A/N: An added counterpoint to the song "Wand'rin' Star" to the film of the musical "Paint Your Wagon"
Fertile Land
Sylvester Newel stood under the porch and looked out over the land. Rain poured down from the sky, drenching the mining community of No Name City from one end to the other. He thought about how the rain periodically washed clean some of the filth of the town, only to be recreated again as the residential flotsam of "civilization".
He didn't think about it in those terms, however. As he watched the rain run off the roof and the many tall trees in the distance, he considered how he didn't quite fit in with this place. He and his brother Alexander had loaded a wagon and come out west with the dream of starting a farm and building a life for themselves; an accident with their runaway transport had killed his brother and left him with a broken arm, leg and the likes of a partner called Ben Rumson. The only good that could be said of Ben, echoed from his own mouth, was that he never cheated a partner. But there had been hints that Ben was getting restless and itching to move on, a feeling that was just now reinforced when their wife Elizabeth temporary banished him as she attempted to adjust from the loose moral code of the frontier mining town to that of a more domesticated territory for the sake of the nearly frozen Fenty family they had taken in to nurse back to health.
Somewhere out there, as a stream of citizens was making their way out of town to chase their dreams at a new site, Ben was making his way against the current of migration to Atwell's Hotel for the duration of his exile. He had warned not long ago that things were going to change; it looked like he was right.
So 'Pardner' (for his name had been lost along with his brother) leaned against the post and thought about fate and the necessity of switching from an attempt to be a farmer to becoming a miner as he sang in a low voice:
(To the tune of "Wand'rin' Star)
I was born to plow a fertile land
I was born to plow a fertile land
Seeds are made for plantin'
Set 'em row by row
Feels like I was born to hold a shovel and a hoe
I was born to plow a fertile land
Rain can wash away your crops, the sun can bake 'em dry
A whole season ruined can make a farmer cry
But raisin' something from the ground is a feeling really grand
Knowin' people's food has come from your hand
I was born to plow a fertile land
I was born to plow a fertile land
There's a plan in every planting
Money don't grow on trees
I'll mine until I get a stake then in a field I will be
I was born to plow a fertile land
A fertile, fertile land
Rain can wash away your crops, the sun can bake 'em dry
A whole season ruined can make a farmer cry
But raisin' something from the ground is a feeling really grand
Knowin' people's food has come from your hand
I was born to plow a fertile land
I was born to plow a fertile land
I moved enough I'm weary of roaming around
Soon enough I'll sink my roots right here in the ground
I was born to plow a fertile land
A fertile, fertile land
Yup, thought Pardner, life was unpredictable. But given the chance, he was going to have a go at farming as soon as he had the opportunity; maybe he would have to wait for some type of sign. With a stake he could find a flat spot without rock or tree and settle down right here, maybe even within sight of the river. It would be no life for Ben, but he had to make the decision for himself 'cause no one else was going to do it. And maybe, just maybe, Elizabeth might even be convinced to stay on; it might be too much to hope for, but if you're going to dream then you might as well dream big.
But dreaming is what you did when you weren't working, and there was still plenty enough of that to do. He turned and went back into the cabin to check on the Fentys again.
The End
A/N: I particularly like Lee Marvin's performance of "Wand'rin' Star', sung with melancholy and more than a bit of introspection. But Clint Eastwood's character wasn't really cut out for the wayfaring life Marvin's embraced, so I imagined his version of the song that would alternate verses with his co-star.