jub and jug

by nick nelson

once upon a time there lived a peasant named jub. he grew up in a valley filled with apple trees, owned by a great lord named jarg. jub was expected to live the life of his ancestors, pruning apple trees, picking apples, and digging ditches to irrigate the apple trees. but he decided he did not wish to spend his life in this manner, so he said goodbye to his kinfolk and took to the king’s highway to seek his fortune in the great world. jub walked down the highway with a song in his heart under a blue sky filled with fleecy white clouds and happily singing birds. but he did not go more than a few miles before he was captured by a gang of bandits who took him prisoner and sold him as a slave to another great lord, named jarl. jarl owned coal and diamond mines, and a great forest of walnut trees. jub would spend the rest of life digging in jarl’s coal mines nine months of the year, and digging ditches to irrigate jarl’s walnut trees the other three months. jub had a younger brother named jug, who, in his turn, decided to take to the highway. jug quickly encountered the same group of bandits who had captured jub. but as jug was a strong strapping youth and they liked his looks, the bandits invited jug to join them. jug spent the remainder of his days with the bandits, murdering and robbing and capturing unwary travelers and selling them to great lords like jarg and jarl. the lord jarl fell in love with a beautiful maiden named jacinta. he loved her dearly. but one day the gods decided to take jacinta from him, and she fell sick and died. jarl knew that he must have offended the gods, and he was stricken with remorse and decided to make a great sacrifice. he had his soldiers round up a hundred bandits and crucified them. jug was one of the bandits. and then jarl had a great bonfire prepared and cast three hundred slaves into it, including jub. all this happened many years ago. the coal mines, the diamond mines, and the apple trees are all gone, but a few of the walnut trees remain by the side of the highway, under the blue sky, filled with fleecy white clouds and happily singing birds.