Prince Half-a-Son

Once upon a time there was a king who had no children. This sorrow weighed on his mind so terribly that he picked out the dirtiest, most broken-down old bed he could find and lay down on it in the lovely palace gardens. There he lay among the flowers and fruit trees, the butterflies and the birds, without noticing any of the beauty around him. That was his way of showing his grief.

As he lay there, a holy fakir came through the garden. Seeing the king in such a sorry state, he asked what trouble had driven him to such a filthy old bed.

“What is the use of asking?” said the king. But when the fakir asked a third time, the king plucked up courage and answered gloomily, “I have no children!”

“Is that all?” said the fakir. “That is easily mended. Here, take my stick and throw it twice into that mango tree. At the first throw five mangoes will fall, and at the second two. Give one mango to each of your seven queens, and you shall have that many sons.”

The king, overjoyed, took the fakir’s stick and hurried to the mango tree. Sure enough, five mangoes fell at the first throw, and two at the second. But the king was still not satisfied. Wanting to make the most of his chance, he threw the stick into the tree a third time, hoping for more children. To his surprise and dismay, the stick stuck fast in the branches, and the seven fallen mangoes flew back up to their places, where they hung, tempting him, just out of reach.

There was nothing for it but to go and tell the fakir what had happened.

“That comes of being greedy!” said the fakir. “Surely seven sons are enough for anyone, and still you were not content! Still, you shall have a second try. Return to the tree, and there you will see the stick lying on the ground. Throw it as I told you, and take care to obey, for if you disobey this time, you may lie on your dirty old bed until the end of the world for all I care!”

So the king went to the mango tree, and when the seven mangoes had fallen, five at the first throw and two at the second, he carried them straight into the palace and gave them to his queens, to keep himself out of temptation.

As luck would have it, the youngest queen was out, so the king put her mango away for her in a tiny cupboard in the wall. While it lay there, a greedy little mouse crept in and nibbled away half of it. Soon afterwards the seventh queen came in. Seeing the other queens wiping their mouths, she asked what they had been eating.

“The king gave each of us a mango,” they said, “and he put yours in that cupboard over there.”

The youngest queen ran to get her mango, but half of it was gone. All the same, she ate the half that was left and enjoyed it very much.

What came of it was this. Some months later each of the six older queens had a son, but the youngest queen had only half a son, and that is what everyone called him from the start: just Half-a-Son, and nothing more. He had one eye, one ear, one arm and one leg. Seen from the side, he was as handsome a young prince as you could wish to see, while his unusual body made him look different from his brothers. Still, he grew up healthy and strong, and when his brothers went out shooting, he begged to be allowed to go too.

“How can you go shooting?” wept his mother, who did nothing but fret because her son was only half a son. “You are only half a boy. How can you hold a crossbow?”

“Then let me go and play at shooting,” said the prince, not a bit discouraged. “Only give me some sweets to take with me, dear mother, like the other boys have, and I shall manage well enough.”

“How can I make sweets for half a son?” wept his mother. “Go and ask the other queens to give you some.”

So he asked the other queens, and they, to make fun of the poor boy, whom everyone in the palace laughed at, gave him sweets stuffed with ashes.

The six whole princes and little Half-a-Son set off to go shooting, and when they were tired and hungry, they sat down to eat the sweets they had brought. When Prince Half-a-Son put one in his half-a-mouth, he found that although it was sugary on the outside, inside it was nothing but ashes and grit. He was a simple, trusting young prince, and supposing someone had muddled things up, he asked his brothers to share a few of their sweets. But they only jeered and laughed at him.

After a while they came to a melon field, fenced so carefully with thorns that only one tiny gap was left in one corner, and it was too small for anyone to squeeze through except half a boy. So while the six whole princes stood outside, little Half-a-Son feasted on the delicious melons inside. They begged him to toss a few over the hedge, but he only laughed and said, “Think of the sweets! It’s my turn now!”

When they kept on pestering him, he threw over a few hard, sour, unripe melons. That made his brothers so furious that they went running to the man who owned the field and complained that half a boy was spoiling his crop. Then they watched while the man caught poor Prince Half-a-Son, who could not run very fast, and tied him to a tree. And off they went, laughing.

Prince Half-a-Son also had a magic power: any rope would do whatever he told it. So when he saw his brothers leaving him behind, he called out, “Break, rope, break! My friends have gone on!” The rope snapped at once, and he was free to catch up with his brothers.

Next they came to a plum tree, where the fruit grew far out on thin branches that could bear the weight of half a boy and no more.

“Throw us some!” shouted his whole brothers, when they saw Half-a-Son with his half-mouth full.

“Think of the sweets!” said the prince.

This made his brothers so angry that they ran to the owner of the tree and told him that half a boy was gobbling his plums. They watched while the man caught him and tied him to the tree, and then they ran off laughing. But Prince Half-a-Son called out, “Break, rope, break! My friends have gone on!” and he was back with his brothers before they were out of sight. They could not understand how the brother they mocked kept getting the better of them.

Now they were determined to pay him back. They waited until he was drawing water from a well where they had stopped for a drink, and then they pushed him in.

“That’s the end of little Half-a-Son!” they said to each other, and ran away laughing.

But inside the well lived a one-eyed demon, a pigeon and a serpent. When darkness fell, the three came home and began to talk among themselves, while Prince Half-a-Son clung to the wall like a limpet, taking up no room at all, and listened, holding his breath.

“What is your power, my friend?” the demon asked the serpent.

“I lie on top of the treasure of seven kings,” said the serpent. “And what is yours, my friend?”

“The king’s daughter is in my power,” said the demon proudly. “She is always ill, and one day I shall kill her.”

“Ah,” said the pigeon, “I could cure her. Whatever the illness, anyone who eats my droppings is well at once.”

When dawn came, the demon, the serpent and the pigeon each went off to his own haunts without noticing Prince Half-a-Son.

Soon afterwards a camel driver came to draw water and let down his bucket, and Prince Half-a-Son grabbed the rope and held on. The camel driver felt something heavy and looked down to see what it was, and when he saw half a boy hanging on his rope, he was so frightened that he ran off. But Half-a-Son had only to say, “Pull, rope, pull!” and the rope wound itself up at once.

As soon as he was out, he set off for the nearest city and announced that he was a doctor who had come to cure the king’s daughter of her terrible illness.

“Be careful! Be careful!” cried the watchmen at the gate. “If you fail, you will lose your head. Many men have tried, and what can you do when you are only half a man?”

But Prince Half-a-Son had some of the pigeon’s droppings in his pocket, and he was not the least bit afraid. He boldly agreed to the terms: if he failed to cure the princess, his head would be cut off, but if he succeeded, he would have her hand in marriage and half the kingdom.

“Half the kingdom will suit me very well,” he said, “since I am only half a man!”

And sure enough, the moment the princess took her first dose, she was well. Her cheeks turned rosy and her eyes bright, and the king was so pleased that he ordered the wedding at once.

Among the wedding guests were Prince Half-a-Son’s wicked brothers, and they were almost sick with spite and jealousy when they found that the happy bridegroom was the half a boy they had always despised. So they went to the king and said, “We know this lad. He is nothing but a sweeper’s son, and not at all fit to marry such a charming princess!”

At first the king believed their wicked story and ordered the poor prince to be thrown out of the kingdom. But Half-a-Son asked for a string of mules and one day’s delay so that he could prove who and what he was. He went to the well and, while the serpent was away, dug up the treasure of seven kings, loaded it onto the mules and came back glittering with gold and jewels. He laid the treasure at the king’s feet and told him everything: the circumstances of his birth, and how cruelly his brothers had treated him.

So the wedding feast went on, and the wicked brothers slunk away in disgrace.

Full of envy and greed, they went to the well. “Half-a-Son got rich by falling in,” they said. “Let’s see whether we can find some treasure too.” And down into the well they leapt.

When night fell, the three who lived in the well, the demon, the serpent and the pigeon, all came back.

“Some thief has been here!” cried the pigeon. “My droppings are gone! Let’s feel around and see whether he is still here.”

So they felt around in the dark, and when they found the six brothers, the demon ate them up, one after another.

And so the brothers came to a bad end, and Prince Half-a-Son came out best of all, despite the cruelty he had faced.

About this tale

Flora Annie Steel included this tale in Tales of the Punjab. R. C. Temple’s notes explain that the hero’s name in the original is Adhia, from the word for a half, but that the people who told the tale called it “the Mothers of Seven Sons”. Temple’s historical note interprets the king’s broken-down bed as a display of grief intended to attract a holy man’s help.

The story follows Steel’s version closely. The brothers’ fate is told as plainly as in the original, without extra detail, and the brothers’ insult about a “sweeper’s son” is kept because it is the lie the king believes.

Read the original: Flora Annie Steel, Tales of the Punjab (Project Gutenberg #6145, Prince Half-a-Son)

Reading guidance: Ages 9–12 with adult preview; includes disability-based mockery, attempted murder, execution threats, caste prejudice and six brothers being eaten by a demon. A fantastical cure is not real medical guidance.

A closer reading

The name ‘Half-a-Son’ is the name other people give the prince, not a measure of his worth. The palace repeatedly treats physical difference as incapacity, yet the narrow gap and thin branches turn features others mock into practical advantages. His magical control of ropes is another capacity, not something he must possess to deserve ordinary care.

The brothers copy the location of his success while missing its causes. He survives through attention, overheard information and magic; they jump into the same well expecting the place alone to provide treasure. This echoes the king’s extra throw at the mango tree: wanting more is substituted for understanding the conditions of a gift.

The accusation that he is a sweeper’s son relies on caste prejudice as well as a lie. Neither that occupation nor any family background makes a person unworthy of respect or marriage. The king’s willingness to expel him before hearing his account deserves scrutiny even though treasure later changes the outcome.

The pigeon’s cure and the prince’s bodily form are supernatural inventions. Bird droppings are not a remedy, and the brothers’ deaths are a violent fairy-tale ending rather than a proportionate model for responding to bullying.

Try this with the story

Make two lists: assumptions others make about the prince and abilities he actually demonstrates. Then compare his route through the well with his brothers’ attempt. Identify what information the brothers copy and what they fail to learn.

Questions to ask

• How do the prince’s actions challenge assumptions about his body?
• Why does jumping into the same well not reproduce his success?
• What prejudice makes the brothers’ false accusation effective?
• How could the king judge the accusation more fairly?

You may also like

• The Son of Seven Mothers — another Indian tale about seven queens and a youngest son who wins out
• Peasie and Beansie — another tale from Tales of the Punjab where unkindness is punished
• Princess Aubergine — another magical tale from the same book