Tale 16: The Power of Song (Ash)


"In a far away land, a young princess was born." Ash begins. "However, a troubling rumor began racing through the land--that the young princess could not read. She couldn't even say the ABCs!"

"Why not?" Misty is puzzled.

"The king struggled to find an answer to that question." Ash replies. "and he called in all his scholars and sages to try and encourage his daughter--let's call her Roni--how to read. One sage suggested that Roni be put in a room with no distractions, save for books. So the king led Roni to the royal library, but that didn't work--Roni would look at the pictures in the books, but struggled to learn the words that went with them--much less the letters that made up those words."

"Poor Roni..." Brock muses--he sympathizes with the sage, having struggled with some of his own siblings when they learned to read.

"Another sage suggested that Roni be taught with others around her age, but that didn't work either--Roni was more interested in playing with her new friends than the words in her books." Ash continued. "The king tried everything to encourage Roni to read, but nothing appeared to work. Mind you, Roni did put in an effort, but she still struggled mightily. But then a sage brought up an idea that proved to be prophetic--what if Roni was taught to read in song? The king found that a silly idea, and blew off the sage's suggestion."

"This is getting interesting..." Misty muses.

"A few months went by, and rumors about the princess that couldn't read spread far and wide." Ash explained. "Then one day, a minstrel came to that land, and all who heard her singing were awed by her skill."

"Pini pi Hapi?" Happini asks.

"The minstrel came to the palace, and enthralled the king, the court, and Roni with her instruments and singing stories." Ash continues before singing a little himself. Tuadera ensilum, lalecci, noncine ieri, dammero, inmeisti.

"And then?" Brock is interested.

"The king pleaded to know more about the minstrel's song, but the minstrel sang him this song..." With that, Ash sings in gibberish again. Yea cilaf yott a, cusir ar ce wist,
Yea linda crirnpauks kol craur fitsa ca yea ptrist
A poga wott yea lewr glala yea kol ar wa durfa,
Cra kil glan cra spea, cra kil glirfa an wayf,
Kilil yor cra cror, kilil etsale sphas,
Yos miar yola wet, gos wa kor cra wyr wala

He waits for his friends' applause to die down before continuing. "When the king learned what the song meant, he pleaded with the minstrel to help Roni. The minstrel agreed, and the lessons began."

"This should be interesting..." Brock smiles.

"The minstrel started by singing Roni three notes--do, re, mi." Ash explains. "Roni hesitantly sang back the three notes. Then the minstrel added more notes, and Roni would sing them back too. The months went by, and do-re-mi quickly evolved into the complete musical scale. The musical scales became melodies, the melodies became songs, and with those songs came words--both in the minstrel's language and English. Then other languages were added, and before long, Roni was reading in song, and delighting all who heard her with sung speeches, stories, and even jokes. The king was stunned by Roni's quick progress in a few short years, and went to reward the minstrel for her service, but was saddened to learn that Arceus had led her on to another land. He never did see the minstrel again, but there were some that said the minstrel was Meloetta in human form."

He concludes "When it came time for Roni to succeed her father, she became known in the land as 'The Royal Songtress' and ruled with wisdom and kindness. Thanks to her, no one in that land forgot the power of song."

As his friends applaud, Ash notices some rustling in his bag, and retrieves a mint tin from inside. When he opens it, a small sprite Pokemon flies out from it and perches on a tree. "That was a very nice story, Ash--where did you learn it?" she asks as she brushes her music staff-like hair.

"Before that, though, some introductions are in order." Ash assures the sprite. "Misty, Brock--this is Melody, the Meloetta I rescued on my Unova journey..."

(The tale is based on a tale from Israel with the same title, which you can find on Google Books)