangerous games

to hurt somebody

he could not stand it any more

to become rich

a present

to take money from somebody

to be eager to do something

to interfere with each other

to spend time with somebody

to become furious

to be ill

b) Write your own story with the expressions from the tale in order to learn them and use as your active vocabulary.

II. Read the story and say which of the sentences are true and which of them are false. Write your answer on the left.

– The old man’s sons were lazy.

– They respected their father.

– The old man was unhappy and asked his friend to help him.

– The old man’s sons tried to please his father.

– The old man died and left nothing to his sons.

III. Read the tale and answer some questions.

– How many sons did the old man have?

– What can you tell about them?

– Was it hard for the old man to make their fortune?

– Why did the old man give his money to the sons?

– In what way did they spend the money?

– Could the old man stop them?

– Did his friend help him?

– Do you think the end of the tale is too sudden?

IV. Work in pairs. Discuss the main idea of the tale and the moral of it.

V. Retell the tale. Use reported speech.