Welcome to a special Driftback Sunday episode.

Tonight and every Sunday evening I unlock a favorite journey from my archive to help you

release the thoughts of the weekend and ease into the new week.

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But for tonight, take a deep breath, get comfortable, and let's settle in.

In a country of mountains, which bordered upon the sea lived a rich merchant who had three sons. The eldest and the second born were his joy, for they were merchants too, and remained at his side.

The youngest, however, caused him much anxiety.

Not that this youngest son was bad, but love of the sea and desire for adventure ran like fire in his veins,

and he could not bring himself to sit beside his father and his brothers in the counting-house.

Tired of the constant reproaches of his kinsman,

he turned away one night from his father's house and joined his

ship as a common sailor. Dressed in sailor blue, wearing a little cap, a blouse open at the

throat and trousers cut wide at the bottoms. the lad ran away to sail over the sea

to foreign lands and aisles. And as the years passed, one by one, and brought no tidings of him,

his father and his brothers gave him up for a lost.

Now the king of this country loved gems and precious stones more than anything else in the world.

Hidden secretly away in the deep foundations of his castle lay his treasure room.

It was circular in shape and built of black marble.

Along a curving wall stood hundreds of armed men like statues at equal distance one from another holding torches of light.

A hundred coffers of green stone lay on the floor at the base of each statue piled high with gems.

...