GOLDEN ADVICE

Sometimes life is a risk. It's either we are aware of it or we lost it all.

                As the fort was destroyed, the evil king had finally taken the capital. He reigned for five years and finally deceased due to health issues. During that time, the life inside the capital was not pleasant. Many people turned into the bandit and they chose to prey for victims around where the willow tree stood. This willow tree witnessed an interesting event that time. There were three brothers leaving the capital to find a better living in the neighboring capital and they had to take the route to reach there. Despite being told of how dangerous the route was as they might stumble upon some bandits, they neglected the thought as it was the only way to reach there.
                Came a sage one day resting under the willow tree and when they saw the three brothers coming, the sage halted them. Three of them brought three bags of golds each on their shoulders. The sage spoke them smilingly. ‘May I know if I could have at least one bag of gold? I might give something great in return.’  The first brother looked at the sage watching him wearing like a layperson, without any riches in his pocket turned to the second brother. ‘I would not lay my gold for him. He did not look decent.’ The second brother thought the same too. They turned to the third brother. ‘Would you do him the favor?’ The third brother dropped his bag of golds. ‘Here sage. As you requested.’
                The sage was happy with the golds dropped. So he opened up the bags and ran his fingers on the golds. The first and the second brother were about to leave but the sage halted them. ‘As for the kindness, I will offer three of you two things. Pick wisely. Would you choose the golds I earned or an advice?’ The first and the second brothers looked at themselves and gladly responded. ‘We want the golds!’ The sage looked at the third one who was thinking he had lost the golds he had to the brothers so he chose the advice indeed.
                The sage divided the golds equally for the first and second brothers. ‘Off you go but listen carefully. The roads diverged nevertheless led to the same destination. Choose the higher road.’ Hearing that the two elder brothers departed. As for the third one, the sage gave him another instruction. ‘I know both of them would not choose the higher road but you are exceptional, young man. Take his piece of token, and when you reach almost the end of the destination, there would be a large apple tree. Dig up underneath, you will find your surprise.’
                After hearing that, the sage went forth leaving the third brother wondering. Alas, he left too and he listened to the sage of taking the higher road. The first and second brothers thought it was a burden to lift the heavier sack of golds and could not afford to climb up the higher grounds so they opted to take the lower road because it looked more leveled and easier to move on.
                As they were walking suddenly, they were stopped by the bandits who wanted their bags of golds. To save their lives first, they had to give the sacks of golds they carried and move on with nothing left of their shoulders. They regretted for not having to listen to the sage who told them not to take the lower route.
                The third brother however took the higher road and in the middle of the road, met with a group of bandits too. The bandits saw that he boy with nothing and they asked if he would have any valuable as token to pass safely. The boy showed them the only piece of coin that the sage had earlier give. The bandits were laughing with only that piece so they took it and let him pass. Following the sage’s advice, he walked up until almost the end of the route where the lower pass met the higher pass. There was this apple tree the sage had spoken.
                He asked for a shovel from a nearby villager and started to dig up under the tree. As he dug, he felt that he had knocked on something hard. He took a look and found out there were a few chests buried inside. He dug even bigger hole and there were three chests inside. When he opened up, he was shocked to see the chests were actually valuable treasures, even more valuable than the golds he gave to the sage. He rented a cart and transported the chests to the neighboring capital.
                There he began a new life as a wealthy man trading off the antiques. One day his elder brothers passed by the shop he owned. They saw his younger brother chatting with some customers. They were stunned to see him became so rich and the eldest one wanted to greet him. The middle one pulled him away. He was deeply ashamed to face their youngest brother becoming so wealthy and decided to walk away. However they were spotted by the youngest brother.
                They were invited by the humble youngest brother in the family. So as being invited, they got into the shop looking around and being so dumbstruck about the life changing of the youngest brother. ‘Where did you get all these, brother?’ The younger brother started to tell. ‘You remember the old sage? After dividing the golds to both of you, he told me to dig deep under the apple tree that stood where the junction met. I did and I found these treasures appeared to be the hidden treasure from the stolen bandits.’
                The first and second brother realized how foolish they were. ‘Apparently the sage gave me a piece of gold coin after dividing my golds to both of you.’ He continued. ‘I met some bandits but because it’s the only coin I have, they took it and let me pass but I am so happy to get the treasures they stolen.’ Looking at both of them looking rather poor and awful, the youngest brother was surprised. ‘What have come to both of you? You seem to starve for days.’

                The first brother sighed. ‘About the sage, we did not follow his advice. We were supposed to sacrifice our greed but we didn’t. The golds made us heavier to walk and the bandits took them all. We were left with nothing and now we are in the capital with nothing to spend. That’s why we were starving.’ The youngest brother pitied them so he offered them some money to start their own lives. Since then they had learned the lesson of being generous and detach from greed or being materiality. Sometimes some sacrifices might be a make you little difficult, but the sacrifice might bring you great gain too. Life is meaningless without risk.