Storytelling Week 10: The Jealous Son and the Unlucky Mother

                There once was a king of a great kingdom. The king had two children, one a boy and the other a daughter. The king loved both children very much, but he showed more love to the daughter than to the son. This made the son angry and he was always envious of his sister, so he was known as Jealous Son.

                Years past and the children grew up, became married, and had children of their own. The Jealous Son’s wife had many girls, but never a son. This made the Jealous Son nervous, for his sister had already had a son. He did not want her son to inherit the kingdom, so he killed him and made it look like an accident. His sister had several more sons, but each one was killed by the Jealous Son and their death was made to look like an accident. The Jealous Son’s sister accused her brother to the king, but the king said that each death was an accident and she was just unlucky. She was then known as Unlucky Mother.

                The Unlucky Mother had yet another son. She and her husband feared the Jealous Son’s wrath, and thus decided to dress the child as a girl in hopes of fooling the uncle. This was not successful after a few years. The Jealous Son could tell that the child was a boy and decided to kill him. He told his sister that he would take his nephew hunting at the end of the next week.

                When the parents found out that their plan had failed, they cried for days. When the boy asked why they were so sad, they explained what had happened to his brothers and what would likely happen to him. The boy reassured them, however, and told them that his uncle would not be able to kill him during their hunting trip. Any trap the Jealous Son would set for him, he would surely be able to get out of. He only asked if his brothers had any possessions that he would have. The parents told their boy that they only had a sour cranberry, and they gave that to their son.

                The day came for the hunting trip and the Jealous Son took his nephew with him. They were going to hunt rabbits to bring home for a feast. The boy saw many rabbits on their way, but the Jealous Son said that there were fatter rabbits further on. The boy saw even fatter rabbits as they continued, but the Jealous Son again said that there were fatter rabbits further on. Finally, the two spotted a very fat rabbit, just barely smaller than the boy, hidden inside of a hollow log. The Jealous Son instructed the boy to go into the log and retrieve the rabbit. However, when the boy entered the log he got stuck, for he was too big. The rabbit left the log and the Jealous Son returned home, leaving the boy behind.

                The boy wiggled and wiggled, trying to force himself out of the log, but he was truly stuck. Then he remembered the sour cranberry that his parents had given him. He took it out of his pocket, and rubbed it all over the inside of the log. The log detested the sour taste of the cranberry, and opened its mouth wide enough to release the boy. The boy then returned home to reassure his parents.

                The boy’s mother then took her son to the king to share what happened on the hunting trip. She pleaded with the king and begged him to see that this is what happened to her other sons. The king agreed and ordered that the Jealous Son be put in the deepest dungeon. The boy and his mother never saw the Jealous Son again.

Yupik Mother and Child. Web Source: Wikipedia

 

 

Author’s Note:

This story is based on The Jealous Uncle, which can be found in the Native American Heroes unit. I changed the name of the uncle to The Jealous Son in order to emphasize his boyish desire to be king. This was a motive that I added to the story to explain the uncle’s desire to kill his nephews. The original story continues and the uncle tries to kill the boy several times. For time sake, I simply ended the story after the first attempt.

 

Bibliography:

“The Jealous Uncle” from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929). Web Source: Un-Textbook