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| Sunday, 7 November 2004 |
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Sunday parable by Sunanda Mahendra The heart of a mother Once there was a mother and her only son, who lived in a remote village. The mother loved her son so much that she looked after him until he reached marriageable age. As the mother was getting old the son looked after her and attended to all her needs. One day the mother called the son to her side and said.
"No mother I will live in the manner I have been so far, and I will look after you." "It is always good find a suitable wife at the suitable time who will care for you." As the mother impressed the son regarding the selection of a suitable wife, the son too was bent on finding a wife, and entrusted the task to his mother. But it so happened that the wife, who came to the house disliked the mannerisms of the mother, who lived with them. The wife was so cruel that she hated the mother. She grossly mistreated the mother and wanted to get rid of her. It so happened that when the time came for her pregnancy cravings or Dola Duka, the wife secretly called her husband to her side and said thus. "My dear husband, I have a pregnancy craving." "What is it? Tell me." "Will you misunderstand me?" "I want to have your mother's heart." "Oh how can I do that?" "If you don't get me your mother's heart I will have to die with the child of yours in my womb." The son felt sorry about the state of his own mother. How can I kill my dear mother, he wondered. But at the same time some negative thoughts too crept into his mind. If I kill my mother and get her heart, I will have my son as well as my wife. Mother is getting older and older and one day she is destined to die whether we like it or not. Then all of a sudden a strange thought entered into his mind and he called the mother. "Mother there is some treasure in such and such a jungle and it is good to go with you to get it so that I can be rich. You like the idea?" The mother thought for a while and agreed to go with her son to the jungle. The mother and the son walked into the thick jungle, into an area devoid of any human being or even a jungle creature. The mother was not at all worried as to what was going to happen, as she knew that this was one of the cruel plans on the part of the daughter-in-law. In a deep dismal area the son killed his mother and cut open the breast to take the heart. He got his mother's heart into his hands and walked through the jungle as fast as he could. Then all of a sudden, an elongated root of a tree hit his toes and he crumpled down. The heart of the mother, which he carried in his cupped hands, fell down, and as he was trying to get it back to his hands, he heard a voice. This was his mother's voice that he heard from the heart. "Oh my darling son, are you hurt?" |
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"My dear son I am getting older and older. One day I will die and
as it is inevitable. I want you to find a suitable wife, who will look
after you, in the manner that I looked after you all these days."
