The Meeting Of The Storytellers

[Wiseman]

Chapter 4

Chapter 4
“A long time ago,” the storyteller started, “long before you were born and even longer before I was born there lived a man and his brother in the country of Greece.”

“Where’s Greece?” asked the boy

The storyteller removed a stein from the mantle piece. “Here,” he said pointing to it on a map that was printed on the stein. “And here’s Germany, where the man and his brother are going to go to.”

“Why did they go to Germany?” the boy wanted to know.

“You are without a doubt the most inquisitive audience I have ever had.” exclaimed the storyteller.

“Other than that dog, I’m the only audience you’ve ever had.” remarked the boy.

“Right,” he said, “anyway, as for why they went to Germany it was to get away from their father who was the king of Greece. He was a vicious evil tyrant.”

“I see,” said the boy.

“When the brothers got to Germany, “The storyteller continued, “they met two sisters who they each thought were the most beautiful women they had ever seen. So they married them and settled down. Soon they each had a child. The child of the younger brother was named John and the child of the older brother was named Jacob. Due to the fact that the brothers had deserted their family back in Greece, they gave their children the name of their mothers, Schmidt.

“The two cousins grew up happily, John studied the folk tales of Germany with his mother and the tales of Russia with his maternal grandmother, while Jacob learned the tales of the Greek myths from his father.

“Years passed and soon the old king of Greece died, and it was time for a new king to take his place and the elder of the two brothers who had went to Germany was next in line. So he took the boy and his mother to Greece. At the same time the younger man decided to seek out life in the new world, so he took his son and his wife to America.

 

[The Count]

Intereschting...

 

[BeakerSqueedom]

I drawn into the story.
I like how the child mentions he was his only audience. Lol!
Made me giggle.

 

[Wiseman]

Glad you like it

Thanks Count and Beaker I wonder why no one else has dicovered this little piece of fan-fiction. I plan to continue with the back story for one more installment and then get back to Greece to have Jacob get to the will reading place. Other Muppet characters will show up at the airport when the American storyteller leaves for Greece.

 

[Wiseman]

Chapter 5

Chapter 5
“It was a long trip from Germany to Greece and there were many stops along the way. About halfway there the new king began to notice that his wife was going to have another child.”

“Boy or girl?” asked the boy.

“Girl,” said the storyteller, “but as soon as this child was born the new king noticed something about her, she didn’t look anything like her father. The man knew instantly that this was not his child.”

“Whose was she?” asked the boy

“I don’t know,” said the storyteller, “I only heard about all this from my cousin after the fact, I was on a boat traveling across the ocean to America while all this was happening.”

“Mentally the man retraced their path. From Germany, they had traveled through Czechoslovakia,”

“But that’s two separate countries” said the boy.

“They were one when he made the trip and they remained one for many years afterward and in my mind they will always be one.” said the storyteller,
“Now stop asking questions and listen."

“They had continued south to Hungary and on to Romania former home of Vlad the Impaler also known as Dracul. From there they had gone to Serbia and Montenegro, and on into Macedonia and finally to Albania where they were now. But there were too many stops along the way in each of those many lands to determine who the father was or where he had come from and the wife wasn’t telling.

“The king decided he’d settle the matter after taking his throne, besides the girl was very beautiful even if she wasn’t his own, she would make a lovely princess.

"When the king and his queen finally arrived in Greece they were escorted to Athens where there was a big coronation party. The king took his throne and all went well at first.”

“There’s a but coming” said the boy.

“How did you know that?” asked the storyteller.

“There’s always a but in your stories about now.” said the boy

“Yeah well you won’t hear about it if you don’t get up off yours and put some more wood on the fire, it’s cold.” said the Storyteller.

“It’s not cold, you’re just old.” said the boy.

“Don’t sass your elders,” said the storyteller. “Remember, you just might get old yourself one day.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” said the boy.

“Would you like to consider the alternative.” said the storyteller.

The boy thought for a moment, “No,” he said and got up to put more wood on the fire.

“Good, now where was I?” said the storyteller.

“Your uncle had just taken his throne” said the boy.

“Oh yes, right.” said the storyteller, “Now then as I was saying, the king took his throne and all went well at first, but as time went on the king grew more and more curious about the true origins of his adopted daughter. He even began to doubt that his son was his, after all he and his brother were twins and they did all live in the same house during their time in Germany, he soon decided there was only one solution to his problem, he would banish his son to Crete and lock him up in the maze that had once belonged to the minotaur. There he would stay until his mother told the truth of his origins and his sister’s. So he put him on a boat with a black sail and sent him off to Crete. There the young man grew up, imprisoned in the maze with only a dog and the voices of the gods and heroes of ancient Greece for companions.”

“He must have been very lonely,” said the boy.

“Probably,” said the storyteller, “I cannot tell how he felt. I can only tell how I felt miles away tossing and turning as my ship bobbed about on the great Atlantic Ocean.

“Time passed and my ship landed and my parents and I traveled to New England where we finally settled down.”

“But what of your cousin and his half sister?” said the boy.

“Well, as time went on the king’s heart grew cold. Day after day he asked his queen if she had been faithful and day after day she answered yes, but he knew she was lying for the princess began to look more and more different from her father. Soon he could bare it no longer and he had her banished too. She was sent to the Isle of Lesbos with her mother and only the king himself remained in Athens.”

“But Greece is no longer a monarchy with a ruling family it’s now a republic like the U.S.A.” said the boy.

“That’s right,” said the storyteller, “in time the country of Greece changed and became the Hellenic Republic that we know today, however, it was decided that the royal family would be honored by allowing them to continue to live on as a rich family and hence my uncle became a billionaire with no one to leave it to.”

“Poor man.” said the boy.

“Yes, poor indeed for what is money worth when one cannot enjoy it.” said the Storyteller, “Time passed and we all grew older. I, and my parents in America, my uncle in Greece, my cousin in Crete and my cousin’s half sister in Lesbos.”

“And now your uncle has died and you must go to Greece to claim your inheritance.” said the boy.

“Who’s telling this story you or me?” said the storyteller.

“You sir,” said the boy.

“Then let me tell it.” he said. Now then, as I was saying, and now I must go to Greece to claim my inheritance.”

 

[The Count]

Funny... Liked the interaction between the Storyteller and the boy. Wonder where this'll go next.

 

[Wiseman]

Back to the Mediterranean as we follow Jacob and his half sister from Crete to Greece and then to the U.S. as we follow John on his plane ride to Greece. By the way, have you ever considered the alternative to growing old? My daughter did just this morning when she dared to talk back to me.

 

[Wiseman]

Chapter 6

Chapter 6
Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Jacob and his half sister were sailing under a white sail back to Athens. They had been traveling for two days by now.

The old man’s head swam as his half sister told him of wars and rumors of wars, of people going to and fro. Of information traveling at the speed of light, of the end of the age of kings and the beginnings of the many republics. Of nation rising up against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

“But this is still not the end.” said the woman.

“How much more can there be,” said the old man, “Is there still a place for me in this brave new world?”

She thrust a small clear cylindrical object into his hand, and gave him a piece of paper. “Make a mark on this with that and then tell me if there is still a place for a storyteller in the modern world.”

The old man looked at the implement in his hand and at the paper in front of him. He then drew a slanted line on the page. He then connected it to another slanted line. Then about halfway up the two slanted lines he drew a crosspiece.

“Do you know what you just drew?” asked his half-sister.

Of course I do, it is, Alpha the first letter of the alphabet, we Greeks invented the art of writing.” he said.

“Actually we borrowed it from the Phoenicians.” said his half-sister, “and in the modern world it is called an A.”

As they continued to sail the man struggled with the modern alphabet and started to write down his stories. His sister watched as the old Greek myths were penned into this strange new medium.

Meanwhile, down in the hold of the ship, the storyteller’s canine companion wondered where he fit in in all this too.

“I see there will always be a place for such as myself and my cousin, but tell me, did my mother ever reveal to my father the true origins of your birth?” said the storyteller.


“No she did not, I know that that the former king of Greece is not my father, but I have no idea who is.” she said.

The old man looked at his half sister and took pity on her growing up without a father on an island populated almost entirely by women with strange unnatural appetites. At the same time she took pity on him growing up in the darkness of the labyrinth with no friends, no one to talk to and no knowledge of the many changes that had been going on in the world. “Sister,” said he.

“Brother,” said she.

“It matters not who your father was for you will always be a princess in my eyes,” he said. He kissed her cheek and they embraced.

They sailed on for three days until they arrived at the shores of the mainland of Greece. And then she took him through the streets carefully guiding him around corners and showing him how to avoid the strange metal chariots that the world raced around in without the aid of horses. At the end of the day they arrived at a hotel. She took him to his room and said. “Stay here for the night, I must go and pick up your brother at the airport. I will be back tomorrow afternoon and then the will will be read.

 

[The Count]

Like I said before... Very interesting and I wonder to know how this will continue.

 

[BeakerSqueedom]

Your kid talked back to you?
LOL!

Kids go through that a lot...