Forgotten Fairytales – The Godfather

justiceforall (64)in #fairytale • 8 years ago (edited)

Once upon a time…

There was a poor family with twelve children, and although the father worked tirelessly, it was difficult to provide enough food. When the thirteenth child came into the world, the father began to panic and in his misery ran out to the busy road to find a godfather in hopes that he could provide for the child.
The first to pass the father and his child was God, who already knew the man’s problems and approached him saying,
“I find pity with you poor man. Let me be the godfather and I will make certain this child is healthy and happy on earth.”
The man with his child replied,
“You are God. You give to the rich, and let the poor starve. I do not want you to be the Godfather.”
So he turned his back on God and continued walking down the road. The next to pass the father and his child was the devil, who also knew the man’s problems an approached him,
“I know what you seek. Let me be the child’s godfather and I will give him all the gold he could need and provide all then pleasures his heart could consume.”
The man with the child replied,
“You are the devil. You are deceitful and mislead mankind into evil. I do not want you to be the godfather.”
So he turned his back on the devil and continued walking down the road. The next to pass was a tall skinny man, dressed in a black robe and had bony fingers that he pointed at the father and child when he approached,
“Take me to be his godfather. I can’t make many promises, but I can say I will allow his life to prosper. I make all men equal.”
The father with his child replied,
“I recognize you, you are Death. You take people from this world without distinction, rich or poor. You shall be named his godfather.”
Death smiled and responded,
“I have no family, nor friends. Because this child is now my family, I will make him rich and famous.”
After they had agreed, they went back to the fathers home and had the baptism and ceremony, and throughout the years of childhood, Death was a perfect godfather to the child.
Then, after many years, the child came of age and Death came to show the young man how to become rich and famous. Death led the young man into the woods and showed him a plant and said,
“This is my gift to you. This herb will heal all those I do not desire, and when the time comes, you will become a famous doctor. I will appear at a patients head and you shall cure them with confidence. But if I appear at the patients feet, they are mine and you will say the situation is hopeless. Take care to not go against my will, some things are out of my control you see.”
It didn’t take long before the young man was the famous doctor known all over then world. People said of him,
“He knows how things stand just by looking at them, whether they will get better or die shortly.”
From near and far, people from all over the world came to see the doctor, and from this, they gave him so much gold that he was incredibly rich man. Then one day, the king became very ill and summoned the doctor to his bedside. When he came to see the king, Death was standing there at the kings feet which had meant the king would die shortly. But the doctor was taken aback, and thought if only he could just outwit death this one time, nothing terrible would happen, and although Death might get annoyed, he was still his godfather and believed he would gain forgiveness.
So the doctor moved the king around in his bed so that Death now stood at the kings head, which now meant he could save this dying man. After using the herb, the king regained his strength and returned to perfect health. Death was furious.
“You tricked me! Your ignorance cannot save you, for you stick your own head in the noose. But just this one time I can turn my cheek, for you are my godchild.”
Since the doctor had cured the king, the princess was to be his wife. But just before the ceremony was to take place, the princess fell ill and lay in her bed dying while the doctor waited for death to appear and give him a sign. When death did appear, he stood at her feet, claiming that she would shortly die. But the doctor couldn’t accept this, and even though Death pointed his bony finger and shook his head, the doctor moved the girl so death now stood at her head. Ignoring Deaths warnings, he gave the princess the herb and she reclaimed her health.
The doctor expected Death to be angry with him, but when Death came the tall skinny man was weeping. Death approached the doctor and put his cold and boney hand on his shoulder and without a word led him into the forest and down into a deep cave. Inside the cave were thousands upon thousands of little flames burning, some were big and bright while others were small and dim. Occasionally a new flame would appear and others would disappear. Death turned to the doctor and spoke,
“These are the flames of life, each man contains their own. If you look, the big ones are children and the small ones are the elderly. The ones that flicker are ill, and the ones unlit are souls waiting for a flame to pass to them. As Death taketh life, Death also giveth life. It is how it must be.”
Death brought the doctor over to a corner where a fresh unlit candle stood next to another candle flickering and on the verge of going out. He pointed at the struggling flame with his bony finger and said,
“You have given your flame to those who should have died. Their flames were meant to light this one as they went out.”
The doctor was shocked that his flame was nearly out and begged death to give him a new candle but death shook his head and responded,
“I cannot, it is not in my power. I warned you but you didn’t listen. It saddens me to see me godchild like this, but there is nothing I can do.”
Just like that, the unlit candle burst out in tremendous light and held a thick flame at the same time as the grandson's flame went out. He collapsed and died right there in Death’s hands…