Walter and Peter are two brothers. They live in a remote small mountain village. Their parents died in a snow storm five years ago, leaving the two poor boys to fend for themselves.
Walter is a strong and handsome young man. He dresses well and talks well. But he doesn't like to do any hard work. The village pub is his favorite hang-out and he has a not so flattering reputation as the 'village playboy'.
In contrast, his younger brother Peter is much liked and well respected. Due to a horrible childhood disease, Peter can't walk very well and has to use a cane.
Speaking of Peter's cane, it's almost legendary. His father bought it for him from the other side of the mountains. It's made of the best hard wood in the forest, and it's the most beautiful cane in the world.
Peter and his cane are inseparable. The cane helps Peter to stand on his own feet and is his pride and joy. To the villagers, Peter's cane is the symbol of his hard work ethic and self-reliance. The cane had earned him the villagers' respect including quite a few admiring gazes from the girls.
One day, the unpopular Walter announces out of nowhere that he needs to borrow Peter's cane for a year. He grabs it from Peter's hand and waves it as a sword with a mocking smile on his face.
"Quit messing with my cane, Walter, you don't even need it to walk!" Peter protests.
"I'll do whatever I feel like with it, as long as I'm the big brother and just because I can!" was the answer.
Being a kind and gentle young man, Peter just sighs quietly and lets it go.
For a whole year, the villagers see Walter, not Peter, carrying the cane everywhere -- on the street, at the dances and in the pub. Walter treats the cane as a big toy and a weapon. He tells people that as pretty as the cane may look from the outside, it has serious internal problems and only he can fix it for his brother's good. Walter loves to tell people about all kinds of plans of his to fix the cane. One day he declares he will install a wheel to the cane so it can move faster. The next day he announces he will attach a pointy nail at the tip to help it clench the ground better.
At first, people laugh at him for his shameless boasting and endless wacky ideas. Some angrily demand that he stop messing with his kid brother's treasure before completely ruining it.
Time goes by, people get used to the scene of strong and handsome Walter walking around with the beautiful cane. "It's hard work to fix the cane, it takes time." Walter explains when asked why he's still having it. Eventually people start to admire Walter for his kind heart and strong commitment to helping his brother and even the girls start to look him in a much friendlier way.
A year past, Peter finally gets his cane back. He examines it carefully. To his great relief, the cane is not altered in any way whatsoever. It still has all of its old glories.
What has changed are the brothers' reputations in the village.
Walter is no longer regarded as the lazy guy who can talk but will not work. His new nick name is "the nice fellow who fixes the cane for his poor brother". As a matter of fact, Walter become so popular, he has married the prettiest girl in the village and is elected the village mayor again and again and lives happily ever after.
In the meantime, Peter has lost all his old good image. He's no longer seen as a self-reliant, respectable young man, rather a weak kid brother who relies on others to take care of him. Even his cane is no longer called "Peter's cane", it's now becomes "the cane fixed by his kind brother Walter".
Peter knows very well that Walter has not improved the cane a tiny bit. But till his death, poor Peter has never figured out why his not-so-good brother all of a sudden showed so much enthusiasm to mess with his cane on that fateful day years ago.
Have you?
1 comment:
this fairy tale was kinda about life. People sometimes take from the needy or friends and foes for themselves. peters brother didnt really care he was ruining peters rep, he just cared that his was better.
Post a Comment