Week 4 Storytelling: The Merchant's Revenge

The merchant was furious. He knew that taking his friend's son was wrong, but what was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to trust anyone again? He left his iron with his good friend, the only thing that he was counting on for his livelihood after he returned from his failed journey, and his friend had the nerve to sell it. He then decided to lie about it, which made everything even worse. Was he really supposed to believe that rats ate two hundred pounds of iron? Maybe if his friend had explained why he sold it and given a good reason, they could have worked out a deal, but since he lied, things will never be the same again. What was the merchant supposed to do now for work? He spent his life savings during his travels. He had nothing, not even friends who he could trust. It was simple, his friend would get his son back when the iron reappeared. It was simple to get the boy. He just grabbed him while he was playing outside and took him to his shack outside of the town.

The merchant wasn't quite sure how the whole deal would work out. Iron is kind of expensive, let alone two hundred pounds. His friend had pleaded and begged for his son, but the merchant knew that he had to stand firm. He would take care of the boy, and feed him and make sure he stayed well, but he wanted his iron back. He gave his friend a week to get the iron, but he wasn't sure what he'd do if the friend didn't come through. The boy was only a little over five years old, he couldn't exactly just take him somewhere and let him go, and he surely wasn't going to kill him. He had time to decide though. He knew he had to be patient, but all he wanted was to get on with his life, and to teach his friend a lesson about lying.

The merchant was getting nervous. Why did he take his friend's son? What kind of person even does that? He knew that he should have left the boy out of it. He should be at home with his mother and father, and they should have settled this in a different way. He couldn't just give his son back though. He wouldn't get his iron and his friend wouldn't respect him.

(Merchant)

He went and saw his friend the next day just to see how he was doing with the merchant's request. His friend was clearly distressed. He looked like he hadn't slept in months and he was nervous and clearly flustered. The merchant felt even worse, and knew that he couldn't keep the son and father apart anymore. It didn't sit well on his conscious and he knew that it wasn't fair to take a child for iron. He went and collected the boy and returned him to his father. He made the friend promise that he would never steal from anyone again. The friend surprised him, however, and had collected enough money to almost replace the iron. The two made up, and remain close friends to this day.

Bibliography: This story is based on "The Merchant and His Iron" in Bidpai's Fables. 

Author's Note: 

The merchant leaves on his journey, but first left his iron with his friend and trusted that he would let nothing happen to it. The friend, however, thought that the merchant would never return, so he sold all 200 pounds of iron. After a terrible journey, the merchant returns home, and goes to his friend's house to get his iron back, but since the friend had sold it, he lied and said that rats had eaten all 200 pounds of it. The merchant knew that his friend was lying and, in retaliation, stole the friend's son until the friend found a way to replace all of his iron. I thought this story was really interesting, and really enjoyed it and wanted to finish it, since the it ends on a cliffhanger with the merchant just announcing that he had stolen his friend's son. We never find out what happened, or if the merchant ever got his iron back and returned the son, so I thought it would be interesting to know how the story ends and what comes of the merchant, friend and son. I like to think that the merchant would realize that he did the wrong thing for taking the son, so he'd want to return the him, even if it meant he didn't get his iron back.