THE GAME OF CHESS<\/p>\n
Once upon a time… in faraway Persia there was a King who had a beautiful
\nwife and a handsome son called Gav. Life was all sunshine as far as he was
\nconcerned, but not for long.
\n One day, as he was going hunting, he fell from his horse and was killed.
\nWomen in Persia could not succeed to the throne and so the dead ruler’s brother
\nwas proclaimed King. He was a prince called May. He fell in love with the
\nwidowed Queen and married her. She gave him a son whose name was Talend. Alas,
\nsome time later, the new King died and there only remained the Queen with the
\ntwo sons, brothers of couse, but with different fathers. The question was soon
\nraised:-
\n “Which brother will become King of Persia?” “It will be Gav,” was one reply,
\n“because he is the elder.” But others said, “It will be Talend, because he is
\nthe son of our last King.” The Queen herself said nothing at all.
\n However, sooner or later, she would have to come to a decision, and she did
\nnot want to disappoint either Gav or Talend. As long as the two boys were
\nsmall, it didn’t matter, but when they started to grow up and began to ask
\nwhen one or the other was going to be crowned King, the problems began. The
\nQueen couldn’t make up her mind. When the ministersasked her to make a choice,
\nshe would reply,
\n “Yes, I will do it tommorow…” and so the years went by.
\n Gav and Talend became young men, and rivals. As children they were always
\ntogether, as youths, they saw little of each other, indeed, they kept out of
\neach other’s way. Each had his own set of friends. In that way, two sides were
\nformed, one supporting Talend, the other supporting Gav. The ministers were
\nvery worried, and now insisted that the Queen choose the King. But she couldn’t
\nbring herself to do this, for fear of disappointing one of her dearly loved
\nsons.
\n Some years later, the kingdom drifted towards what is known as civil war,
\nfor the two princes did not see eye to eye, neither wanted to give up the
\nthrone, neither wanted to step down. Some of the provinces sided with Talend,
\nothers with Gav. Certain battalions in the army swore allegiance to Talend,
\nothers to Gav. The two young men met, but only to stare at each other coldly
\nand to promise war instead of peace, and war was fast approaching. Two
\nopposing armies were built up, consisting of weapons, money, horses and
\nelephants, very important in Persia, for they carried on their backs a
\nwickerwork turret from which the archers fired arrows at the enemy. Gav’s army
\nbegan to march against Talend’s. All Persia held its breath,awaiting the battle
\nthat was to decide its fate.
\n The battle was fought. both armies had the same number of foot soldiers,
\nstandard bearers and elephants. It was a terrible massacre. Neither of the
\nbrothers wanted the other to die. In spite of everything, the brothers felt the
\ncall of the family tie. Indeed, each had given an order that, if the soldiers
\nfound they were about to kill the enemy leader, they were to stop and warn him
\ninstead by shouting,
\n “Watch out, King!” The conflict lasted for a long time, until Gav’s troops
\nwere overcome and Talend found himself with only a few soldiers to defend him.
\nThen, a little later, quite alone, he found himself surrounded on all sides by
\nGav’s turreted elephants, slowly advancing on him. No arrows were fired on the
\nprince, he turned his way and that, searching for a way to escape, but his
\nheart failed at that moment and he fell dead to the ground.
\n High in the palace tower, the Queen had watched the battle with sorrow in
\nher heart, knowing full well that she was, at that moment, losing one of her
\nsons. But which one? It didn’t matter. She loved them both equally. When she
\nsaw that the dust had settled on the distant plain and the cries of battle had
\ndied away, the Queen came down from the tower and rushed through the palace to
\nmeet those returning from the field. She stopped in her tracks. Her son Gav,
\nhis clothes in tatters and slashed with blood, staggered sadly towards her.
\n “Talend?” stammered the Queen. Gav shook his head,
\n “Oh, mother,” he said, “my brother Talend is dead.”
\n “Dead! Did you kill him?”
\n “Oh, no, mother!” exclaimed Gav. “I would never have done such a thing.”
\n “But you ordered his death!” exclaimed the Queen. The young man then knelt
\nbefore her and, taking the hem of her dress in his hand, said,
\n “Mother, I swear nobody was responsible for my brother’s death. He died, but
\nnot violently.”
\n “I shall never believe that is the truth,” wept the Queen. But Gav said,
\n “I shal prove that it is.” He then thought of a way to show his mother how
\nthe battle had been fought. First of all, he asked a carpenter to make him a
\nboard, as flat as the plain. Then to mark the positions and manoeuvres of the
\ntwo armies, the board was divided into white and black squares. A wood carver
\nmade him a minature army of foot soldiers, a king, standard bearers, knights
\nand towers, to take the place of the elephants and their turrets. When
\neverything was ready, Gav called the Queen and, moving one piece at a time,
\nacted out the various stages of battle.
\n “You see, mother, my foot soldiers advanced like this, so Talend manoeuvred
\nhis like that. Each time my brother was about to be killed, I had the men cry
\nout `watch out, King,’ so that he could reach safety,” said Gav.
\n “In the end, though, my Talend was no longer safe,” murmured the Queen. Gav
\nsadly replied,
\n “That’s true. He was surrounded. But I would never have had him killed,
\nmother. It was his heart that gave out. My brother realised he had lost, and so
\nhe died.” The Queen then said,
\n “I understand, son, and I forgive you. I feel you’ll be a good king for our
\ncountry. But I wonder why, in a battle between two kings, one must win and the
\nother lose…”
\n The poor Queen kept asking herself the same question for a very long time.
\nShe would sit all day long beside the little battlefield moving the pieces,
\nfoot soldiers, standard bearers and towers, always trying to save the King. In
\nthe end, she understood that, as in make-believe, so it is in real life, when
\nthere is a fight to the last, one of the opponents must fall, just as her son
\nTalend had fallen.
\n One day, they found the poor Queen dead on what was, by then, known as the
\nchessboard. That is how chess originated. Nowadays it is a peaceful contest
\nthat recalls a real-life battle. Today it is fun, but then it caused a poor
\nmother who saw her sons fight against each other, sadness and suffering…<\/p>\n
