Ulrich's grandfather sued George's ancestors because they had illegally possessed a strip of land on Ulrich's grandfather's property. Ulrich's grandfather won the lawsuit, meaning George's ancestors should have given up the land. However, despite the ruling of the court, George's family continued to poach on this strip and "similar scandals had embittered the relationships between the families for three generations." So, each successive generation of the two families continued to feud with each other. The...
Ulrich's grandfather sued George's ancestors because they had illegally possessed a strip of land on Ulrich's grandfather's property. Ulrich's grandfather won the lawsuit, meaning George's ancestors should have given up the land. However, despite the ruling of the court, George's family continued to poach on this strip and "similar scandals had embittered the relationships between the families for three generations." So, each successive generation of the two families continued to feud with each other. The feud had become a tradition or a habit.
Ulrich becomes the head of the family and takes the feud more personally. George also "inherits" this feud and, for his part, continues to poach on the strip of land. "The feud might, perhaps, have died down or been compromised if the personal ill will of the two men had not stood in the way . . . " Like the generation before them, George and Ulrich inherited an argument that was initiated by their ancestors. The only way to stop the feud is to take personal feelings out of it and to realize the futility of sustaining an argument over a piece of land that was "not remarkable for the game it harbored or the shooting it afforded."
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