In Ignorant Bliss

Internal wrangling in the body of the union that became Hometown was unheard in its, no doubt, headier days of origin. It was not until long after the decease of these forefathers that saw it through as it were that this ugly misdemeanor began to raise a head in the land. Like the most present that even that put a cog in the very gear of the nation's foundation.

This great upheaval that almost cast a wedge in the continued existence of the town's movement was born by the new sages of the time in Central Kingdom. In fact, it was traceable to a long descendant of the very same sage that dreamed up the union. Unlike his wiser forebear, this one in question took, instead, to a life of squalor; elevating himself to the rank of his forefather without attaining his height in reason.

In an access of mischief, this wise-man-gone-mad propagated a theory that had the capacity to upturn the applecart of the union. Counting on the more numerous number of villages bequeathed by their more protected environment, he canvassed that equities be ceded to the constituents of the union according to the population of its villages. This, in negation to the time-honored practice of dividing it into three like his forefather had counselled in his inaugural brief. Uncannily, his sophistry only achieved at disparaging the Northern Kingdom for decimating its own numbers and denigrating the Southern Kingdom who only had two villages from time immemorial.

This was to come to a head when the north insisted that liabilities be so levied. On its part, the south in one voice - a la their forefathers - threatened to dig a bottomless trench along its common border with the Central Kingdom like they had done a time gone by that had helped fast-forward the founding of the union. A threat, though light on the surface, reminded the foolish wise men of Central Kingdom of the tale of their once-upon-a-time missing lion cub.

To diffuse the tension raised by their foolishness, they immediately turned to accuse the Southern Kingdom of knowing the whereabouts of their long-missing lion cub. Tantamount to murder, the accusation turned the lasting peace in the kingdom upside down. Either kingdom had withdrawn to their trenches before the Northern Kingdom intervened with reminders that anger against a brother need not be bone deep. Their intervention in the matter between the two immediately exposed the folly of the mad men of Central Kingdom, leading to a settlement that saw the situation ante holding sway as always.

A feast was subsequently called at which the bond uniting the union was tied up all over again to the glory of the gods.