Here’s a prose version of a poem by Kenneth Bailey
(‘Through Peasant Eyes’, Eerdmans, 1980, pp. 71-73) from Michael
Frost, ‘Jesus the Fool’, Albatross, 1994, p.171.

There were once two brothers in Palestine, one of
whom was very wealthy. The other was desperately poor. The rich
brother was alone for he had no children, while the poor brother
had many sons and daughters. It seemed to others that this was
dreadfully inequitable, for the rich brother had no-one to share
his wealth with and the poor brother had great difficulty feeding
his large family. But in spite of this disparity, they were as
close as brothers could be.

One day, their father called them together. He explained
that he was very ill and did not expect to last until evening.
He wanted them to be clear about the fact that they were to divide
their inheritance equally. In fact, he told them, he had set a
landmarker in the centre of his property to mark the division.
It was his desire that there be no squabbles after he had gone.
The landmarker, he thought, would maintain the unity between his
sons that he had so admired. Sure enough, that day he passed quietly
from this world. The two brothers buried him respectfully before
nightfall, as custom dictated.

That night, as the rich brother lay in bed, he could
not sleep. ‘What my father did was quite unfair,’ he mused. ‘I
have more wealth than I know what to do with, while my brother
works like a dog just to make ends meet. His children will starve
while I eat my fill. I know what I’ll do. I’ll give my brother
a gift of the larger portion of the inheritance.’ But he suspected
that his brother was too proud to accept such a gift, so he determined
to get up early, before sunrise, and move the landmarker to ensure
his brother got the lion’s share of legacy.

That night, the poor brother tossed restlessly on
his bed. ‘What my father did was quite unfair,’ he thought. ‘I
am surrounded by the love of my children, while my brother continually
faces the shame of having no heirs to carry on his name, no daughters
to care for him in his old age. To compensate him for his poverty,
I will make him a gift of the greater share of our father’s inheritance.’
But he knew that his wealthy brother would never accept a gift
like that from his poorer brother, so he set himself to rise early,
while it was still dark, and move the landmarker in order to ensure
that his brother received the lion’s share of the inheritance.

The next morning, while the air was crisp and the
sky still black, when not a sound could be heard, two brothers
met at the landmarker, and embraced each other with tears of love.
And it was said that on that site, the city of Jerusalem was built.