The boys who had accompanied the eldest brother were playing with the strange objects found at the bottom of the ocean. They did not pay heed to the eldest brother who was frantically signalling the boys to come back.
The eldest brother could no longer hold the water in and he let all the water back to where it had belonged.
Unfortunately, all the boys who had accompanied the eldest brother drowned in the water.
The eldest brother came back to the village alone. When the other villagers asked him what had happened to their boys, the eldest brother told them everything.
The villagers were furious and dragged the eldest brother before the magistrate.
The eldest brother shook his head. “I had not asked the boys to come with me. I had agreed only after their parents forced me. After taking them along, I asked the boys to come ashore, but they refused to listen. That is why all this has happened.”
The magistrate held that the eldest brother was to be decapitated for his actions.
However, before being decapitated, the magistrate allowed the eldest brother to go and visit his mother for one last time.
The eldest brother went home and told his family all that had happened.
The second brother came out this time in place of the first brother.
The second brother knelt with bowed head and the headsman came with the knife and nicked the second brother.
Nothing happened to the second brother.
Better knives were brought, but still nothing happened.
The villagers then wondered what to do.
Adapted from Chinese Folktales
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