The seven sons - Scot Bik

Quirino was a small, lonely farmer from a small town in the countryside. He had some employees as company that lived with him and worked in his crop. He had never had the pleasure of having a wife. As for this he did not even regret as much as not having children. It was his big dream to have the house full of boys running around and laughing.

One day he had come from a nearby town to buy fertilizer for his crops. Very tired from the trip, he stopped at the edge of a creek where there was a waterfall to rest and drink water. After resting, he began to think of the children he wanted to have and regretted the absence of a wife. He was becoming a mature man, and he saw no future hope of having children. Suddenly, a beautiful naked woman with long brown hair appeared from the bottom of the water. Quirino was frightened. The woman approached and said:

--- No need to fear! I'm here to help you.

--- How so?

--- You want to have kids, right? --- She asked.

--- Yes. How do you know?

--- I know everything, and I'll help you. After saying that, she bent down and pulled out a pretty yellow pumpkin from the bottom of the water. Quirino was astonished to notice that the woman, even though she did not know him, knew of his desire to have children. "Get that pumpkin and take it home." On the next full moon, remove one of its seeds and take it to the bottom of your yard. Make a small hole in the ground and throw the seed inside; then drip a few drops of your semen on top of the seed and cover with soil. Water every day and be always aware of plant growth.

--- But how can this help me to have children? --- Quirino asked, picking up the pumpkin.

--- That you will see later. Just follow everything I'm saying.

Quirino was already leaving when the woman said:

--- But remember: do this procedure only once.

Quirino did not answer, just got on the way home.

Coming home, he watched the pumpkin trying to figure out how it could help him have children.

After a few days, the full moon came. Even though he did not believe it, he did all the woman-driven procedure in the water and waited. Every day he would go in the yard watering the seed but nothing to see any sprout emerge.

After seven days of waiting with no apparent result, he began to think that the seed had died and that he would not have a pumpkin foot. It was then that he decided to take another seed of the pumpkin and do the whole planting procedure again.

After a few days and the first planting began to yield green shoots, after more days, the other pit began to sprout. Before long, Quirino already had two beautiful pumpkin feet. Then came the flowers, big and strong yellow and sparkling. Then the pumpkins began to appear. One more time and they were so big and luscious that even some neighbors asked Quirino if he wanted to sell them, but he did not want to. Every day he watered his plantation with care and hope of having his children, even though he had no idea how that would happen through those plants.

One fine morning on a hot summer Sunday (the pumpkins were already about three feet each), Quirino was still asleep when he heard a few steps in the yard. It looked like someone was walking and running through the leaves. He feared they were thieves so he decided to go armed to the bottom to see. Arriving there, he had the biggest scare of his life: there was a naked boy running very happy, he was white, with dark brown hair and sparkling eyes. Quirino had not understood at once what was happening and where the boy had come from. He looked at the boy and approached; he studied a little and found that he was a normal boy. Then he looked at the pumpkins and noticed that one of them, the oldest, was bursting. Then he looked at the boy again and noticed that there were some pieces of pumpkin flesh on his skin. It was then that Quirino understood where the boy had come from. He opened his eyes and mouth; then dropped his weapon to the ground and knelt down:

--- What a sacred happiness I'm feeling! --- He exclaimed. Then he shouted: --- Thank you! --- She rushed to hug the boy.

Quirino took the boy inside and gave him a bath and then, food. Then he put him to sleep on his double bed. He held him close as he fell asleep. Quirino was so thrilled that he could not release the boy.

When it was later, Quirino thought he needed a name on the boy. As it was a special day in the week, a day of rest, he considered baptizing the boy as Sunday and so he did.

The next day, everything happened again with another pumpkin and Quirino had another child. This one he called Monday.

The same was repeated on Tuesday, then the other days until Friday. Everyone's names were given according to the day of the week they were born. On Friday his bed was full of boys and they slept all huddled together in the same layer, but Quirino did not care. He was the happiest man in the world!

When it was dawn on the second Saturday after the first birth, things were a little different. The pumpkin plant planted late, strangely had only one pumpkin. It was beautiful, lush and big as the others only reddish. Quirino, already predicting that it was going to be on Saturday that it was going to break, lay in wait. Just before dawn he heard a loud furious cry of child. He went to see. The boy who had come out of the pumpkin was kicking the squash that was almost all crushed. His expression was angry. Quirino came and took him in his lap; took him inside and fed him. At no moment did Quirino feel any smile or expression of joy on his face. Giving continuity to the names, this one, Quirino called Saturday.

Time was passing and the boys were growing up. Quirino always noticed that Saturday was different. He never smiled. I was never happy. He always showed contempt for his brothers and for all who visited them. He was always pessimistic and always saw the worst of things and people.

Once, they were all having breakfast at the table, Saturday overturned Friday's cup of tea. He was very happy when he saw that his father had scolded his brother without knowing that he was the one who had knocked the cup down. Once again, already a little older, he put a poisonous scorpion in Tuesday's lunchbox, which screamed in terror and ran out of food as it knocked down all of his snack on the floor. With Wednesday, he tied his shoelaces in school. When the boy got up and tried to walk, he fell and hit his head in one of the desks. He needed stitches to close. With all he did great evils. Quirino, at first, did not suspect, but then began to notice that he was to blame. Even so, he still did nothing. She did not want to accept his son's behavior as fact. He preferred to close his eyes to that. However, the boy's evil deeds began to grow stronger until he added poison to Thursday's food. It's a good thing Sunday found out in time and warned his brother that he did not eat the poisoned food. Quirino then saw that it was serious and he could not let it go. He then began to punish him, which did not solve anything because after the punishment had ended, Saturday did worse things. There was no repair. Quirinus reached a point that no longer punished him. He only told the other children to always keep an eye on him and tell each other everything he did to avoid problems. The brothers united against Saturday. They always combined having one close to him watching what he was doing. With this scheme, they always knew the frames of the tender little brother and were able to avoid most of their evils.

When they were all grown up, Quirino became ill and had to stop working to get himself treated. The children then took care of the farm and administered it very well as they learned from their father, except one of the children, Saturday. This one stayed a long time without making his, so that the brothers thought that he was regenerated. When he reached that level of trust, he got all the brothers to sign a blank sheet. He had said it was to make a picture painted with a pumpkin that he would send as a souvenir to his father since they had all been born from pumpkins. The brothers, thinking that he was already changed, signed confidently.

Three days later, someone knocked on the door of their house. Thursday opened.

--- What do you want? --- He asked.

There were two men, one was unknown and the other was the town clerk.

--- Thursday, is your father home? --- The clerk asked.

--- Yes.

--- We need to talk to him. --- Said the other man.

Thursday invited them to come in and sit down. Monday, which was already in the room, called him.

Quirino came into the room and greeted the two, finding the visit strange.

--- What is the reason of your visit? --- He asked.

The clerk took a piece of paper and showed Quirino,

--- This man just bought his farm and came to take possession of it.

Quirino took the paper and saw that it was a contract of purchase and sale of his farm, signed by all the children. He had already passed the farm to the children's name fearing death before doing so, so they had legal rights to sell it.

At that moment everyone looked at each other. Quirino looked at the children and exclaimed:

--- Have you sold our making without consulting me?!!

--- This is impossible! I never signed anything! He retracted Monday, taking the paper from his father's hands abruptly. Seeing that his signature was there, he was speechless.

Thursday did the same and found that it had also signed. It was not long, and all the brothers saw the contract. Quirino asked the man for a deadline to remove his children and personal belongings. The man agreed and said that he would return the next day to take possession of the property.

Quirino, already suspicious of who would have been responsible for the sale of the farm, gathered the brothers, except Saturday, to talk. When they went to look at how the signatures were all there, they concluded that it was really Saturday's request to make such a plan. All the brothers wanted to kill Saturday and were starting to plan a plot but Quirino did not allow it. Quirino felt stitches in his heart, a very strong pain. Sometimes in the physical, sometimes it was in the soul. His anguish was very great.

--- What are you going to do? kill your brother? We have nowhere to live. He certainly will not come back here to give you the share of money from each of you. You would not even know how to get it. We're lost. --- He said crying disconsolately.

--- Dad! We're all going to work. We are very good at service because we learn from you everything we know. --- Wednesday said trying to comfort his father.

--- Let's rent a small ranch. Everyone working can keep us going. --- Friday continued.

--- Yes! We all have some belongs stored in the basket. I think my brothers will agree to use it to get a house. --- Explained Thursday that was supported by the other brothers.

--- You do not have to work. --- You can continue your treatment. Sunday explained.

That's what they did. Tuesday and Wednesday went to the city and found that there was a house for rent by the stream. It was a small lot but could plant something. Since they were well-known family in the area, they managed to rent the house with a little cash, there’s going to have some to buy seeds to plant in the land.

They plowed the whole lot and then planted sweet potatoes and sugar; they made a garden; Sunday, who was a fruit specialist, took care of the grapes, melons and watermelons; Friday bought some chicks and ducklings and put them in a small henhouse that they built. Shortly afterwards, that little piece of land was full of productivity. It was a small property and very humble but prosperous. The melons and watermelons were huge and lush; the grapes were great clusters of sapphires; the robes were large of pomegranates; the henhouse produced many eggs a day, and very large ones. What they earned by selling what the estate produced paid for the expenses of the house and the treatment of their father.

Once, Quirino was in better health and off to the stream where he had found the naked woman who had given him the pumpkin. He wanted to talk to her, to ask why her last child had made her so undone. She stared at the stream, looking... nothing of the woman to sprout. It was then that he decided to speak for the water believing that the woman could hear him.

--- I know I did not obey your advice to plant only a seed. I was impatient and today I paid dearly for it. And I made my children stop too. I'm old, sick and broke! --- His tears dripped into the stream. --- I know I made a mistake. I do not need to suffer so much to learn a lesson in this life! --- Shouting: --- But this payment is too cruel!

At that moment, the woman came up from the depths. She had a maternal expression. Quirino had not even noticed that she was close to him because he was crying with her head down. She took him by the chin and lifted him up.

--- Quirino, you made a serious mistake. You did not pay attention when I told him to do it only once. Yet you are acknowledging his failure and seem to be sorry. That changes everything. --- She reached into the bottom of the water, took out a beautiful yellow melon, and handed it to him. --- Here. Take this melon home and plant it today. When the melons of the plant are born, you and your children should eat only these melons for three days and drink water only from the stream.

Quirino picked up the melon without understanding anything. I knew I did not need to understand.

--- But my kids may wonder why. --- He said.

--- You can tell them the truth. They will understand. --- She slipped her hands into the bottom of the water again, pulled out a beautiful reddish pumpkin, and handed it to Quirino. --- On the next new moon, open this squash and make a soup with its flesh. Save all its seeds. When a wanderer comes asking for a plate of food, put a little of the soup on a plate, throw a handful of the pumpkin seeds on top and give it to him. --- She finished the directions and sank into the water disappearing.

Quirino returned home gladly. He had doubts about the woman's directions, but this time he would not be fooled into doing anything different. She had every intention of following exactly what she had explained.

When he got home, he gathered all the children together and told the whole story from the first time he had seen the woman in the water to this day. The children agreed to cooperate.

Only twenty-one days later and the time to pick the melons arrived. They were large and lush with strong yellow. Quirino had said that he had never seen such beautiful melons. Equally to their appearance they were also good in taste and texture. They had thick layer of flesh and very sweet. The taste was unheard of for all of them. It was not hard at all to eat them for so long. Anyone who went to the property to buy something always wanted to buy melons. Even needing a lot of money they refused several offers of shopping for the beautiful fruits. Quirino and his sons followed the directions of the woman. It was strange how the melons given on that foot were the account of killing the hunger of men during the three days. At the end of the three days, there was no more melon to be harvested.

Seven days after they finished eating the melons, a man knocked on the door of the house asking for a plate of food. He was a young, very thin, malnourished man. He had a big beard and big hair. He was very dirty and ragged. His voice was weak and he coughed all the time. He was very sick. As Quirino was following the directions of the woman on the right stream, he had prepared the soup a few days ago and kept it. Mysteriously, all those days guarded and the soup had not perished. Quirino then filled a plate of soup, put a handful of seeds on top and gave the man who ate without haste and left no rest on the plate. When he finished eating, Quirino recognized him:

--- Saturday! Is that you?! --- He exclaimed happily.

--- Dad! I was not recognizing you! --- He said hugging him.

Wednesday and Monday that were nearby were furious. They wanted to push their brother forward to assault him. Quirino stopped them and told them to leave.

--- But father! Do not you remember what he did to all of us? --- Exclaimed Monday!

--- All that we went through because of him? --- Wednesday continued.

--- That will not do any good now. --- Quirino said.

Monday went to the door and called all the brothers. When they entered, he told them who the visitor was. All the brothers were angry. Friday came to his brother and said:

--- We trusted you! We liked you! Why did you do that? --- He exclaimed in tears.

--- We knew you did not have good character, but even so, we loved you! Tuesday, too, explained with tears.

--- Father, he does not deserve our welcome. Get him out of here! --- Shouted Sunday!

Quirino tried to stop but the children were stronger and in greater numbers. They pushed him out of the house. Saturday began to feel bad. He squirmed. He ran back and forth, squealing like he was being suffocated.

--- Wait! Let's wait. --- Quirino shouted.

The children did nothing. Saturday continued to run across the grounds until it reached the bottom of the yard. At that moment, he fell to the ground and began to convulse. Quirino wanted to come to him but was held by his children. It was like this for a few minutes. Then he stopped convulsing and began to dig a hole in the floor with his bare hands. Finished the one-meter-deep hole, he came in and began to throw dirt on his body until only his head and arms were left. Finally, he covered his head with dirt and pulled his arms inside, getting completely covered. At that moment, a torrential rain began with very good winds. Everyone went home to take shelter.

The next day, everyone was curious to see if Saturday was still buried there. They found that in the place where the brother was, there was a bud of a pumpkin. Miraculously, Quirino dawned with perfect health: he was cured of his illness!

Time passed and the pumpkin pie gave a huge reddish pumpkin. Quirino feared that another boy would be born as wicked as his younger son. He watched the squash day after day. I knew something different would happen.

At the beginning of a beautiful, warm Saturday morning when the first rays of morning sun hit the backyard, Quirino looked out of the kitchen window and saw something sparkling near the pumpkin. It looked like when the sun hits a metal object. He looked at it and was amazed: the pumpkin had split and inside it were many gold coins and precious stones: rubies, emeralds, diamonds, and so on. Quirino was so happy that he began to shout his children to go and see.

--- Look! We're rich! We can move from here. --- Quirino exclaimed, showing the pumpkin to his children. His eyes shone with happiness.

After the children had all seen the gold and the precious stones, they began to manifest themselves:

--- What a sad end our brother had! I wish he had regenerated and was still with us! --- Lamented Tuesday.

--- He was our brother! --- Said Friday weeping.

--- He reaped what he planted. It was not good for us and it got what it deserved! --- Retracted Monday.

--- I do not want to talk about it anymore. Let's get this story buried. He died when he buried himself. --- Quirino concluded. One minute of silence. He looked into the eyes of each of the children, and said: --- I know what you went through was my fault. I've learned that I cannot disrespect fate. But I want to thank you for holding the bar all this time since we left the farm. I was very sick and destroyed by such deception. I could not have done it if I had not you. They are very honored, talented, honest and loyal people. For me, having children like that is more important than having that precious stone fortune. I think I'm the happiest dad in the world to have you! --- He opened his arms and everyone hugged him.

Quirino wished now to regain his old farm, but he feared that the new owner would not want to sell it.

Thursday fair accompanied Quirino and they were trying to negotiate. The present owner of the farm was no longer able to produce it and decided to sell it. Quirino also bought a neighboring farm forming a large country estate. He had a large mill built and bought several heads of cattle. He then became the richest man in the area and perhaps the happiest, for besides being rich and healthy he had six wonderful children!

The end