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 the slightest doubt or misgiving. But here was a need for weighty deliberation, the first time in the life of the Tukholian municipality, on alien but immensely important issues which threatened to entangle them inextricably.

Zakhar understood very well that the decision whether favorable or unfavorable to the boyar threatened the municipality with untold danger. A favorable decision would mean an acknowledgment once and for all time, not only of the boyar’s freedom from guilt, but his power to humble the community and his right to take permanent possession of the forests, pasturing downs and to assume a stranglehold on the entire township which would be the first obstruction to their independence and the hardest to bear, upon the restoration and strengthening of which he had worked ceaselessly for the past seventy years. An unfavorable decision, demanding the removal of the boyar from the municipality would also create a menacing risk for the community. What if the boyar should be able to diplomatically persuade his king by intimating that the people of the Tukholian region were disloyal subjects and so arouse his ire and enlist his aid? This might lead to dire consequences, perhaps spell complete ruin for their region as like decisions had brought on the ruin of several other communities which their kings had considered rebellious and handed over to the boyars and their kind to divide and despoil among themselves.

Both of these solutions pressed with onerous solemnity upon the heart of old Zakhar and before beginning the discussion, he sent a fervent prayer from deep within him, to the Sun-God, asking him to illumine his intellect and that of the gathering in order that they might choose the right path to lead them out of their difficulties.

“Illustrious gathering!” he began his address. “I shall not attempt to conceal the weight and import of the deliberations, concerning what business you already know, facing today’s