In a family living near Tripoli, seven brothers grew up strong and adventurous. The eldest six were fond of hunting wild animals, while the youngest preferred spending more time at home with his mother. Although the brothers were different in character, they were closely united and rarely separated from one another.
One morning, the seven brothers prepared to leave on a long hunting expedition. Before they departed, they went to their aunt and gave her a simple instruction.
“If our mother gives birth to a girl while we are away, wave a white handkerchief and we will return home immediately. But if the child is a boy, wave a sickle. We will then know that there is no reason for us to hurry back, and we will continue our journey.”
The aunt understood their instruction, but she did not share their affection for them. She disliked the seven brothers and secretly wished they would leave the family home.
While the brothers were away, their mother gave birth.
The child was a girl.
According to the brothers’ instructions, their aunt should have waved a white handkerchief.
Instead, she picked up a sickle.
When the seven brothers saw the signal from a distance, they believed that their mother had given birth to another son. Thinking that there was no reason to return immediately, they continued deeper into the wilderness.
They did not know that they had been deceived.
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The baby girl grew into a lively young girl named Udea. She grew up without knowing that she had seven older brothers. Her mother kept the painful truth hidden, and the family continued their lives without the seven young men.
Years passed.
One day, Udea was playing with other girls when an argument broke out. During the quarrel, one of the girls said something that Udea had never heard before.
“It is unfortunate that you were born,” the girl told her. “Since the day you came into this world, your seven brothers have been wandering far from home.”
Udea was stunned.
She hurried home and confronted her mother.
“Mother, is it true that I have brothers?”
Her mother could no longer hide the truth.
“Yes,” she replied. “You have seven brothers. They left the day you were born, and I have never seen them since.”
Udea could hardly believe what she was hearing.
“Then I will find them,” she declared.
Her mother tried to discourage her. Fifteen years had passed since the brothers disappeared. Nobody knew where they lived or whether they were still together.
But Udea refused to abandon the search.
She prepared to leave.
Her mother gave her provisions for the journey, a camel and a magical cowrie shell to hang around the animal’s neck. She also arranged for a servant named Barka and his wife to accompany her.
Udea began her journey across the vast landscape.
The journey was difficult, but she remained determined. She had spent her entire life without knowing her brothers, and now she wanted to see them with her own eyes.
Barka, however, was not as trustworthy as Udea’s mother believed.
On the second day, Barka told Udea to get down from the camel because his wife was tired and needed to ride.
Udea refused.
The camel belonged to her, and her mother had given it to her for the long journey.
When Barka insisted, Udea’s mother, who had followed them for part of the journey, heard the argument and ordered him to leave her daughter alone.
But Udea’s mother could not follow them forever.
Soon the travellers were far from home.
Barka waited until there was nobody nearby to challenge him. Then he ordered Udea to surrender the camel to his wife.
This time, Udea had little choice.
The servant’s wife climbed onto the camel while Udea was forced to walk.
The situation became even worse when the travellers encountered a caravan. The people in the caravan gave them directions toward the place where Udea’s seven brothers were believed to live.
Udea’s heart filled with hope.
After years of wondering whether her brothers even existed, she was finally getting closer to them.
Eventually, she reached their home.
The seven brothers did not recognize her.
She was covered in black pitch after the difficulties of her journey, making her appearance completely different from what they might have expected.
Yet one of the brothers noticed something unusual.
He saw white marks appearing through the black covering on her face.
He wiped away some of the pitch.
The truth slowly became clear.
Udea was their sister.
The seven brothers were overwhelmed with emotion.
They had believed for fifteen years that their mother had given birth to a boy. They had never known that their aunt had deceived them.
When Udea finally told them what Barka and his wife had done to her during the journey, the brothers were furious.
They punished the two servants for their cruelty.
At last, Udea had found the family she had spent years searching for.
But her troubles were not completely over.
The brothers were hunters, and their work often took them away from home. Before leaving on another expedition, they warned Udea to remain inside their castle and to follow the advice of the cat that had lived with them for years.
The cat knew the dangers surrounding the brothers’ home.
Udea agreed.
But another danger was already approaching.
A powerful man-eating creature learned that the brothers had a beautiful young sister living in their castle.
The creature wanted to capture her.
Udea was soon forced to defend herself while the brothers were away.
The danger became increasingly frightening as the creature tried to break into the castle.
Each night, another barrier stood between Udea and the monster.
She locked one door after another, hoping that the brothers would return before the creature reached her.
The cat remained nearby, helping her understand what was happening.
Udea refused to surrender.
She remembered the journey she had already survived.
She had crossed the wilderness.
She had endured Barka’s cruelty.
She had searched for seven brothers she had never met.
She had finally found them.
She would not allow another danger to take away the family she had fought so hard to recover.
Meanwhile, the seven brothers were returning.
They hurried toward home when they realized that Udea was in danger.
Their arrival changed everything.
The creature was confronted, and Udea was finally safe.
The brothers gathered around their sister, grateful that she had survived the dangers that had surrounded her.
For the first time, the family could finally understand the full truth of what had happened years earlier.
Their aunt’s jealousy had separated seven brothers from their parents.
A simple signal had been deliberately changed.
One dishonest act had kept a family apart for fifteen years.
And yet the youngest child, who had unknowingly been at the centre of the separation, became the person who brought everyone back together.
Udea’s journey had begun with a painful secret.
It ended with the restoration of a family.
Her determination had carried her across the wilderness, and her courage had helped her survive deception and danger.
The seven brothers, once lost because of another person’s jealousy, were finally home again with their sister.
The family secret that had kept them apart for years had finally been revealed.
And Udea, once blamed for a separation she had never caused, became the one who ended it.
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Moral Lesson
Jealousy and deception can tear families apart, but courage, perseverance and the determination to discover the truth can restore what has been lost.
Knowledge Check
1. How many brothers did Udea have?
Udea had seven older brothers.
2. Why did the brothers leave home?
They believed their aunt’s false signal meant that their mother had given birth to a boy, so they continued their journey instead of returning home.
3. What did Udea discover about her family?
She discovered that she had seven brothers who had disappeared on the day she was born.
4. Why did Udea decide to search for her brothers?
She wanted to meet them and understand what had happened to them.
5. What happened when Udea finally reached her brothers?
They initially failed to recognize her, but after the pitch was removed from her face, they realized that she was their sister.
6. What caused the brothers’ separation from their family?
Their aunt’s jealousy and deliberate deception caused them to leave home and remain away for many years.
Source
Adapted from Hans Stumme, Märchen und Gedichte aus der Stadt Tripolis in Nordafrika, 1898, and the later public-domain English version published in Andrew Lang’s The Grey Fairy Book.
