Treasure Finders
Murder One Another
folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 763
selected and edited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 1998
folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 763
selected and edited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 1998
In Flanders there was a group of young folks who lived for gaming, eating, drinking, and merrymaking. They made these follies and excesses even worse with their wanton and blasphemous curses and oaths.
As my story begins, three of these riotous fellows were drinking in a tavern when from the street they heard the sound of a bell accompanying a coffin to its grave.
"Go and ask whose corpse is passing by," said one of them to a servant boy.
"I already know who it is," replied the boy. "He was an old friend of yours. Last night he was suddenly slain while seated dead drunk on his bench. The silent thief who struck him down is the one named Death, the same Death who has taken so many people in our country of late. Be on guard yourselves lest this adversary take you as well!"
"The boy is right," added the tavern keeper. "In a village only a mile from here Death has taken man, woman, child, and servant. He must be nearby. Take care, or he will do you harm!"
"Would meeting him be such a peril?" interjected one of the drinkers, then swore an oath on God's sacred bones that he would seek him out. "Listen, friends," he added, "We three have always been as one. Let each of us now hold up his hand and swear an oath of brotherhood. Together we will slay this traitor Death!"
And thus with a blasphemous curse, they swore to live and die for each other and together to seek out and challenge Death before the next nightfall. In a drunken rage they set forth toward the village of which the tavern keeper had spoken, swearing grisly oaths as they went.
They had not gone a half mile before they met a poor old man. He greeted them humbly, "God be with you, my lords."
The proudest of these unruly men replied, "Hey, old man, why are you still hanging onto life at your great age?"
The old man looked him in the face and said, "Because wherever I have wandered, no one will exchange his youth for my age. Thus I must keep my age for as long as it is God's will. Alas, not even Death wants my life."
At the sound of Death's name, one of the gamblers interrupted. "You mention that traitor Death, the one who is killing all our friends. Are you his spy? Are you one of his servants, sent to slay us young folks? Tell us where he is, or pay the price!"
"Well, sirs," he said, "If what you want is to find Death, just turn up this crooked path. I left him sitting under a tree in a grove. He'll still be there. You'll find him."
The three unruly men ran until they came to the tree, and there they found a pile of golden florins, well nigh onto eight bushels of them, they thought. The sight of all the bright and beautiful florins quickly caused them to abandon their search for Death, and their thoughts turned to how they might best protect their newly found treasure.
The worst of them spoke the first word, "Brothers," he said, "Fortune has given us this great treasure, but if we carry it home by light of day, people will call us thieves, and our own treasure will send us to the gallows. We must take it home by night, and then with utmost prudence and caution. Let us draw lots to see which one of us should run to town and secretly bring back bread and wine. The other two will stay here and guard the treasure. Then in the night we will carry the treasure to wherever we think is best."
The lot fell to the youngest, and he immediately departed for the town.
He had no sooner left when the one said to the other, "You are my sworn brother, and I will tell you what will profit you the most. You know our friend has gone. There is gold here aplenty, but our shares will be much greater if we divide it by two than if we divide it by three.
"That's true, said the other, "but what can we do?"
The first one answered, "The two of us are stronger than the one of him. You engage him in a playful wrestling game, and I will run my dagger through his back. Then you do the same thing with your dagger, and all this gold will be for you and me alone."
Now the youngest, while walking toward the town, thought over and over again about the bright new florins. "If only I could have this treasure to myself," he said, "then I would be the happiest man alive!"
The Fiend, our Adversary, put into his heart the thought that he might buy poison and thus kill his two friends. And so, arriving in the town, he sought out an apothecary whom he asked for a poison to kill rats and also a polecat that was in his yard.
The apothecary answered, "Here is a mixture that will kill any creature, even if it were to eat an amount no larger than a kernel of grain."
Carrying this poison in a box, he ran to the next street where he borrowed three bottles. He poured poison into two of them, keeping the third one clean for his own drink. Then he filled all three bottles with wine and returned to his friends.
But why make a sermon of it? They killed him, just as they had planned, and when the deed was done, one of them said, "Now let us sit and drink and make merry. Afterward we will bury his body." And while still talking, he drank from the poisoned bottle, and his friend drank as well, and thus the two of them died.
Christ one day going with his disciples through a deserted place, the disciples who followed him saw some great pieces of fine gold shining there. So they, calling Christ, and marveling that he had not stayed to observe, said to him, "Lord, let us take this gold which will serve us for many needs."
And Christ turned to them and reproved them and said, "You want those things which take from our kingdom the greatest number of souls. And that this is true, on our return you will see the proof." And he passed on.
A little while after, two dear companions found the gold and were greatly rejoiced thereat, and one went to the nearest village to get a mule, while the other remained on guard. Now listen to the guilty deeds that followed the guilty thoughts sent them by the devil.
The one with the mule returned and said to his companion, "I have eaten in the village, and you must be hungry. Eat these two fine breads and then we will load up."
The other replied, "I have no great will to eat now. Therefore, let us load up first."
And they began to load the mule. And when they had almost finished loading, the one who had gone for the mule bent down to tie the bundle fast, and the other ran behind him treacherously with a pointed knife, and killed him. Then he gave one of the breads to the mule, and ate the other himself.
The bread was poisoned. The man fell down dead, and so did the mule, before they could leave the spot, and the gold remained unpossessed as it had been before.
Our Lord then passed with his disciples the same day, and showed them the example he had spoken of.
In long past times a hunter wounded an elephant with a poisoned arrow. Perceiving that he had hit it, he followed after the arrow and killed the elephant. Five hundred robbers who had plundered a hill-town were led by an evil star to that spot, where they perceived the elephant. As it was just then a time of hunger with them, they said, "Now that we have found this meat, let two hundred and fifty of us cut the flesh off the elephant and roast it, while two hundred and fifty go to fetch water."
Then those among them who had cut the flesh off the elephant and cooked it, said among themselves, "Honored sirs, now that we have accomplished such a task and collected so much stolen property, wherefore should we give away part of it to the others?" Let us eat as much of the meat as we please, and then poison the rest. The others will eat the poisoned meat and die, and then the stolen goods will be ours."
So after they had eaten their fill of the meat, they poisoned what remained over. Those who had gone to fetch water, likewise, when they had drunk as much water as they wanted, poisoned what was left. So when they came back, and those who had eaten the flesh drank the water, and those who had drunk the water ate the flesh, they all of them died.
Now there came to that spot a jackal, fettered by the ties of time, and it saw all those dead bodies. With a joy that sprang from greediness it thought, "As an extremely large amount of booty as accrued to me, I will take each part of it in its turn." So it seized the bow with its jaws, and began to gnaw at the knots of the bowstring. The string snapped, and the end of the bow struck the jackal in the roof of the mouth so hard, that it died. The jackal uttered this proverb: "It is good to accumulate, but not to accumulate immoderately. See how the jackal, infatuated by greed after the accumulated, was killed by the bow."
One day an old man said to his grandson, "Once upon a time three corpses lay on a mountainside, and beside them were a large sum of money and a wine bottle. Can you tell me why?"
"No, I don't know," replied the boy.
Then the old man explained. "The three corpses were three thieves," he said. "They had stolen the money and came to the mountain to share it out. Before they did so they sent one of their number to a village to buy wine, so that they might drink to celebrate their success. But while he was away the other two thieves decided to kill him when he returned, so that the money might be divided among two instead of three. So when their companion came back with the wine they fell upon him and killed him. Then they drank the wine their companion had brought, and immediately they too died. The thief who had been sent to the wine shop had also decided to kill his companions so that he might take the whole of the spoils, and so had put poison in the wine. Thus three corpses, money, and a wine bottle were left lying on the mountainside. You understand now?"
The old man's grandson thought it was a good story and smiled.
Revised November 20, 1998.