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THE GAME OF CHESS

Once upon a time... in faraway Persia there was a King who had a beautiful
wife and a handsome son called Gav. Life was all sunshine as far as he was
concerned, but not for long.
One day, as he was going hunting, he fell from his horse and was killed.
Women in Persia could not succeed to the throne and so the dead ruler's brother
was proclaimed King. He was a prince called May. He fell in love with the
widowed Queen and married her. She gave him a son whose name was Talend. Alas,
some time later, the new King died and there only remained the Queen with the
two sons, brothers of couse, but with different fathers. The question was soon
raised:-
"Which brother will become King of Persia?" "It will be Gav," was one reply,
"because he is the elder." But others said, "It will be Talend, because he is
the son of our last King." The Queen herself said nothing at all.
However, sooner or later, she would have to come to a decision, and she did
not want to disappoint either Gav or Talend. As long as the two boys were
small, it didn't matter, but when they started to grow up and began to ask
when one or the other was going to be crowned King, the problems began. The
Queen couldn't make up her mind. When the ministersasked her to make a choice,
she would reply,
"Yes, I will do it tommorow..." and so the years went by.
Gav and Talend became young men, and rivals. As children they were always
together, as youths, they saw little of each other, indeed, they kept out of
each other's way. Each had his own set of friends. In that way, two sides were
formed, one supporting Talend, the other supporting Gav. The ministers were
very worried, and now insisted that the Queen choose the King. But she couldn't
bring herself to do this, for fear of disappointing one of her dearly loved
sons.
Some years later, the kingdom drifted towards what is known as civil war,
for the two princes did not see eye to eye, neither wanted to give up the
throne, neither wanted to step down. Some of the provinces sided with Talend,
others with Gav. Certain battalions in the army swore allegiance to Talend,
others to Gav. The two young men met, but only to stare at each other coldly
and to promise war instead of peace, and war was fast approaching. Two
opposing armies were built up, consisting of weapons, money, horses and
elephants, very important in Persia, for they carried on their backs a
wickerwork turret from which the archers fired arrows at the enemy. Gav's army
began to march against Talend's. All Persia held its breath,awaiting the battle
that was to decide its fate.
The battle was fought. both armies had the same number of foot soldiers,
standard bearers and elephants. It was a terrible massacre. Neither of the
brothers wanted the other to die. In spite of everything, the brothers felt the
call of the family tie. Indeed, each had given an order that, if the soldiers
found they were about to kill the enemy leader, they were to stop and warn him
instead by shouting,
"Watch out, King!" The conflict lasted for a long time, until Gav's troops
were overcome and Talend found himself with only a few soldiers to defend him.
Then, a little later, quite alone, he found himself surrounded on all sides by
Gav's turreted elephants, slowly advancing on him. No arrows were fired on the