There was standing room only in the
Great Hall and the cacophony of noise emanating from the arguing going on
inside was enough to make a deaf person block his ears. The controversy had
been going on for years with half the community believing one thing and the
other half of the community believing just the opposite.
The two sides had never waivered in
their positions regardless of the evidence presented to support each one’s
point. But all of that took place during the reign of Corsnuk. Some say that it
was because he really didn’t care while others argued that it was because he
was old and weak and just couldn’t cope with making the strong decisions.
Whatever the reason, Corsnuk was now dead and Palgris was now the Chieftain of
all the clans.
Palgris was considered by all to be
honest, fair and committed to the whole community, not just a few. Palgris was
also the youngest Troll to have ever been elected to the leadership. He had
wisdom beyond his years and everyone liked him. Even his enemies, if they could
be called as such, liked him and trusted his judgment. Palgris favored no one
in particular because he staunchly believed that the only way the Troll
community could survive was to become one….to be fully united, lest the demise
and eventual extinction of the Trolls would be inevitable.
Palgris entered the room and walked
to the middle of the stage where he took his place in the Chieftain’s chair.
Goltek slammed the gavel down with a mighty force and called the conference to
order. Amazingly, the attendees in the room and those standing outside the
building ceased their conversations. The din was replaced with eager silence as
they waited for Palgris to address them.
Before Palgris stood up, one of his
aides brought a basin of water, a bar of soap and a towel. Palgris took the
soap and dipped his hands into the water and scrubbed them. As soon as Palgris was
finished drying his hands, the aide left the stage. Palgris rose and moved to
the lectern where he took a moment to peruse the crowd gathered. He felt proud
that so many had come to hear what he had to say. He was also moved that so
many trusted, believed and counted on him to lead the way to a new era.
He squared his shoulders. “Good
evening and welcome. I thank you all for taking the time to come here tonight.
Some of the things I will talk about will undoubtedly shake you to your core
and many will disagree with me. But I am totally confident that once I finish
explaining to you the reasons for my position, you will have a change of heart
and support me for I have one and only one intention…..that is, to save our
community and to unite us all once and for all.”
The room erupted with a loud
applause. Palgris let it go on for a moment before raising his hand to silence
them once again. When he spoke again, his voice was like velvet, smooth and
soft and rich.
“We all know that our children are
the most precious gifts we have and that we must find the way to protect them
so they may grow and become strong able adults. We cannot do this with the way things
are…..we have all seen the results of the carelessness and laziness that has
plagued us for these past numbers of years. We can no longer be complacent and
ashamed of who we are and what we stand for. Many of you have argued that we
should take up arms and I say “No”. I strongly advise against it because to do
so would only make us like the humans who claim us to be uncivilized and unable
to live in a societal world with civility and wisdom.”
“And how do you propose to overcome
that?” someone yelled out from the back of the room.
Palgris paused before answering to
let the silence have its effects. He looked at all the faces staring at him
with eager curiosity, knowing that the wrong word would cause disruption that
would end the night and the chance to succeed.
“It is my contention that we must
educate our children in the human ways. We…..”
The room filled with boos and hisses
cutting off his words. He waited for them to calm before continuing on. “I am
telling you that if we are to survive in this world, we must educate the young
so that they can go into the world as our emissaries and ambassadors. They must
know the world they will be forced to live in and it is better that they are
prepared. Otherwise, they will face annihilation at the hands of those bigots
who live within the human society.”
Just then a paper airplane flew from
the crowd and landed at his feet. He casually picked it up and held it up for
all to see. “Just as this plane has taken flight and come to the end of its
journey, are we as the Troll Society of the world to do the same? Are we to
continuously flee from one area to another? To take flight until we can no
longer find a place and thus end our journey and become extinct like so many of
the creatures of this world that have done so for millenniums before us?”
Palgris took a sip of water and
continued. “We have been a proud race of beings in spite of having been labeled
as the scum of the Earth. With the exception of these past years, we have
always been a harmonious race living without bigotry or prejudice. We have
embraced everyone on an equal basis and loved each other with complete
sincerity of heart. We possess no need for greed, or lust nor need to be
disloyal, dishonest, or untrustworthy because we all know that there is not one
of us, including myself, who is better than the other. We are Trolls each and every
one of us and I beg you now as your Chieftain to make the most brilliant
decision of your life and to give your children the greatest gift of all: the
pure knowledge to succeed and survive and to show the world our superiority of
love for all.”
“Thank you.”
There was no reaction from anyone at first but
then, after a moment, one by one everyone stood up and clapped. There were many
hoots and whistles and then the room exploded with shouts of “Palgris!
Palgris!”
As Palgris stood looking out at his
people, hearing them shouting his name and listening to their unity and support
for his idea, a tear trickled down his cheek for he knew deep in his heart his
children would have a new chance, a new life.
Chelle
Munroe ©
July
6, 2014
