The Enmity of Brothers

The Alberts, Brian's guards, turned out to have been an excellent choice. Al and Bert were friendly, intelligent, and packed full of random knowledge and gossip from their various travels.

Crossing a range of hills, Al informed Brian that they were entering another princedom; one with trouble brewing in the royal family. The king had had the fortune to father two sons, the traditional heir-and-a-spare. The problem was that both sons had behaved wretchedly of late, spending extravagantly on their fine stables and constantly trying to outdo each other. The king had tried to bring them back under control by refusing to name an heir, but everyone was worried that his death would simply result in civil war; the idea of one brother standing aside for the other was preposterous.

When the traveling trio reached the first town beyond the hills, they discovered that Al's story had progressed considerably. The old king had died of apoplexy one night after he learned that his eldest son had spent a thousand gold pieces on yet another horse. Rather than leaving behind civil war, however, he left behind a will with a baffling challenge.

He willed that his successor was to be determined by the results of a horse race: whichever prince's horse lost the race would be the new king. This put the princes in a quandary, because how can you successfully lose a race when your opponent has the same goal? The whole princedom was talking about the devilish old king, and the race, which was to happen the following Saturday.

Brian had an idea about the race, and told the brothers that they were heading to the capitol. Along the way he asked various people about each prince, and had the Alberts do the same. On arrival, he had the well-connected Bert get them an audience with the prince best beloved by the populace, and told the young prince that he knew how to answer the old king's challenge.

On the day of the race, each prince arrived riding a fiery steed. The starting gun fired, and after a minute of confusion (during which the mettlesome steeds tried to follow their training), both princes came to a standstill a few feet from the starting gate. Brian's young prince casually dismounted after a couple minutes, laughing up at his brother that he might as well get down, too, that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. As soon as his brother had dismounted and relaxed, Brian's prince remounted as quickly as he could, and spurred hell bent for leather towards the finish line. Although his brother tried desperately to catch up, he was left behind and Brian's prince was crowned that afternoon.

Brian's trio left the capitol city the next day loaded with further loot, and a letter of introduction to give to yet another king. What realization on Brian's part led to this success and subsequent largess?

Solution