His uncle had lived a charmed life.
Now that he had passed away and the will was read, all the gossip and tension that had been building about who was going to get what was finally resolved. He personally hadn’t expected much, despite being something of a favourite. It was inevitable that the closer family members would each receive their share of the great fortune the old man left behind. As for him, he had been left his uncle’s prized stamp collection, and no doubt it was worth a great deal. It came to him in the form of a large, leather-bound album. It contained a huge number of stamps. He decided to sit down with it one evening and work his way through it.
It was during this particular evening that the paper was discovered. It was tucked into a pocket on the inside of the back cover. It was some kind of parchment made of animal skin, folded in half and giving no outward sign that it was anything special. When opened, it contained script that appeared to have been hand-written in ink.
It read:
By possessing this parchment, the following ills may never befall you.
Suffering chronic or painful illness
Experiencing loss of sight, hearing or speech
Having possessions destroyed by fire
Experiencing loss of employment
Being a victim of fraud
Undergoing loss of home
Being falsely accused
Suffering a threat to life
Undergoing imprisonment
Being witness to a crime
Facing home invasion
Having possessions stolen
Receiving unwanted correspondence
Living with rude neighbours
Receiving fines or penalties
He sat for a long time marvelling at the list. He had always been a worrier. This was exactly what he needed. He really had been a favourite and his uncle had rewarded him with a treasure that was obviously far greater than anything left to others. Since possession of it seemed to have great significance he folded it further and tucked it firmly into his wallet. It would go with him everywhere and protect him from misfortune.
This went well, right up to the point where he lost his wallet somewhere in the city. This was followed by a great deal of time and effort exhausting every possible avenue to recover it. How could this have happened? How could he lose it? He thought back. He had read it so often that he could remember it word for word. He had been protected against loss of sight, hearing or speech, also home and employment. Nothing could be stolen or lost in a fire, but now that he thought about it, there had been nothing about the loss of personal possessions.
Being something of a worrier, he began thinking about those things he was no longer protected against.