The Three Brothers, part 6

(as performed by Brock, in Pewter City's world famous Fireside Theater)

After traveling for a very long time, his good fortune brought him to the fork where he had parted with his brothers. He immediately rushed to the oak to see if the marks had changed, but his own mark was the only one unchanged. The two others had turned black. He was understandably devastated at this, believing that his brothers were dead or in great danger.

In his grief, he forgot about the wonderful ruby and sapphire which he possessed. He resolved to go and search for his brothers, and so went along the same road his youngest brother had taken when they parted.

As he traveled he remembered the ruby which the winged Ponyta had given him, and the sapphire which he had found at the inn; but these did not console him very much.

After traveling for some time he found himself before a large palace, the guard of which asked him if he would take charge of the king's Gogoats. He said he would, if the king could tell him something about his two brothers, who had traveled that way with a similar company years before. The king said that no men with such a company had passed that way during his reign; which was understandable because he had only recently ascended to the throne. The old king, who the two brothers had served, had died some years before.

However, though the eldest brother could learn nothing of his two younger brothers, he decided to stay there, and so was appointed as Gogoat-keeper.

As he drove the Gogoats out, day by day, he looked everywhere for some trace of his brothers; for, although their marks were black, he wanted to believe that they were still alive.

One day, as he wandered with his Gogoats, he met an old man who was going to the forest to cut wood. He asked him if he had seen anything of his two brothers. The old man answered...

"Who knows? Perhaps they have been lost on that mountain where so many others have lost their lives. Drive your Gogoats up that high hill; from the top you will see a much higher mountain, which smokes, and never stops. On that mountain many people have been lost; perhaps your brothers also have perished there. I will, however, give you one piece of good advice. Do not go, under any circumstances, to the place where it smokes. I am now an old man, but I have never seen one person return from there. So, if your life is dear to you, do not go up that mountain."

With that, the old man went on his way.

The Gogoat-keeper drove his Gogoats up the hill, and from its top he saw a very high mountain which smoked, just as the old man had said. He tried to discover if any living creature was there, but he could not see the traces of a single one. He considered whether he should go there or not, and, after mulling it over in his mind, he finally decided to go.

In the evening, when he drove the Gogoats home, he told the king of his intention. The king tried hard to dissuade him, and promised to raise his wages if he would stay with him; however, nothing could turn him from his resolution. So the king paid him, and he went on his way.

Having come to the mountain he found the fire, and wondered who lit it. As he thought over this he heard a woman's voice. So he looked up, and was astonished at seeing an old woman huddled together. Her hair was longer than her body, and as white as snow. When he looked up, she said to him...

"My son, I am so cold. I would like to warm myself, but I am afraid of your Pokemon. I made that fire myself, but, seeing you coming with your Pokemon, I was frightened, and got up here to save myself."

"Well, you can come down now, and warm yourself as much as you like,"

"I dare not--your Pokemon would bite me. But I will give you a hair, and you will bind them with it. Then I will come down."

The eldest brother thought to himself that the hair must be a very powerful hair, if it could bind his Teddiursa, his Poochyena, his Growlithe, and his Meowth. So, instead of throwing it over the Pokemon, he threw it into the fire. Meanwhile the old woman came down from the tree, and they both sat by the fire. But he watched her like a Braviary.

Very soon she began to grow, and grow, and in a short time she was ten yards high. Then he remembered the words of the old woodcutter, and trembled. However, he only said to her...

"How you are growing?"

"Oh, no, my son, I am only warming myself."

She grew taller and taller, and had grown as tall as the beech tree, when he again exclaimed...

"But how you are growing, old woman!"

"Oh, no, my son. I am only warming myself,"

But he saw that she meant him harm, so he sang to his companions...

Karuto, iichiida shou...

They all jumped on the old woman, and began to tear her. Seeing she was unable to help herself, she begged him to save her, and promised she would give him whatever he asked.

"Well, I ask that you bring back to life my two brothers, with their companions, and all those you have destroyed. Besides that, I demand ten loads of gold pieces. If you do not comply with these demands, I will leave you to be torn to pieces by my Pokemon."

The old woman agreed to do all this, only asking that one man not be brought back to life, because she had said, when she had turned him to stone, 'When you return to life, may I die in your place!' and she was afraid she would turn to stone herself if he came back to life.

The eldest brother thought that she was trying to cheat him, and so did not honor her request.

Finding that she could not otherwise help herself, she finally said to him...

"Take some dust from that heap under the tree, and throw it over yourself and your company, and while you do so, sing Imultaos, ame no hao bakezo...

The moment he did as she told him, a bright light filled the air, and crowds of men, women, children, and Pokemon appeared--at least ten million in all, if not more. He was almost struck senseless with astonishment. But he explained to them what had happened. Most of them thanked him heartily; some of them, however, did not believe him.

They went their separate ways in droves; some went one way, some another, until they were all gone. Only his two brothers were left; though they too could not believe that he was their brother. However, when they saw that their Pokemon recognized his, they remembered that no one but them had such a strange team of Pokemon. Having recognized each other, the brothers ran to embrace each other. Then they divided the gold pieces which the old woman had given to the eldest, loaded their Pokemon with their treasures, and went towards their hometown.

As for the old woman, when the last petrified man returned to life, she herself crumbled into dust under the tree.