As determination was about to begin her tell, she was interrupted by her brother Purpose.
"Whoa big sister, I always thought it was the "Prince with the crooked back."
Determination looking directly at him laughing and then responded.
Of course, course you would have thought that, since you never really paid attention to the stories or the lessons in them. Our father often adjusted the stories for the audience listening, but I assure you the original story is about a princess."
Purpose appearing to be agitated by her insistence that the story was about a princess and not a prince.
"What proof do you have?"
"Little brother we could ask our father sitting here with us, but rather than bother him with this, I will simply remind you that this story comes from the Akoben people. The Akoben as we were taught were matrilineal, which means royalty flows through the woman. Since the story includes a discussion of the crown being passed down it is only appropriate that the lead character is female. Finally, you add in the fact that the storyteller is a woman, and you have no argument."
Determination subsequently continued with her tale.
"As we all know our father's stories always had a back story, or two, and in extreme cases 3. So I will start with the story of the Akoban so that all of our memories can be refreshed."
"The Akoban people were and off shoot of the Gye-Nyame. They joined the federation that Gye was forming in the old days. For many generations, they worked with in the federation to make sure peace reigned throughout the land. When Gye stepped aside from his leadership role in the federation, once he realized that the Gye-Nyame people were "Gye-Nyame" in name only, many of the nations stepped away as well. Some prospered for generations because they clung to the lessons of Gye, and the Akoban was one of those groups. The queen (Natur) of the Akoban, during the times of Gye's leadership immediately removed her nation from the federation and prepared for the war that was sure to come."
"Now the story I will share with you takes place during her great grandson's reign."
King Ago of the Akoban wanted an heir. This wish always alluded him until late in his life, and the nation took this as a bad omen. Finally, he was blessed with a daughter, but there were difficulties. She was born with a deformed back. The elders and the nation also took this as a bad omen for their future. The king put aside all of the negative thoughts and focused on his daughter and named her after his great grand mother, Natur. Natur other than having what was described as a crooked back was beautiful, and she had a happy childhood. Learning to walk was a monumental task, but she eventually conquered it. Problems did not develop for Natur until she was able to go out into the world and play with the other children. Up until this point of her life she was lavished, with compliments, from her mother, father, and all who served the royal family. When she was exposed to other youth, they immediately began to point out the fact of her crooked back and the hump that was forming upon it. At first, this did not bother her, but as she grew older, her friend's opinions began to matter more to her than her families.
Natur began to feel that she was not beautiful and in fact, began to believe her peers views of her, and her self-esteem began to drop. What made things worse, many of the people who believed she was a negative omen for the nation began to treat her horribly. Her father, the king, took notice of this fact and attempted to intercede. He spent more time with her and let her know, "that other's opinions of you do not matter, only the opinions you have of yourself count." Natur listened to her father, but as much as she wanted to trust in his words she could not bring herself around to believe what he said. She felt that he was doing what all fathers are supposed to do, making his child feel beautiful and valued.
As Natur got older, her view of herself also became worse, and she began to avoid going out into the public at all. The king decided that action had to be taken immediately, so he decided to find his daughter some help. The ridicule of her peers, and the adults around her had worn her down to the point that she no longer wanted to attend school. Being the only heir to the crown, that behavior could not be allowed.
Natur was an excellent student, so the king decided to find her a personal tutor that could not only help her learn how to rule properly, but could also help her build up a shield for her fragile idea about herself. The king had heard that this year the wise man Sage (to learn more about sage read "Make it Happen!!! )would be passing through the lands of the Akoban, and the king was determined to get him to help his daughter. The king found out where sage was and went to him and begged that Sage spend some time with his daughter, and help her to realize her inner beauty. At first, Sage refused but the king's story was so sad that Sage told him that he would come to the royal palace and visit with Natur, and see if he could help.
The king went home and made preparations for his honored guest, and also spoke with his daughter about the possibility of her receiving a visit from a tutor. When Sage finally arrived, the king was so full of joy, that he held a feast in Sage's honor. Sage ended up staying in the palace for few days, but the Natur never appeared at any of the events to welcome the visitor. Sage finally decided to have the king take him directly to her. When they found Natur, she was sitting in the garden all alone. The king made the introduction, and Sage noticed the child never lifted her head up, nor did she attempt to look him in his face. After the introduction, the king escorted Sage back to his room and attempted to apologize for his child's shyness. Sage informed the king that no apology was needed, and announced to the king that he would stay on in Akoban for a while to help Natur.
The next day before Natur left for school Sage was at her door, and he announced to her that he would stay in Akoban to help her learn the ways of royalty, and eventually a queen. Looking at the ground, she thanked him and walked around Sage to get to school.
When Natur returned from school, Sage was seating in the garden waiting upon her. She attempted to avoid him, but he saw her before she could escape. He called for her to come over to him.
"Natur my dear, I see you, come over here and keep an old man company."
"Sir, I was just trying to get to my room for a nap, I..."
Sage interrupted, by raising up a single finger to his lips, and then replying to her excuse.
"My dear, you will have plenty of time to sleep when you are dead, come and let us talk so that we can begin your lesson.
Reluctantly, Natur made her way over to Sage and sat near him, and they began to talk. Sage began by telling her about himself, and then asked her to share her story with him.
"Well sir, there is not very much to tell except that I have a hump on my back, my life is a bad omen upon this nation, and that I am a good student."
Acting as if he didn't hear her whole statement Sage smiled and said.
"So you are a good student?"
Natur looked perturbed, "you didn't hear the rest of what I said."
Looking at her with a smile in his eyes, "I heard every word, but I responded to the most important part, the rest of what you said was noise!"
Natur now moving from perturbed to angry, "what do you mean noise, that all was the truth."
"Whose truth?" Sage immediately responded.
Natur was stumped, and Sage dove into the conversation fully now.
"Out of the three things you told me, I was only concerned with what I could build on as a teacher, you being a bad omen does not concern or affect me. You have a hump on your back because of a crooked spine also tells me nothing of use, but you being a good student I can build on that."
Natur sat quietly thinking about Sage's words.
"Now, let us begin with your first lesson, because for me, time is short, and I must begin to prepare you for your station in life."
Sage spoke as he moved toward the ground, he sat facing Natur and patted the earth in front of her as a signal that she needed to join him. When she finally took the hint sage began to talk about the exercise that he was going to teach her.
"Young maiden today you will learn about power. I'm talking about real power. Since one day, you will decide the fate of all the people in this land, you must learn about real power."
"We learned about that in school, Akoban is a powerful nation because we have the ability to call up a mighty army to protect our borders, now that to me is power."
"Natur" he said with a smile, and some pride.
"That is not the kind of power that you will learn about today, I will teach you about true power, and where it comes from."
To be continued.....
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