Week 5 Story: The Three Lovers

The Three Men

Source: Wikipedia

Long ago, there was a very rich and intelligent Brahman who had a beautiful daughter named Coral. Coral was the most beautiful lady all around, and everyone knew it. Not only was she beautiful, but she was also kind, smart, and had a wonderful sense of humor. She and her father both knew that she was sought after by many men. When she was finally of age, it was time to find a man for her.

There were three men in particular who lived up to the qualities that her father wanted. Her father would rather die than give her up to another man, but he knew it was time. The decision was ultimately to be made by her father, but she had some input. The men would visit daily, asking to see her from the time she woke up to the time she went to bed.

One night, as she was slipping into bed, she heard a knock on her window. It was one of the men, Edmund, asking her to come down for a chat at the edge of the forest. She pondered his idea for a moment, and finally decided to go. They were having a nice conversation when the other two men showed up.

"Edmund! You've already had your time with her for the day. This isn't fair at all!" said Henry. And so a fight began between the three men. The fight escalated quickly and they began to fight and roll around on the ground. Coral was begging them to stop and stepped in the way of the men.  Suddenly, and accidentally, she was pushed over the edge of the cliff where she fell to her death.

Her father and the three men were devastated by the news. Two of the men, Henry and Joseph, began to cry by her grave and stayed there for days. Edmund however, started a long journey on foot. He had heard rumors of a spell book that could do almost anything. He searched everywhere for two weeks, when he came across an old town where he ate dinner. He asked the owner if he knew of the book, to which he replied: "Yes Edmund, I have a spell book! But only for me to perform these spells. You must bring her ashes to me." Edmund didn't like this idea, so when the night came he snuck back in and stole the book for himself.

Upon arriving back at Coral's grave, Edmund saw that the two men were still grieving. All this time as he has been searching for a solution, the other men were doing nothing but mourning for their loss. Edmund performed the spell, and right in front of his eyes Coral rose from the ashes. The men were all astonished at what they were seeing!

Later on, when Coral was reunited with her father, they made a decision on who she was to marry.
Of course, they chose Edmund because he brought her back to life. The other men were disappointed in themselves, but eventually were very understanding. Edmund had gone above and beyond to win Coral's heart from the beginning.

The extra work that you put in will eventually be rewarded.


Source: The Three Lovers
Author's Note: In the original story the three men are all trying to win Coral's love, but she dies from an illness. When she dies, one man built a hut and slept on her ashes. One man took her bones and dipped them in the Ganges River. The third man became a monk and traveled all over. He came across a village and was entertained by a Brahman. While there, he saw a mother and child. The child would not stop crying so the mother threw him into a fire, where he was turned to ashes. The monk was surprised, and the Brahman got out a spell book to bring him back to life. The monk stole the book, and took it back to Coral to bring her back to life. The men began to fight over her, but the father said that the man who brought her back to life did what a father should do, the man who brought her bones to the river did what a son would do, and the man who slept on her ashes did what a husband would do. So, he was the one to end up with Coral.
I changed what happened to Coral when she died to give it a more dramatic reason with it being the men's fault. I also changed what the men did when she died. I thought the man who traveled to find a solution should be the one to end up with her because he did all of the work to make it happen.