2. The storyteller.

The busy street of the market of Sirarem accommodate people from different provinces of the kingdom of Abastus. Though not the biggest among the 6 provinces, it's location that occupy the extreme west sea has the best and easy access to contact with outsiders, became the trading centre. The town is not necessarily the most or least populated and the people brought up from this place are just an ordinary people. Merchants, traders from accross the sea and from other provinces entering the busy street of Sirarem is a common thing that happen in everyday life of the people of Sirarem.

A little bit further from the main bazaar, the sound of the beating drum and jingling bells could be heard vaguely. Two lads that seem to land the board just a while ago excitedly looked at each other, bought the heated groundnuts from the vendor and ran towards the narrow path where the sound is played.

There was a big platform, big enough to perform various tricks and carry out activities that was carefully planned by the host party. A group of 6 people with their face painted in red, wearing a colourful dresses ended their performance by bowing in front of the cheering audience. The loud noise of clapping and laughing filled the aftermath performance.

"Hahaha that one was good" the old man with a white moustache in the front seat raise his right hand in approval.

" Hahaha fool dance haha fool dance hahaha" another audience added.

" hahahaha "

The blue drape was slowly unfolded as a tall, skinny man dressed in a white *tumme appeared

(Tumme is a traditional one piece of

Knee long shirt and a pant paired with the shirt worn by a man of *Abase, the people of the kingdom of Abastus were called Abase, pronounced as Ābasey) .He had a red shawl tied in his waist. The man had a thin sharp face and a w shape moustache just above his lips.

The sound of a noisy bell chime along with the powerful voice of a man pronouncing "storytime, storytime, storytime" was announced before them. The audience unconsciously quite down and adjust closer among themselves to get a comfortable listening.

The storyteller eyes brighten as he face his audience

"As the legends said after the Three Great Protectors, Sen, Sun, and Sin- the three triplet scattered their souls full of maah, the particles that shone bright like a star showered upon the world and this is how the decendants of Pangeans carried the bloodline of maah. But.." the storyteller eyes darkened " there is one side of the story, Greatest Protector Majesty (king Edem Iyeshi) doesn't have a triplet".

The audience were speechless after the tall man spoke the last sentence.

" What do you mean Greatest Protector Majesty does not have a bloodline? If there is no such then how will you explain why the *Omoron( refers to the people who posses the ability of maah) exist?" One of the angry crowd shouted.

The man in the white tumme declared " Don't conclude too soon yet . The interesting part is that, the Greatest Protector Majesty doesn't have a triplet". he continued "But a quadruplet.."

The sound of gasping could be heard as the unexpected word left the audience speechless again but this time the curiosity could be seen under their eyes.

The storyteller continued " Of course such story is never to be heard of because it's a forbidden chanted word sealed by the Greatest Protector Majesty himself untill one day, after the scattered maah's is chanted successfully, an unknown man arrived the *Tinz river (a river that was created after King Edem Iyeshi first took hold of his legendary maah), only to find a river that had dried completely, But this man is said to be the one who released the sealed word. No one knows where the forbidden word is sealed and how this man released the forbidden word." A silent respond from the audience followed after, with the background sound of busy street and someone's crunching groundnuts.

The storyteller was an experienced one and he is quick to note the audience who were now more curious then ever and their eyes full of question. He know what this mean and smiled.

"This is enough story for today" the storyteller cleverly cut the audience

then he signal his assistance who quickly entered to collect the payment shouting "pay 2 silver coins, 2 silver coins"

The disappoinment of the audience was more visible then ever but they were more determined to come again next time.

" So the Greatest Protector Majesty had quadruplet and not triplet? I don't believe it " The crowd turn towards the back as a husky voice of a young lady raised . She picks a handful of groundnuts from the one sitting beside her then puts everything in her mouth.

" Hey that's mine! " a young lad gave an annoyed complain.

With a mouth full of crunching groundnuts" is it really true?"

The young lady is in her early 20s, she had her hair tied with a red ribbon in a careless manner but it did not look unkempt either. She wore a plain red *kummi (a full piece of dress with a thigh length long especially designed for a female of Abase to wear) and a black pant giving a bold impression. She had small, pretty, clear brown eyes and a thin pink lips. Overall she had the innocent face and arevage look. Girl like her face couldnt be considered very pretty or ugly either. She just had the overall perfect ordinary appearance.

The storyteller took a quick glance of the audience's reaction, gave a smirk then flips open his fan and fan himself proudly.

" Yes of course its true and you would never hear such a priceless information . Only I know this story to share because of my immense knowledge " he declared unshaken

" If what you claim is true then let's hear about the story of the missing child like you said Otherwise we could never consider your story. To be precise, let's see if your story's worth a silver coins or less a * kruge" she scoff.

(A kruge is a wooden coin that has the least value, basically one kruge is useless).

Hearing this the audience hope for the question to be answer as they pitifully turn to look again at the storyteller.

Storytelling is also a business, and as expected the storyteller is as sly as fox. He quickly answered "Well if you were that curious to know more about the story then how about you need to double pay for all of these people as well. If not i can prepare a private storytelling . I will consider reducing the payment only if you will pay me or you all can just wait untill next time".

"How much do i pay?" The young lady asked.

The storyteller gave a moment of sharp look at the lady before he gesture his hand for his assistant.

"100 silver coins for the whole crowd, and 10 siver coins for the private storytelling. Master storyteller Wuzi is being generous today"

"Payment after hearing or before hearing?"

An expressionless assistant sternly replied "payment first."

" I see, you guys are not playing a fair game here. How about if we listen first then pay it after we consider worthy and to be honest how will we even know whether the story you are telling is genuine or not ?"

The skinny tall man look around the audience. "Well young lady, how about you guys trust me first otherwise i too find it worthless to tell my precious story". He narrowed his eyes.

" Aren't you supposed to be a storyteller? The storytellers are expected to keep on telling interesting stories whether people believes it or not?"

A hidden trace of sinister could be seen behind the dark eyes of the skinny, tall man in the front " Young people at this tme really think they are smart enough to know everything ? Really?" He gave a crooked forced smile.

The young lady was is no way a fool, she could sense the instant intensity of the environment. "EEhhh...no way" the young lady flips her hand in disapproval " No need to go too far. I was merely curious about the story"

Looking at the audience and suggested "How about we all pay another silver coins for the story?" A biggest teeth smile was exposed.

But the hesitated and regretful faces of the people was received in return. The hopeless audience started to turn to leave slowly wishing for more. Along with the leaving audience a murmurming sound was made while they move to a narrow way towards the open noisy, busy street.

"May I know your beautiful name young lady?" The old man came forward.

" I'm called Jhu Jeng grangpa "

The old man nodded his head with a smile

" Well I love your spirit young lady. I just want you to know that each of us who came here had to work hard to earn a wages to support their family and so it took us weeks to get couple of silvers ready for the entertainment. Some have borrowed money from others just to witness today's entertainment." The old man explained

" then luck for the day ahead " the old man leave the place and disappear among the busy crowd.

When Jhu Jeng turn at the platform the storyteller was nowhere to be seen and the members of the entertainer had already started packing the tools and stuff, taking down the stage and decorations. The storyteller's assistant saw the young lady standing before him. He had already concluded that the young lady doesn't have the silver for the private storytelling and had expected this but he squeeze a sentence to ask anyway " You may follow me for the private storytelling Miss?"

Looking around and finding no audience besides her, Jhu Jeng gave a smile "No thanks"