The Tree that bears Coins

By Noelyne Piner

Long, long ago, there live two brothers and their parents. They lived a happy and simple life together, but soon their mother became ill. A few days passed and she died. The boys felt very sad. About two years later, their father also passed away. But before he died, he told his boys not to take off any plant that will be growing on his grave. He continues by saying to them to take good care of the plant because this plant might help them in the time of need. Months passed by and days came and went, how they wished their parents where there.
One day, the small brother went to visit their parent’s grave. When he went to see where his father’s body was buried, he saw a plant. He went back and told his big brother what he saw and they took good care of plant as their father told them to do. A few months later, the tree grew and the boys watched the flowers bloom on the tree.

One morning, the elder brother was cleaning around the area, he saw the tree bears coins but the coins did not form into its shape, it looked like a K1.00 coin. He ran quickly and told his small brother about the fruit on the tree. They both went and saw it and decided to come back and check it the next day. The next morning they woke up and found that everything was gone. All the coins on the tree disappeared and the same thing happened over and over again for a whole week. The elder brother decided to watch the grave yard in the night. He got his bows and arrows and set down on the tree, waited for a few hours. Suddenly, he felt sleepy and dozed off at midnight around 12:00 am sharp. The wind blew his brother away from the tree. He ran home and told his brother that a strong wind had blew him off the tree.

In the morning, they saw that all the coins on the tree were gone. The little brother said to his big brother that it was his turn to stay in the tree, so that night he used the rope to pull the bow and arrows up the tree and tie his left leg to the branch. He waited but didn’t felt sleepy. The same thing happened in the middle of the night. The wind blew and blew strong but he held on tightly to the branch. He saw the man with a long black hair riding on a broomstick, flying towards the tree and starting to fill up his bag with the coins on the tree. The boy managed to shoot the man with the bow and arrow. All of a sudden, he saw the boy and flew away. The boy untied the rope on his leg and ran after him.

The man was losing a lot of blood; the boy followed him right into the cave where he saw dead people. He saw the man sitting with his grandmother. His grandmother was looking for that man’s lice. His grandmother recognised him so he called his name and told him to sit down and told her all about the man. His grandmother asked him what his plan was, he told her to tie his hair to a branch of a tree. They woke him up, the boy got a knife and cut the man’s head off and got all their money back. His grandmother asked him if he could stay, but he refused her because his brother was all alone at home. Then she told him to go and thanking him for defeating the hairy man who had ruled over our land. The boy also thanking his grandmother for helping him out and he waved goodbye. He went back home and told his big brother all about his little journey. They had their money, and the tree bears lots of coins and they live happily ever after.