Parable 11. The elder brother

THE ELDER BROTHER

Before setting off on a trade journey to distant land, the father gathered his whole family in the evening— his wife and three sons. They sat at the table, listening to the advice of husband and father: he gave his final instructions, spoke words of love, and seemed already to be missing his wife and sons.

Before departing, the father took his eldest son aside and said:

“ My son! I will be gone for many months. But I have a father’s charge for you… I leave your two younger brothers in your care as an inheritance. Find a way to prove to me and convince me that your brothers trust you just as they trust me. That is your strength. By the time I return, I must have proof.”

The father’s ship sailed away, but his charge would not leave the elder brother’s mind.

One day he took his younger brothers and let them into the forest.

“You must undergo a test of courage in order to become men by the time our father returns. You will remain here all night with blindfolds on and must not remove them until the first birds begin to sing. Then I will come back for you. Trust me. Whoever removes the blindfold earlier is still a boy.”

Fear was visible in the boys’ eyes: alone at night , blindfolded, with so many wild beasts around…but there was nothing to be done.
All night they flinched at every rustle, at the howling of wolves and the hooting of owls, at the sound of the swift steps of a wild boar running past, and the pounding hooves of a herd of wild deer. Yet they did not remove their blindfolds.

“Brother, I think we can take off the blindfolds, the birds are already singing…” one of the brothers whispered.

Their elder brother was squatting in front of them, smiling.
“ Brother, you came back, you came back!,,”

“ My brothers, I never left…”