The Field and the Brothers

Once upon a time two brothers farmed the land on which they lived. They each worked the land and divided equally between them all that the land produced. One brother lived with a wife and two children while the other lived alone. One evening the married brother’s wife said, “your brother works the land as hard as you. But with no family, what is he to do if he should fall ill or, when growing old, he cannot provide for himself?” Together they agreed that they should share some of their bounty. So that evening the married brother took part of his harvest and snuck it into his brother’s barn. It so happened that the single brother had been thinking about his married brother. He thought about how his brother had to support a family while he had merely to support himself. He decided secretly to take some of his harvest and put it in his brother’s barn. Now , for some time, each brother after their harvesting, would secretly bring part of his harvest to the other’s barn. And each was puzzled that their grains and vegetables never seemed to diminish. One evening, the brother’s bumped into each other as they were about their secret sharing. The brothers stood in silence, looking at each other. Then they embraced. Many years later when the people were choosing a site on which to build a temple to their god they chose the fields on which the bothers had lived.

image: Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds, van Gogh