Desperate for a Son

There was once a man called Adrian in the land of Cyril. He was a rich man, richer than anybody else who lived at the time. Wealth was the gift that God had given him; and he had three wives, but of children he had none and was unhappy for that reason.

Whenever he said his prayers, he did not ask God to give him a son or daughter of any particular talent, but any child, someone he could look upon as his own.

One night when he was asleep he dreamed that he went to the market. There he saw a man selling a horse. Now Adrian liked the horse and when he heard that someone had already bought it for three pounds, he offered the seller three pounds ten shillings.

The man who had already bought the horse was offended and he said; 'Bryan, why do you want to deprive me of my bargain?"

“Not so, my friend. l want the horse. You want the horse. The seller wants money. To whom should he sell?" Bryan Adrian paid for the horse and on his way home he felt very happy.

When he got home he showed the horse proudly to his servants and to all who knew him.

At night he dreamed that the horse had a foal. The foal grew up and Adrian loved it as he had loved its mother. As soon as it was rideable he ordered his servants to saddle it so that he might have the honour of mounting it first.

The servants saddled and bedecked the young horse as best they could, and Adrian mounted. He rode out into the fields where he spurred her into a gallop. The horse stumbled; Adrian fell, breaking an arm and a leg. Then he woke from his dream.

He was wet with sweat. He could not sleep any longer. He got up and began to walk about the room, thinking. His breathing became loud and laboured. An attendant came into his bedroom and asked him what was wrong.

Why had he got in the middle of the night, holding his head in his hands and thinking so deeply? "Go away!" he said. "Nothing is wrong with me. In the morning you will call Bryan Martin to me."

Bryan Martin was the man with the greatest knowledge of herbs at the time. He was also said to be able to interpret dreams. Bryan Adrian believed in him implicitly.

"Yes,” said Martin, when he had heard Adrian's story.

"God has shown you what he has in store for you, as you can see from the dream. That foal you saw in the dream stands for your future wife. Just as you got to the market when someone had already bought the horse, so also will you be late in courting your future wife. You'll find that somebody had already betrothed her; but if you're lucky, you may still win her from the man. She is the only girl who is likely to give you a child. But when she has borne you a baby you will suffer so much that you will regret having gone against the will of God. In my opinion, it is best to let the matter rest as it is. Do not concern yourself with marriage. for you it was not written that way."

"Will God indeed let me see a son of my own?" Bryan Adrian exclaimed. ‘If so, l do not care how much l suffer after that!"

"Remember this, Bryan Adrian; God is there to grant us our request."

"You speak the truth, Bryan Martin. But how am I to know the girl?"

"You will have to search for her. When you see her, you will know.”

“Thank you”, said the rich man. "Please take this money for explaining dream to me.”

"No, Bryan. My father taught me never to accept money for practising my art. I go now.”

Bryan Martin bowed and left the room.

Adrian sat in his study. He heard a knock on the door and one of his servants came in and said, "In all the time l have lived in this town l had never before seen such a girl as l saw today at the gate of Bryan Javier."

"Which Bryan Javier?" asked Adrian.

"The one who lives down the road."

"But I do not think that Bryan Javier has a daughter."

The servant said; "Do you remember that about ten years ago Bryan Adrian has his daughter betrothed to a young man. This is the same girl who has now grown up."

"But why has she not been coming out of her father's house all this time?"

"Because Bryan Javier is very strict with her."

"Go then. Find out for certain who she is. l shall indeed be surprised if Bryan Javier, an old man, has such a daughter."

The servants made enquiries. They found that Bryan Javier was indeed the father, and that the girl's name was Mary. They came back and told Bryan Adrian.

Adrian sent a message to the girl, asking her to come and see him. The servants went to the girl and gave her the message. She said, “Who is this Bryan Adrian, and what does he want with me?"

"We do not know," said the servants. "He only sent us to fetch you.”

"Go and tell him l shall not come."

Now this girl Mary had been betrothed to Abraham Miquel ever since she was a mere infant. The man had put some money in a pot and poured water into it as a sign that both of them would grow up together as husband and wife.

Both of them had loved each other deeply. She grew up to be very beautiful; so beautiful that her mother began to doubt whether Abraham Miquel was worthy of her.

The time approached when she would have to go to the home of Miquel, but his people were not yet quite ready to receive her. It was during this time that Bryan Adrian's servant saw her

To Be Continued....

Bryan Adrian kept sending messages to the girl to come and see him, and at last Mary asked him to state what he wanted of her.

"Tell him that I am not a man. I cannot come alone to see him. That is not proper.”

Adrian sent back word that he wanted to marry her. She told him that she was already betrothed and that nothing would ever separate her from her fiancé, except God.

“I have grown up to think of Miquel as my husband; my parents and the parents of Miquel arranged it all when I was a child playing in the sand, was the message she sent him.

The news of Bryan Adrian's demand soon got to Miquel. He could not eat; he could do nothing throughout that day until he had spoken to her.

Mary, I have heard that the richest man in this town wants to marry you.

"And what did your informer tell you my reply was to him?

"If I heard right, they said you told him that you would marry no one else but me. But Mary, I am afraid of women