Chapter 18

Who will be the next chief?

Different villagers males and females tried on the robe and so far the robe did not fit them. Some who were nursing babies could not try on the robe until their baby was 2 and had to be delayed until then. The tribal chief twins boys who were now 53 Bifu and Ofu after trying on the robe and it did not fit ask me to try it on and I said, I can't I daren't.'
'Every tribe member needs to try the robe on, it's the Isola law until one is chosen, explained Bifu, 'and it's your turn as we go from the eldest to the youngest Seven has already tried it on and it does not fit,'
'Has Sef tried it on?' I asked hoping he had and not been chosen.
'No,' said Bifu.
'You cannot let him try it on,' I pleaded with Bifu.
'Why not, he is a member of this tribe,' explained Bifu.
'He is evil and if he is chosen, the tribe might suffer of his evil deeds,'
'Do not worry, the robe can sense evil and he will not be chosen; now go and try on the robe it is time.' Bifu Said.

I walked over to the amphitheatre with nervous anticipation and I was afraid to try it on, then Seven came over and with a bit of encouragement I took the robe off the hanger and tried it on and was relieved it was much too small for my body and hung it back up saying, 'No the robe does not fit,' I was not sure whether to be relived or disappointed. Even though I did not want to be the chief with too much responsibility, did feel a slight disappointed which was normal as every one who had tried on the robe so far had also felt disappointed not to be chosen. Then Gata tried it on after me and it did not fit. The next was a 13 year old child and there where 30 children in the tribe with Rosemary been the youngest at the moment until, the mothers that were nursing babies turned 2 years old. If the robe did not fit any of the children, then the tribe will have to wait a little longer for the mums or their offspring to try on the robe.

Peep is chosen as the next tribal chief.

Suddenly there a loud cry of cheers coming from the amphitheatre, A chief has been chosen, all the tribe and I with Seven and Rosemary all ran to the amphitheatre to see who had been chosen, and was surprised that 8 year old Peep was wearing the robe. Peep was a red haired boy and his proud parents were Wasabi and Tagata who both red heads. All the villagers celebrated by dancing and feasting into the night and little Peep just went off to inspect the food, and then he decided to play in the dirt to the horror of his parents. They were thinking he is going to get that robe all dirty. To the surprise to his parents the robe seemed to resist dirt. Little tribal chief Peep then had to carry out his duty of burying the dead and he did it without compliant. I thought he is going to be a good chief the robe chose him will. Peep did the usual normal things that children do, when not required to carry out his chiefly duties, like playing in the puddles, nature calling, making sandcastles, running around, and even looking for mommy when he noticed a banana seed in the orchard. Then it was back to his duties such as inspecting the food, thinking what else he must do and he also gave a lecture to the whole tribe. Which I attended and I was surprised how knowledgeable that little Peep was and I learnt something new from little Peep. I knew that the robe had the ability to transfer knowledge into the chosen one like magic. The chief does not need a preference, as he does not work. As Peep was still a child, he was too young to teach children and had to wait till he was 18 to teach them and give them skills. So when the children had no one to give those skills to start work at 14 had to rely on the guiding hand to choose a career for them. Like my Rosemary who might need help to find a job when she grew up, but then Rosemary would be 12 when Peep is 18 so she may gain some skill hopefully that it might be the skill she wants.

The next day it was back to normal every one working and I was feeling a kind of anticlamax and felt sad realising that Pickle had gone from my life Then I remembered about the crystal which needed to be distroyed. I informed Seven that we had to find the crystal which we had forgotten about in all the excitment of the events that had been going on in the last several days. I told Seven that it was urgent to find the crystal now and he agreed, but the only thing Seven did not know where it was as it was either got lost or Sef had it hidden away.

To be continued