Wooden Gongs and Drumbeats
Wise old King Ajumo Kenta has died. His reign had been very peaceful. The King has only one child, a daughter, Princess Zantara. Zantara in the native tongue means the wonderful light that shines in the dark. Like her father she is a very good person and every one in their land of Katta loves her and she loves the people too.
Alas, Princess Zantara cannot be the queen of Katta because there is a law in the land that says that before any queen of the land is crowned, she must be married. As Princess Zantara is not yet married the crown was put in the custody of her father’s brother to act as Regent to the throne until she gets married. The name of the uncle is Anwati, meaning the Puma or literally the dark one. Now Anwati is truly a dark one. A very crafty and cruel man he is. When he was given the crown he said in his heart, fools, what makes them think that I am going to give up this crown?. They will soon know who Anwati really is. Without wasting time, he called on nine of his friends in the land who are as wicked and as ambitious as he is and made them his ministers. He called them The King’s Council.
The first thing the council did was to pass a law encouraging suitors to come to seek the Princess’s hand in marriage. This is not because they want the Princess to get married, for this law has an obnoxious condition attached to it. This is that any man who will marry the princess will tell a story that will last for eight market weeks. One market week in the land of Katta is eight days. This means therefore that any man who wishes to take the hand of Princess Zantara in marriage must tell a story that must last
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for sixty four days. An impossible feat!. However this is not all about this wicked law for another more terrible and very cruel condition was attached to it. This is that any man that comes to woo the princess and does not succeed to tell a story that lasts for sixty four days will lose his head.
Such a suitor will be beheaded. This is to discourage riff raffs from coming to bother the princess, cruel Anwati tells the shocked citizens of Katta.
Despite this morbid law men flocked to the palace to seek the hand of Princess Zantara in marriage. This is because though Katta is a very great and extremely rich land, the princess is so enchantingly beautiful and so humble in nature that men are ready to risk their lives for her hand in marriage.
This brought about therefore that suddenly the phenomena of the beheading of young men started in the once peaceful land of Katta. The land is polluted as there is now a curse of blood on the land. The old ones of the land now refused to bless the land. Unnatural things that had never happened in Katta started happening. The three rivers that had given food and wealth to the peaceful land now overflowed their banks and there was a terrible flood. Farmers lost their crop. Then the rains refused to come.
The people were troubled as evil men arose and did terrible things in the land of Katta. They seized the land of the farmers, their cattle, sheep and goat. If anyone complains, they are severely beaten or even killed.
Now in one of the villages of Katta lived a young man called Hida. Hida was an orphan, his father was killed in a hunting expedition accident and his mother who loved her husband so much died of heart break some few years later. Now Hida lives with his grandmother. They are farmers and
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not very rich. One day they had gone to their farmland only to find out that it had been taken over by the men of one of Anwati’s evil ministers. Hida tried to fight them but they threatened to kill him and his grandmother. In anger, Hida left for the king’s palace, many days journey from his village to report his ordeal. He walked into town in the evening as the sun was about to set and a young man was about to be beheaded in front of the palace gates. One of the dark one’s ministers was standing in front of the gallows holding a large scroll in front of him
“And this is the fate of a riff raff who thinks he can be king’’ and he laughs sardonically as he enters into the palace grounds followed by his praise singers.
Despite the horror of the killing, what caught Hida’s attention is the enchantingly beautiful Princess Zantatra. She was standing by the palace gate weeping. As Hida saw the wonderful and beautiful daughter of their dead king sobbing that evening something happened to him. He walked up to the Princess and bowed at the knee. “May the wonderful light that shines to drive away the darkness in the land of Katta live forever” he greeted her.
She cleaned her eyes and looked at him curiously, for no one has greeted her with such endearments since the killings started and the land and people started suffering. “And so may you” she returned the greeting.
“Laughter and the light may yet return to Katta through you” he intones.
“We pray the gods to intervene in our situation” she replies
“And so they will, Oh daughter of Ajumoh Kenta, so they will. My name is Hida, I am the son of Gwanji of the Kumto village of the plain region. I have come to tell a tale for the sake of our land”
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The Princess looked up with fear in her eyes. “Please, please, she sobs, ‘don’t do it. I cannot stand it any longer. If there is one more killing, I will drink poison and die. Please in the name of my father I beg of you son of Gwanji do not do this. If I see you die. Then know that you have killed me too”.
He looked at her “I am not going to die and neither will you, Oh beautiful Princess of Katta”. He got up and walked straight to the gate. He told the gate man “For the sake of Katta. I have come to tell a tale that will last for eight market weeks”
The gate man laughs “Oh, you did not come to seek the hand of the Princess in marriage but to save Katta. At least you are straight to the point without the song and dance of the other idiot clowns. Any way, it is late now. No one has time for your idiot stories. Come tomorrow and maybe you can be considered” he stood blocking the entrance.
Hida said to him “My man. I do not have any business with you. I have come to tell the Princess a story and she is ready to hear me, so step aside please”.
The Princess who had walked up to the gate sternly commands the gate man to get out of the way “I want to hear the story” she stated solemnly.
The gate man hastily stepped out of the way.
Hida and the Princess entered into the palace to meet the ostentation and revelry of the drinking and eating and dancing that goes on in there since Anwati the dark one and his evil ministers took over.
The debauchery stopped momentarily to contemplate the young man that has just entered. In fact that there was suddenly a tense atmosphere in the room, that brief period in time when nothing moves or any sound is heard. The natives say it is a period when powerful spirits pass and
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everything in nature have to respond in silence to their presence. The silence was broken by Hida who addressed the room.
“My name is Hida. I am the son of Gwaji, the grandson of Kuteh of the Kumto village of the rich fertile plains of this land of Katta. I have come to tell a tale that will last for eight market weeks for the sake of our land”.
Those in the room looked at him for a brief period, and suddenly burst out in laughter. All except Anwati, the dark one. The unexplainable brief period of silence that occurred immediately Hida entered had not been lost on an evil mind
such as his. He knows it is a premonition. There is something fearless about this young man that made Anwati uneasy.
Soon, all had settled down to hear the story of this tall handsome young man with fire in his eyes.
Slowly he dipped his hand into the waist line of his loin cloth and brought out a horn. He then blew a solemn tune after which he announces “Today I will start to tell a story. By the sound of this horn of our fathers any one here that hears it and betrays their word will surely go to bed before the chicken”. He then dropped the horn on the floor and stepped hard on it thereby smashing it to pieces.
There was a gasp of horror from all gathered, for they know the implications of a gourd, earthen pot or most especially a horn getting broken in respect to an oath. It carries the strongest curse in the land, the curse of painful and instant death. The mockery instantly disappeared to be replaced by fear. The most worried being Anwati.
Hida then adjusted his loin cloth and sitting cross legged he clears his throat “Ehm, ehm, my father once told me about a famine in the land of Kattah. There was hunger everywhere, my father had said. The wise king had been foretold what
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will happen, so he had built a very large store house and had commanded all the farmers in the land to bring in their harvests and store them in the large store house which he
had built. This happened that the severity of the famine was not felt so much as the people had some food saved.
However the animals of the forest were not so lucky and a lot of them died of hunger. However this did not affect the birds”.
“Yes, the birds, Hida continued, ‘had discovered the large store of the King where the grains had been saved. Now what remains is for them to find a way to enter into the granary so as to get to the food. The birds had searched and poked and prodded all over the house, from the roof to the ground. It was the wily little wren who eventually found a hole in the rafters and immediately called the others. Unfortunately the hole was too small to allow more than one bird to pass through at once. Therefore, birds had to enter one by one and come out likewise. So the first bird goes in, takes a grain, comes out and flies away. Another goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away, another goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away, another bird goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away, another goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away —.”
Hida continues this for a long time, to the exasperation of those listening.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah” shouted one of the ministers, ‘so what happened next?”.
Hida ignored him and continued with his monologue “Another bird goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away, another bird goes in takes a grain, comes out and flies away —” for another annoyingly long time. It got so much for the impatient minister that he got up and rushed at Hida in anger “You impudent cur” he shouted and raised his hand
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to strike him. That was as far as he got for he suddenly stiffened and fell flat on his face, dead.
Great fear fell upon everyone in the place. There was absolute silence as they stared in shock at the dead man.
Hida did not blink an eye neither did he respond in any way to the incident nor break rhythm in his story.
“Another bird goes in, takes a grain comes out and flies away —” he drones on. This continued until sun down and it was time to go to bed. By this time, Anwati was like a lion with a thorn in it’s paw. Being an evil mind he already knew where this is going. With ice in his voice he asked “And young man, what happened next. Why don’t you continue with the story?”
“Sir, they have just taken, One thousand seven hundred and thirty two grains. That is not even up to one bowl and there are about twenty four bowls in one sack and there are many many sacks in the store house. You all have to be patient”
The man laughs sardonically and nods “Alright, that is enough for today, tomorrow after breakfast you can continue — ehm, with the next stage of the story”
He gets up and left with his cohorts
The Princess was quite impressed by the fearlessness of the brave young story teller. She promptly gave instructions as regards his sleeping arrangements. She laid emphasis on his safety for she knows that her wicked uncle could try to harm him while he slept.
The next day the drama continued as from Hida, birds go into the store house, take a grain come out and fly away. The dark one knows that this monotonous chant of the farmer boy turned story teller could go on forever if allowed to continue so he started his own scheme on how to stop it and yet avoid the curse of the broken horn. This happened therefore that the next day he announced that the story
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would continue outside in the court yard as the hall is rather stifling in the heat.
So outside it was. He however made sure that under the scorching sun that he and the other listeners were under umbrellas or some form of shade. Hida on the other hand was left out under the burning heat without any protection. There he sat telling his story.
The next day Anwati asked the rain makers to call the rain, so under the heavy rain Hida undeterred sat and intoned his wonderful tale of the birds and the large store barn.
Soon the happenings in the palace got out to the people. This resulted therefore that one day, there was a knock on the palace door and it was the powerful elders of the land, the whole twelve of them, representing the twelve kindred of Kattah. Anwati had treated them with utter disrespect and undermined their position since he came to power, now they
have come to make sure that Anwati does not break the law that he had made. So they came and sat round the story teller, silent as poles yet as formidable and threatening as lions.
The story continues – Another bird goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away, another bird goes in – – -. Anwati is now really worried. Some of his cowardly ministers have already started deserting him. They were not ready to challenge the powers of the elders. It is known that who so ever their collective curse falls upon, that one comes to a putrid end and in most cases so do the families of such cursed ones.
However Anwati’s greed and hunger for power was more than his fears and worries, so he continued planning on how to stop the story. Now he ordered the palace servants and entertainers to go about their respective businesses,
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meaning that Hida had to tell his story through the clamour and din of the drumming, singing, chants, dancing and
feasting of the palace revelry. Anwati intends by this to tire him out. He and his followers make jest of him by shouting “Hey story man, we cannot hear you, please be louder”. All this is planned to force him into abandoning his quest or all the shouting may make him lose his voice.
However to their frustration and fear the spirited young man did not lose courage, he continued his story.
Now as the days went by, the beautiful Princess is slowly drawn to the brilliant and brave young man, for also as the days went by hope slowly started returning to her and her people that the young farmer might succeed where great and renowned minstrels have failed. So it became necessary that they all must support him, therefore when she sees that Hida is losing his voice she will dip her finger into a jar of honey and give to him to lick. This will refresh his voice. Then when she sees that he is so tired that he can not go on she will dare the wrath of her terrible uncle and declare “I am tired, I cannot listen any more, I am going to rest. We will continue the story after I have rested”. This as expected annoys Anwati terribly that one day he refused the story to stop even if the princess is not there. The princess who has observed the waning strength of her young hero turned on her uncle her eyes flashing “I am still the princess, the story is for me and not for you. What you are holding is mine, you do not forget that. Do not make me challenge your idiot laws for I do not wish to disrespect the land nor the throne. When I am ready to listen to the story the story continues”.
As she spoke she had looked deep into the man’s eyes and seen the evil that lurks in there, so she knew instantly what the dark one was thinking. All this problem will stop if hekills her. This led to that night suddenly seeing the
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presence of the militant youth of Kattah in the Palace. They were
fully armed to protect their beloved Princess. Hida had called in his army.
More than forty days had passed, the countdown had started. The story of the story teller in the palace has spread all over the land. Every where one goes, one will hear the chant – Another bird goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away. Children playing in the village square – One chants – Another bird goes in takes a grain comes out – and the others will shout gleefully – and fly away.
The women going to the market, farm or to fetch water from the stream are all singing what the villagers now call Hida’s bird song. – Another bird goes in, takes a grain comes out and flies away.
Oh, by now Princess Zantara is head over heels in love with her story telling knight and she did not care who knows it. She sits beside him and holds his hand as he continues repeating the same words over and over. When she dozes off she will place her head on his shoulder.
The story went on as another bird goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away.
It was two days to go. The suspense in the land is unbearable. The Palace was now besieged by people from all over the land. They were camped every where available all around the palace – waiting, counting the hours and chanting – Another bird goes in takes a grain comes out and flies away -.
Anwati at this stage has thrown all caution to the wind. In a last desperate attempt to stop this attempt to unsit him instigated some palace touts to slay Hida in the night. However the young men of the village standing guard at the
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door were alert and caught them at the act and beat them blue and black.
After this the elders commanded the young men to keep an eye on evil Anwati. It is now one day to the end of the long tale – which if allowed to continue, could go on until everyone in that village dies of old age.
The elders have announced that the long tale will stop by sunset the next day and the wedding will immediately take place so as to enable them crown their queen without further ado.
Sadly when the people woke up that morning there was no sign of Anwati. The servants knocked on the door and not receiving any answer they had entered and there he was hanging from the rafters. He had hanged himself. He had ended as wickedly as he had lived. The miserable story of a rat which decided to eat that which it was asked to keep for another.
Well, Anwati or no, the celebrations went on and the farmer boy who can tell a tall tale defeated an evil impostor to the throne of their land, saved the land and his people and married the beautiful Princess.
— and they lived happily ever after.
