In a little kingdom by the sea there lived a queen with her ten sons. The father king had worked himself to death amassing a fortune by fighting hard battles. Before he died, he told his children that he had hidden his fortune, consisting of gold coins, in different places deep in the dark fertile garden of his estate.
He left a strange will indicating that each of his sons would have to search and dig for the treasure with a spade for one entire night, and each son would have to divide equally whatever he found with the other brothers. After ten nights, the entire garden would be dug up, and any left-over fortune would be given, half to the mother, and half to the public. The will stated that about twelve million dollars in gold coins were hidden in the royal gardens.
Of the ten brothers, the eldest was saintly and the eighth and ninth brothers were very wicked. The others were fairly good. The wicked eighth prince was very greedy and ambitious and wanted to dig for the treasure alone. On the first night, as he was digging under the surveillance of the other nine brothers, he suddenly struck a box of gold containing a million dollars.
This eighth wicked brother announced that he would distribute the money equally, at a little mound in the garden. But he had secretly hired men to dig a 10-foot wide and 20-foot deep moat around the mound. The moat was covered with thin sticks and loose earth, as also was the single bridge leading to the middle of the mound.
In the dim light of a waning moon, the wicked brother asked the other brothers to stand on the edge of the moat while he passed over the secret bridge to the middle of the mound. Then the wicked brother sang a hymn, giving thanks for the treasure which was soon to be divided into ten equal parts. Cunningly he said to his brothers, “Brothers, I want to hold a little competition in celebration of our found treasure. I want all of you to jump with all your might, and he who jumps the farthest will be awarded one hundred extra gold coins.”
The ninth wicked brother became suspicious of this request. Unnoticed, he slipped away from the other princes and hid behind a tree. At the given signal, the other eight princes jumped and crashed through the covering of loose earth and thin sticks into the moat, now filled with water. The eighth wicked brother laughed and hurled taunts at his drowning brothers, “Ah ha, why don’t you come out and take your share, you fools?” He walked round and round the moat, watching in merriment his drowning brothers.
The ninth brother, who had been waiting behind a tree, unsheathed his sword, and coming up stealthily behind the eighth wicked brother, slew him with one stroke. This ninth wicked brother then reluctantly rescued the other eight princes from the moat and, with his sword dripping blood, went to the Queen. He exclaimed, “Mother Queen, look here, I slew your eighth son who plotted to kill all of us.”
The mother rejoiced after she heard how her eight sons had been saved from drowning, but with sobs cried out, “Your Excellency, my ninth son, my heart is bursting with grief for you have killed your brother.”
To which the ninth son replied, “What do you mean, mother? Would you rather have seen your eighth wicked son alive and the rest killed?”
“No, no,” the mother replied, “but I wish you could have saved your eight brothers and your wicked brother too, for he was my son also, and being wicked needed my protecting love.”
The sons retired. Every night a million dollars were found. The ninth brother began to connive a plot so that he would be the sole owner of all the money which, according to his advice, was being stored in a secret chamber, to be distributed on the eleventh night.
On the eleventh night, the ninth wicked son, armed with a dagger and a pistol, entered the dimly-lighted chamber where the money was being stored. After the other eight brothers entered, he locked the door, unsheathed his dagger and shouted, “This is your end, for I am going to slay you one by one. I am going to own all the treasure, and I am going to become the king by dethroning the queen.”
Suddenly there was a hush, and with a firm voice the saintly eldest prince spoke. “Brother, it is wrong for you to kill us all. I dare to tell you that if you kill us your conscience will remind you during every minute of your existence that you are the greatest criminal that ever lived, and all because you wanted to have extra luxuries and to be king. I am not afraid of you.”
The eldest prince then shouted at his seven brothers, who were ready to jump upon the wicked brother. He said, “Let no one stir. Do not use physical force to punish this wicked brother of ours. Let him kill us with our permission, one by one, and with our blessing and love. We must continue to love him as our brother, for we know that he is acting under the intoxication of evil. But let us all say to him, ‘You are wrong! We dare to tell you that you are wrong, and that you will regret your deeds forever.’”
The ninth brother shouted, “It doesn’t matter what you say. If any of you advance, I will shoot you.”
But the eldest brother, unafraid, asked the others to stand still and sing, “We welcome you to kill us while we bless you with our love, now and hereafter.” While the other brothers remained still, the eldest brother, in spite of the warning, began to advance steadily toward the menacing gun, A shot rang through the silent chamber. The eldest prince was bleeding, yet he continued to advance, saying, “Brother, you may give me death, but I will give you love instead. Kill me first. Take my life and spare the others.”
Hearing this, the ninth brother threw away his gun and dagger and fell at the feet of the eldest prince. The other brothers, for a moment losing their self control, jumped on the wicked prince and began choking him, but the eldest brother, though wounded, rescued the wicked brother.
All nine princes returned to the Mother-Queen. The eldest prince spoke, “Mother-Queen, by my blood I have saved my seven brothers and also my naughty brother who is also thy son, and I have made him willingly cast away his weapons and his wickedness.”
The Mother-Queen cried out in joy, “My dear sons. That is the mode of action I love most. Whether you are good or whether you are murderers, you are my children. No matter what you do, you can’t take away my motherly love, for I love you all equally and will ever do so. I hope that henceforth you will all live in amity and never rejoice in hurting one another.
“Remember: whether you are wrong or right, I cannot take sides. You must fight out your own battles. When you fight, I do not rejoice with the victorious son, and my heart bleeds for the vanquished son. I wish you would not fight but would live in amity. All of you living together in amity is the only thing that truly pleases me.”
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The above story offers the nations of the earth a great lesson. In World War I every nation declared that God was especially concerned with its success. But the Cosmic Mother never took sides, nor did She rejoice when the Allies were victorious over Germany. Rather, it broke the heart of the Cosmic Mother when one nation fought against another and rejoiced in doing so.
The Cosmic Mother God says, “Naughty or good, all of you are my children. I hope that all of you, as my children, will live in peace. Make an altar of a United League of National Hearts, wherein I shall come to dwell with My Light of Truth and Peace to endlessness.”
