Kartikeya and the Golden Mango

A visitor came to the mountain one evening and left behind a single golden mango. It was said to hold all the wisdom in the world inside it. There was only one mango, and there were two brothers. Parvati turned it over in her hands and smiled. "Then we shall make it a race," she said.

Kartikeya and Ganesha came running. Kartikeya was quick and long-legged and loved to be first. Ganesha was round and slow and rather fond of sitting down. Shiva set out the rule. "Go three times around the whole world," he said. "The first one back may have the mango."

Kartikeya did not wait a single heartbeat. He whistled for his peacock, sprang onto its back, and shot up into the evening sky like a blue arrow. He was over the far hills before anyone had finished counting to three.

And what a journey it was. He flew above green forests and white deserts, over oceans that went on and on, past rivers like silver threads laid across the land. Once around. Twice around. He was fast, and he knew he was fast, and his heart sang the whole way.

Ganesha had not moved at all. He looked at his mother, and then at his father, and then he did something strange. He walked, very slowly, in a circle all the way around the two of them. Then he did it again. Then a third time. And then he sat down.

"You have not gone anywhere," said Shiva. "I have," said Ganesha. "You and Mother are my whole world. I have been around it three times." Just then Kartikeya came down out of the sky, breathless and glowing. He looked at Ganesha, and at the mango already resting in his hands, and — after a moment — he laughed. "Next time," he said, "I shall think first, and fly after."