The Father's Advice

🐑 The Father's Advice

Once upon a time, there was a father and his three sons who made a living as shepherds.

As the years passed, his sons grew into strong young men, but the father began to lose his strength. One day, the father called his sons to his side. He told them:

"My sons! I no longer have the strength to even stand, let alone look after our animals. You won't find any other work to make a living here besides shepherding. I only have one piece of advice for you. Never, ever forget this advice. Never, ever spend the night while shepherding at a fountainhead, on a mountaintop, in an abandoned sheepfold, or in a cave," he said.

The youngest son, giving in to his curiosity, asked: "But why, Father?"

His father replied: "My son, just listen to what I say. Don't sleep there, don't sleep there, don't sleep there."

While the youngest son took his father's words seriously, the two older brothers didn't care. To see if what was said was true, they spent their first night at a fountainhead.

That night, the older brothers saw that their younger brother was not sleeping: "Why aren't you sleeping?" they asked. The younger brother said: "I'm not sleepy. You two sleep." "Did you believe Father's words? You are very tired, come on, sleep now," they urged. The younger brother insisted: "No, I won't sleep, brothers. You sleep."

The older brothers fell asleep. Later, the younger brother saw a huge snake next to the fountain. He immediately disabled the snake and put it in his sack.

When morning came, the younger brother and his older brothers went out to graze the animals.

In the evening, seeing that it was getting dark, the older brothers forced their younger brother to sleep this time in the old sheepfold on the mountaintop. The younger brother, following his father's advice, stayed awake again. Just as his eyes were about to close from exhaustion, he was startled by a sound he heard. He saw a huge bear with eyes glowing like fire in front of him. Just as the bear was about to attack him, he grabbed the bear by the neck and put it into the sack next to the snake.

When morning came, the older brothers asked their brother: "What have you been carrying on your back for two days?" The younger brother replied: "Nothing. It's just my belongings inside. I'm just carrying this sack," and he continued grazing his animals.

Darkness fell, and this time, the older brothers decided to spend the night in a cave. When they got to the cave, they said to their younger brother: "Are you still not sleeping? Nothing happened to us for two nights, nothing will happen tonight either, don't worry." The younger brother said: "No, I won't sleep. If you want to sleep, you sleep, brothers."

The older brothers fell asleep. The younger brother walked deeper into the cave to check the surroundings. Inside the cave, he saw a seven-headed dragon breathing fire at the younger brother. He immediately disabled the dragon and put it into the sack as well.

When morning came, the three brothers decided to go home. As they approached their home, the older brothers said to their younger brother: "Look, nothing happened tonight either. You didn't sleep for nothing, just look at your state!"

They also said to their father when they arrived home: "Look, Father, your advice failed. We are all here safe and sound. Your naive son didn't sleep for three nights!"

At that moment, the younger brother emptied the sack from his back in front of them. He began to tell everything that had happened:

"I knew you wouldn't believe Father, so I didn't sleep for three nights. Everywhere we went, an animal I had to fight appeared before me. I killed them all and put them in the sack so that no harm would come to you. That's why I carried this sack on my back for three days. Do you understand everything now?"

The father, seeing that only his youngest son had followed his advice, said: "Your brother listened to my advice and saved your lives too. Do you understand now how important a father's advice is?"

The older brothers were deeply regretful and apologized to both their father and their brother. They promised they would never disobey their father again. From that day on, they never went against the word of their elders and benefited from their father's experiences. They overcame the difficulties they faced in life more easily.

The experience and advice of your family is your greatest strength.