They greeted me suspiciously but eventually shared with me their tale, and I
shall share it with thee.
Their father died and left them a map to some unclaimed land that
contained valuable minerals. By law a claim can only be made in one name, and
this led the brothers into conflict. One brother was the eldest, the other
was more worldly-- both wanted the claim. They became so fearful that the
other would make the claim that each spent all his time spying on the other.
No work was done.
One day, they met a stranger who said he was a mining engineer. They did
not trust him at first, but he assured them that their claim was too small to
be of interest. He was on the way to stake a much larger claim. The stranger
turned their heads with tales of the riches they could have, replacing their
distrust with avarice.
The brothers asked the stranger to make their claim for them, and went
back to working their mine. They worked without stopping for months, and
afterward travelled to the mint to sell their ore.
At the mint they later the stranger had staked their claim in his own
name and then sold it outright for a fortune. As the brothers had taken ore
from land they did not own, they were sent to the prison in Yew for many
years.
Their sad fate taught them to be more trusting of each other, for a man
who does not trust his brother is always vulnerable. After hearing their
tale, I went to the mint, for I was curious which of the two brothers held
the claim to their new mine.
I had tried to guess and was quite surprised when I saw the answer. It was m
the name of their father.


vi. The Creation of The Fellowship

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