There were seven brothers and one sister; the youngest brother was a fish in the river.

Kalaicelvi: You’ve got to say that the seventh brother was lame and the sister takes food to him.
Storyteller: No, be quiet.
Kalaicelvi: But she takes him food.
Storyteller: No, all the brothers are fine.
Kalaicelvi: But—
Storyteller: Keep quiet and let me tell the story.

The sister used to take food to her brothers every day, and on the way she would give the youngest, the fish, a ball of rice. One day, she didn’t have enough rice to feed the fish-brother, so she made a ball of dirt, stuck the few remaining rice grains on top, and fed him that.

When the fish saw the dirt-ball, he thought, “So this is what my sister brings me! And I carry her across the river every day!” Enraged, he cut off her nose with his sharp fin.

The sister lived at home and continued her usual chores. Soon, it was time for her marriage, and everyone contributed money toward the preparations. But there were no flowers anywhere in that town—nowhere! They looked everywhere, but found nothing.

In the end, they went to the place where they had buried the fish-brother. You see, they had got angry with him for hurting their sister and had said, “We’ve only got one sister and she’s got to get married; but you disfigured her like this! How’s she going to get married?”

In their anger, they had killed him. Then he became a rose bush, and that’s where they went to get flowers. Begging and pleading, the parents were able to pluck flowers from the bush. They took the flowers home and wove them into a marriage garland.

It’s said that a garland put on a good person will shine brightly, and that a garland on a bad person will turn black. That’s what happened here. They put a garland on the groom and it was beautiful, but when they garlanded the bride, the flowers turned black—again and again.

At this point, her parents said to her, “Go to your brother and ask for forgiveness; then come back.”

She went to the spot where her brother was buried and said, “What I did was wrong. I didn’t bring enough food that day; that’s why I gave you that dirt-rice. Please forgive me and send me back with your blessings.”

When he heard this, the fish-brother blessed her and wished her a happy married life.

This time, when the garland was put on her neck, it shone brightly. They were married, and all were happy.

A folk story from Tamil Nadu sourced from ‘Moral Fictions: Tamil Folktale from the Oral Tradition‘ collected by Stuart Blackburn.

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