Once there was a small village on the very outer edge of a great kingdom. In this humble village, lived two boys who were best of friends, Benjamin and Raphael. Both boys were born into poor farming families, as were most of the people in the small village. One of their neighbors had a beautiful garden of chrysanthemums that they loved to play in. All the neighbor asked is that the boys help with watering the flowers.
(Different colors of Chrysanthemum x morifolium from Wikipedia)
One day, as the boys were entering the garden to play, they saw the neighbor had some kin over. They went to the back door of the house and peered inside. The neighbor saw them peeking and invited them in. Inside, the boys saw the loveliest girl they had ever seen. The neighbor introduced her as Iliana, a niece from far away. Both boys were immediately enamored with the girl, and each set a goal in his mind that we would marry her.
The boys left the house and set off for the river they fetched water from for the garden. As they walked, they talked.
“What a lovely niece our neighbor has,” remarked Raphael.
“For sure. She is the most beautiful girl I have laid my eyes on,” commented Benjamin.
And though they were only nine years at the time, each boy recognized that his friend sought to marry the lovely Iliana.
As they reached the river, they made sure to step carefully, for the wet stones on the bank were awful slippery. They each filled their bucket silently at first. Then, Benjamin turned to Raphael and asked him a question.
“Surely, my dearest friend, you do not plan to grow up and marry the girl. For you must know, I do love her dearly.”
Raphael looked at his friend, shocked he would comment on their situation. He straightened up with his bucket and stood tall and proudly before answering.
“Surely, my most loyal companion, it is not /you/ who seeks to marry the sweet girl. For you must know, it is I that truly loves her.”
At this, a scuffle broke out. The two boys pushed and shoved the other, until Benjamin’s foot slipped out from under him. He fell, and a loud crack sounded as his head hit the rocks below him. Raphael watched as his friend lay too still for his comfort.
Scared of what would happen, Raphael took his bucket, returned to the neighbor’s house, mumbled something about feeling sick, and went home.
The next day the village constable came through the town, alerting everyone that a young boy had slipped and fell to his death by the river. Raphael was overcome with grief and guilt, but he did not say a word to anyone.
(Rocky River on pexels.com)
Many years passed, Raphael was now twenty years of age, and living in his own small house in the village.
The beautiful Iliana had been wed a few years prior, to a wealthy knight from the kingdom. She was back at the neighbor’s house, visiting while she waited for the birth of her child.
Raphael was behind the neighbor’s house, in the garden, for he helped the neighbor a lot in their old age. As he worked the soil, he saw none other than Benjamin walking down the dirt path towards the house. His friend looked just as young as the day he died, and Raphael was terrified. He watched as the ghostly boy entered the house.
Raphael made his way to the front of the house, where he ran into his neighbor.
“Neighbor, tell me, where is the boy who entered the house?”
The neighbor looked at Raphael in confusion.
“What boy? There was no boy. I am off to the market to buy some water, for my niece has gone into labor, and will birth her child at any moment!”
Before Raphael could insist there had been a boy, a midwife poked her head out of the door.
“There be no need for water, sir. The baby is already here!”
They all rushed inside to see the child. Raphael looked at the newborn, who unmistakably looked like Benjamin as a babe.
Shaken to his core, Raphael left the house. As he walked home, he pondered the irony that his friend was born wealthier, and to the lovely Iliana, no less!
(Village House on Wikimedia)
Many more years passed by. Raphael eventually married and had a son of his own.
Sometimes, the lovely Iliana would visit her aging uncle and her son and Raphael’s son would play together in the garden.
It was one such day when the two boys went racing to the river to fetch water for the garden.
Raphael sat with his neighbor and Iliana and talked about days gone by. After a while, Iliana’s son returned to the garden, looking pale with a bucket in his hands, but no water.
And no sign of Raphael’s son.
Raphael locked eyes with the young boy, and recognized a familiar fear, a familiar guilt.
Rushing to the river, Raphael thought back to all those years ago when something similar had happened.
Sure enough, on the bank of the river, he found the small, still body of his son. The man wept and grieved and recognized that fate was truly cruel, indeed.
(Garden Chrysanthemum Cluster on maxpixels)
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Author's Note: In the original story, everything is from the perspective of Ma, a boy who lived in the village. There was a man, old Wang, who kept a chrysanthemum garden. One day there was a water-carrier who wanted to help him get some water. Old Wang did not want the help but the man was persistent. They argued and old Wang accidentally pushed the water-carrier and he fell to his death. Old Wang went home and never said anything. Years later, the spirit of the water-carrier entered the home of a wealthy woman about to give birth, and he was born again as her child. The child grew up, and was trying to throw a stone at a pigeon one day, when it hit old Wang, and killed him. The boy, like old Wang in the past, did not say anything.
For my story, I wanted to keep the same sort of repeating pattern. Accidental death leading to another accidental death later. I changed the setting and characters to make the story more my own and to also give a little more insight and irony to what was happening.
Bibliography: "Retribution" from The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921)
