Story Bazaar

And Who Shall Train the Little Ones?

No one thought much about training teachers---mothers did the earliest basics and some of the leaders did the rest---a casual arrangement, to say the least...

The village was large---1,000 families.

There was no chief, only the elected tribal leaders.

Meng had finished his work for the day and went to chat with his best friend.

"Hey, Uren, slow down!"

"Meng, you are finished early."

"Yes, I have extra energy---something is making me angry."

"What?"

"The way the Olufa brothers seem to be working to make others vote only for one of them for leadership."

"This you know?"

"This seems obvious to me; but, Legni has seen them roughing up certain folks and whispering in their ears..."

"My..."

"Yes..."

Time crawled on and the elections showed three of the Olufa brothers elected with five others from five different families. Not many people noticed or cared; but, they would have the usual year-long-period to experience what the Olufa's might do...

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Six months on and a pattern had developed---most everything was being done the way one of the Olufa family wanted it to be done.

Especially the teaching of the little ones---only those from the Olufa family were allowed to be teachers.

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Nine months on and the pattern had born fruit---the little ones were all being taught to fight, fear was in most of the villagers' hearts, and most expected war with the tribe in the hills...

~~~~~~~~~

Meng and Uren had been talking to people all along; but, most seemed to have no ears. Still, they had a group of six, with them making it eight; and, they began to hold public talks.

They were immediately scolded and put in the caves for punishment...

This stirred more interest---questions circulated---discussions tended toward action.

Even the little ones wanted a change---getting ready for war was no fun compared to learning about the plants and animals---learning the cycles of the heavens and the weather...

The Olufa brothers called a meeting and didn't let any of the other five leaders speak... The brothers were good at one thing---threatening others...

Still, the meeting was a little war of its own...

Eventually, the elders encouraged the little ones to talk about what they were learning.

The little ones had, surprisingly, elected a leader, named Chinga. He was big for his age and had his own small following of well-muscled boys...

Chinga stood up on the rock and said: "We are tired of the war training, we want more fun learning. We also have made a decision..."

Most of the people were visibly shocked...

After he walked through the tribe and looked each person straight in their eyes, Chinga stood back up on the rock and said: "We think there should be a new election before the year is up---if we all vote for it now, it will be the tribe speaking, more important than just the leaders speaking..."

There was a general hubbub for nearly ten minutes until the elders took their turns on the rock, endorsing the need to vote---each being protected by Chinga's friends from being thrashed by one or more of the Olufa brothers...

One hour later the tribe had their election and the new leaders made a ruling---the Olufa brothers were to be banished to the hills...

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There were a few scuffles with the tribe in the hills from time to time; but, word was received in the following year that the Olufa brothers had been banished from that tribe also---no recourse for them but long travel to a tribe in the mountain valleys...

The little ones continued to elect a leader of their own; and, the adult leaders always welcomed them into the tribal leaders' meetings...

The elders were encouraged to open a school to teach teachers...

The little ones were beginning to feel quite big.........

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