Extra Credit Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part B

(Brothers running away from a reanimated lion; source: Perham W. Nahl)

The story I found most interesting in this entire unit is "The Four Brothers who brought a Dead Lion to Life. Which is to blame when he kills them all?" It grapples with a moral question and comes to a conclusion that I do not wholly agree with.

Plot:

• As usual, the goblin rewards the king's perseverance with another story.
• Once upon a time in this kingdom was a family with four sons. Upon their parents' death all the sons' inherited wealth was taken by their relatives. The brothers decided to travel to their maternal grandfather's house where their uncles took them in and raised them.
• Over time, their uncles grew to dislike them because they didn't amount to much. As a result, the brothers grew uneasy.
• One day the eldest brother told the others that he had been wandering around the forest when he came upon the body of a dead man. Resolving that this was the best way to go, the brother had hung himself and lost consciousness before the rope was cut. When he came to, he saw the man who had cut the rope. The man asked why he was so unhappy and told him that only those who live unrighteous lives feel unhappy; those that live righteously are rewarded with happiness.
• The eldest brother told the others that fate was unwilling to let him commit suicide but if he wished to die, he could travel to a holy place and immolate himself. The younger brothers comforted him. They said that money, like an evil friendship and a flirt, was fickle and not worth worrying over. Only a learned virtue could bring true happiness.
• The brothers resolved to travel around the world separately and each learn one science. When they reunited, one brother shared that he had acquired the skill to place flesh on a skeleton. The second brother claimed he could add hair and skin to the flesh. The third said he could then add eyes and other sensory organs to the hair and skin. The final brother asserted that he could bring the animal to life once all the organs were present.
• The brothers wandered around the forest looking for a skeleton that they could test their skills on. The stumbled upon the skeleton of a lion, and not knowing what it was, began to reanimate the corpse. Once it came to life, the lion killed all four brothers.
• The goblin then asked the king who was to blame for the death of the brothers. After careful thinking, the king replied that the fault lay with the brother who gave life to the lion. The others were ignorant to the fact that they were handling the skeleton of a lion and simply demonstrated his skills. The brother who gave life to the lion knew what it was and did it anyway, simply to demonstrate his skills. Therefore, he is the one responsible for their deaths. The goblin, upon hearing the correct answer, returned to the sissoo tree.

Discussion:

• Although I agree that the final brother who gave life to the corpse was ultimately to blame, the others are not innocent. At any point, particularly after the addition of the hair and skin, the other brothers could have halted their activities because the lion would have been easily recognizable.

Bibliography. Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).