Tale 26: The Clever Weaver (Brock)

(real tale: The Clever Weaver)


"My next tale today's going to be a little different..." Brock explains as he digs a pad of paper and a marker from his bag. "I'll be drawing a few pictures as I tell that are important to the story."

With that, he begins "Once a king of a far away land was hearing disputes among his people. It had been a slow morning, and there had not been many cases to be heard. The king thought about going to relax in the royal gardens when a great commotion was heard outside. The lord high chamberlain explained that an envoy from an eastern land had arrived."

"What's so scary about an envoy?" Melody asks.

"It wasn't the envoy that was scary, but the one who sent the envoy." Brock explains. "This particular land's emperor was feared by many other kings and queens for his hair trigger temper. So the king ordered the envoy admitted, and threw a huge banquet in his honor. But deep down, he dreaded the envoy's message."

"I would be too if I were a king and an envoy for a hot headed emperor showed up." Ash muses.

Brock begins drawing as he continues. "The envoy approached the throne, and traced a form of a circle around it with his walking stick." He then shows the group his drawing of a circle around the throne.

"So, the emperor has the kingdom surrounded?" Misty guesses.

"Or he's going to surround the kingdom and attack?" Ash also makes a guess.

"The royal court had no clue what the odd sign meant, and the envoy didn't say a word." Brock explains. "The king called his advisors together, but even they had no idea. The king pleaded with his advisors to do SOMETHING--for all he knew, the sign meant the emperor was coming to kill them all, or something worse than that."

"What did they do?" Ash was interested now.

"The ministers and advisors fanned out across the city, and asked all the townsfolk what the sign meant." Brock replies. "Most of them had no idea, but one minister noticed a weaver at work at her loom--we'll call her Jerica."

"Did she know the answer?" Melody asked.

"She listened as the minister told her about the envoy and the circle, and said that she had an idea what the circle meant, plus a response to the message." Brock replied. "She gathered some Berries and called her Pikachu to her side, and traveled to the palace."

"Pika pika?" Pikachu asks.

"Jerica told the king that the circle was, in essence, a declaration of war--the emperor was asking 'If my army surrounded your city, would you stand and fight, or submit to my rule?" Brock continues as he flips to another page on his pad and draws some more. "As the court looked on, Jerica scattered the Berries before the throne, and the Pikachu happily ate them all."

"Aw..." Ash smiles at Brock's drawing of a happy Pikachu surrounded by Oran Berry skins.

"Then Jerica explained her response--the Berries were the emperor's army, and the Pikachu was the king's army. If they were to engage in battle, her king would prevail."

"Cool!" Misty is impressed.

"The king was stunned by Jerica's wisdom, and handsomely rewarded her as thanks for saving the kingdom." Brock concludes. "Ever since then, the people of that land never forget that wisdom is sometimes found in the oddest of places."

"That was very clever!" Melody comments as she applauds...