Another time, and in another country, there had been a great battle.  A brave army, led by a famous general, had come into a rich and powerful country, to make its people subject to their own king.  But the people, too, were brave; besides, they fought for their liberty and their homes, and that made them doubly strong.  They had driven the enemy from before their capital city after an obstinate siege and had made many prisoners.  Both nations were civilized and enlightened; therefore there was no bad feeling after the fighting was over, and the prisoners were treated more like guests, waiting for the signing of the treaty of peace, when they would be exchanged.  The sick and the wounded were taken care of at the hospitals; as to the others, the private soldiers were placed in well-kept barracks, and the officers were quartered in private families and left free “on parole,” i.e., on their promise not to try to escape.  Friendships were formed, and the unwilling guests employed their forced leisure in studying the customs, laws, and society of the nation into which they were thus thrown.  There were highly cultivated and scholarly men among the captive officers; yet they were naturally a little prejudiced, so that they were not a little astonished when they found the customs and laws not only not inferior to their own, but in many cases almost exactly the same.  More than that, they continually came upon little habits, sayings, even superstitious customs at births, weddings, funerals, and other occasions, which they had been familiar with at home from childhood, and which they had been told by nurses and old servants should be observed and respected because they were family peculiarities, handed down from times so ancient nobody could have counted the years.  Still greater was the astonishment of those who discovered that a great many of the religious ceremonies, prayers, hymns, which were held particularly sacred in their native country for the same reason, were observed and treasured with only slight differences by those whom they had always looked upon as the merest strangers.  When the holy books and the sacred laws of both nations, also the stories of favorite ancient heroes, were found to be so much alike that it was clear they were all heirlooms from the same family treasure, no more proof was needed for those who had so recently fought—­and might fight again any time—­to say:  “We are kin; years and years ago, our fathers were brothers and lived in one common home.”

It was not in one place, or two, or three, that such discoveries were made, but in many and all over the world.  For after chance had led to the first, people became interested and began to look for forgotten kindred to turn up.  The well-known signs were watched, and compared, and verified, till nowadays no one doubts that the descendants of the families who once upon a time recklessly migrated from the long-forgotten valley are scattered over the face of the earth and can know one another by the token of their languages, their customs, stories, songs, their sacred legends and laws.