Editorial June 21, 1999 Issue

The face of God

(written for the children of Kosovo)

Mary Metzner Trammell

BROTHERS and sisters can be very different. That's the way it was with Sol and Jack. Sol liked hunting, and Jack liked farming. What made it hard, though, was that their parents played favorites. Dad favored Sol, and Mom favored Jack. But Sol usually came out ahead because he was older.

Jack didn't like this, so he started tricking Sol. One day, when Sol was really hungry, he asked for some special soup Jack had made. Jack agreed, on one condition: that Sol give him his birthright as the older son. Jack wasn't kidding about this. He wanted to take something that wasn't his.

Later, their father got sick and wanted to give Sol the blessing fathers gave then to their oldest sons. But Jack dressed up like Sol and tricked his dad into giving him the blessing instead! When Sol heard this, he was ready to kill his brother. So Jack had to flee the country — and start a new life.

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