A Short Story: 'The Two Brothers'

THE TWO BROTHERS
(Unknown Author)

Once there were two brothers,Anpu was the name of the elder and Bata was the name of the younger .When their parents died,Anpu was already married and had a house of his own and so he took his little brother to live with him and he treated him like his son. When the little brother grew to be a young man, he was an excellent worker; he did the plowing; he harvested the corn ;there was not his equal in the whole land. Behold ,the spirit of a god was with him. Every morning the younger brother followed his oxen and work all day in the fields and every evening he returned to the house with vegetables and milk and wood. He laid all these before his elder brother and at dawn, he took bread with him which he had baked and laid it before his elder ; and he took with him his bread and he drove the cattle into the field. Because Anpu loved his younger brother very much, his wife became very jealous and she wanted to destroy Bata. One day when Anpu and Bata were in the fields, they needed some corn, so Anpu sent Bata home to get some. The younger brother found the wife combing her hair and he said to her “Get up and give me some corn that I may run to the field for my elder brother is in a hurry. Do not delay.” At eventimeAnpu returned home earlier than his brother because Bata had much work to do in the fields, Anpu was met by his wife who was crying bitterly. She showed him her arms and legs which she had painted black and blue and accused Bata