As told by Anwar Begum, a 60 year old Rohingya woman
Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh
***
There once lived a very rich family in a village in Arakan that had three sons. All of them were happy with the considerable comforts their father had provided them, until one day he passed away rather suddenly. The three sons, along with their mother, were overcome with sadness.
With their father’s passing, the three sons had to split up their inheritance. The two elder sons divided everything between themselves, leaving nothing for the youngest. The youngest son did not try to argue with them about this, as they were his elders, but agreed only to take care of their mother from then on.
Time passed, and the youngest son and his wife continued to take care of their mother. Although the elder sons had substantial wealth from their late father, the youngest and their mother were left quite poor.
One day, the youngest son went to the forest to collect firewood, returning late in the evening with a full bag.
“Mother!” he cried out.
“I have a gift for you! I will give it to you in the morning.”
The youngest son, a person of great kindness and character, wanted to give his mother something to look forward to. Although it was only firewood, he knew his mother would be happy to have it to cook with.
The next morning, the mother opened the bag, which had been laying for some time in the sun’s rays. Much to her surprise, instead of wood she found bars of gold inside!
The youngest son and his wife were elated, as they had had hardly enough money to buy even a small amount of rice. With the money from the gold bars, the youngest son, his wife, and his mother built a comfortable life with a new house and car. They could hardly believe that such good fortune had found them once again.
When the two elder brothers heard of the youngest’s sudden riches, however, they were full of envy. They accused him and their mother of keeping their father’s inheritance to themselves, which included gold and many pearls.
The two brothers complained to the chief of the village. After investigating the matter, the chief summoned all of them to deliver his verdict. Knowing the youngest to be a person of honesty and integrity, and finding no evidence for the claim against him, the chief chastised the eldest sons for their jealousy and greed.
That night, a group of four people came to the eldest son in a dream.
They asked him, “Why did you complain about your youngest brother, even though you took everything for yourself?” When he tried to answer, they beat him down, ignoring his cries of protest.
The next day, the two elder brothers went to a religious scholar and explained what had happened in the dream.
The holy man said to them, “It was a strong rebuke for falsely accusing your younger brother and mother of something so grave, and of which you yourselves are guilty! In the future, you may face great difficulty if you continue to behave this way.”
The two brothers realized what their mistake had been, but it was too late. In just a few years’ time, they would exhaust their father’s inheritance and be brought rather low. But the youngest son would only grow wealthier, as he continued to care for his mother and receive her blessing.
Moral of the story: Avoid greed and love your mother.