The Oilman And His Sons
: Part I.: Folklore Of The Santal Parganas
There was once an oilman with five sons and they were all married
and lived jointly with their father. But the daughters-in-law were
discontented with this arrangement and urged their husbands to ask
their father to divide the family property. At first the old man
refused, but when his sons persisted, he told them to bring him a
log two cubits long and so thick that two hands could just span it,
and he said that if the
the property; so they brought the log and then asked for axes, but he
told them that they must break it themselves by snapping it or twisting
it or standing on it; so they tried and failed. Then the old man said,
"You are five and I make six; split the log into six," So they split it
and he gave each a piece and told them to break them, and each easily
snapped his stick; then the old man said "We are like the whole log: we
have plenty of property and are strong and can overcome attack; but if
we separate we shall be like the split sticks and easily broken." They
admitted that this was true and proposed that the property should not
be divided but that they should all become separate in mess. But the
father would not agree to this for he thought that people would call
him a miser if he let his sons live separately without his giving
them their share in the property as their own, So as they persisted
in their folly he partitioned the property.
But in a few years they all fell into poverty and had not enough to
eat nor clothes to wear, and the father and mother were no better off;
then the old man called all his sons and their wives and said "You see
what trouble you have fallen into; I have a riddle for you, explain
it to me. There are four wells, three empty and one full of water;
if you draw water from the full one and pour it into the three empty
ones they will become full; but when they are full and the first one
is empty, if you pour water from the three full ones into the empty
one it will not be filled; what does this mean?" And they could not
answer and he said, "The four wells mean that a man had three sons,
and while they were little he filled their stomachs as the wells were
filled with water; but when they separated they would not fill the
old man's stomach."
And it was true, that the sons had done nothing to help their father
and they were filled with shame and they agreed that as long as their
father lived they would be joint with him and would not separate
again until he died.
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