When the ten students began to wake the following morning, Ilika was already gone. As each went to use the toilet room, they looked around for someone to tell them it was their turn — and found no one to ask. When they finished their business, they expected someone to see if they had left a mess —
but no one was checking. On the way back to the sleeping room, they looked up and down the corridor to see who was watching where they went — and found no one paying any attention.
Although they were all quite hungry and could smell food cooking, they couldn’t help but steal glances at the mysterious unopened wooden box on the table. Ilika had said that after breakfast and before lunch, they should “do the puzzle.” He had refused to say any more.
So they took turns, every few minutes, creeping to the stairs to see if a large table was free. Finally, Kodi ran back smiling and bouncing up and down.
“Remember what the innkeeper said about running!” Neti scolded gently.
“Oh, yeah,” he said with an impish grin.
With some anxiety, they made their way down to the common room. Kodi was careful to walk very, very slowly.
Their anxiety faded when they were served sweet tea and porridge, just as if Ilika was with them. Bowls of honey, cream, and berries were set in the middle.
Buna put one of the berries directly into her mouth and shuddered at its
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delicious sour taste.
Back at the large table in the sleeping room, they all gazed longingly at the ornate wooden box.
“I think we need a leader,” Rini said confidently, “and I think it should be Miko. But only if we all agree.”
Nods and thumbs-up circled the table.
“But just for this puzzle thing, right?” Toli asked, slightly worried. “I mean, other people might be good at leading other things.”
More nods and sounds of agreement made Toli smile.
“Well . . . I’ve always wanted to be a leader,” Miko said, “but when you’re a slave . . .”
Everyone
laughed.
“I will try to be a good leader. I guess . . . we should open the box!” He lifted the lid and they all peered in and beheld hundreds of strangely shaped pieces of thin wood. No two seemed to have the same shape. He took a few out and laid them on the table.
“I think we should be careful not to break them,” Mati said, almost holding her breath.
“Yeah,” Miko agreed. “They all have a bit of painting on them.”
“Slaves aren’t allowed to touch paintings,” Rini said with a serious voice.
“But we have to touch them to put it together!” Toli burst out.
Rini smiled and picked up a piece.
“This is a test, isn’t it?” Neti asked.
“Everything’s a test,” Boro replied. “Remember, there are twice as many of us as he needs.”
“I have a suggestion,” Sata said. “I think we should all wash our hands before we touch the pieces anymore.”
Miko looked around the table. “Yeah!”
They all filed downstairs and out to the trough in front of the inn. After being dried on their tunics, the twenty cleanest hands in the city returned to the sleeping room.
Miko took a deep breath. “I’ll put the pieces on the table, painting side up, and then we can see what it looks like.” He worked for the next ten minutes as
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everyone watched intently.
Most of the students frowned with confusion as they gazed at the hundred or more pieces on the table.
“What the heck is it?” Boro wondered aloud.
Sata shrugged. “No idea.”
Several others had similar comments.
“I can see it,” Kibi said, barely louder than a mouse.
Buna’s mouth twisted into a little smile. “Me too.”
The others tried again to see something in the fragmented, disorganized bits of painting, but could not.
“We give up,” Miko said. “Please tell us.”
“It’s a bunch of blue flowers in a green jar,” Kibi said.
Buna flashed her a grin.
“Some of the pieces have a straight side,” Toli observed.
“So?” Kodi challenged with frustration, chin in his hands.
Boro and Sata looked at each other with raised eyebrows. “Those are the sides, I bet,” Sata said.
“Will you two work on the sides, see if you can put it together?” Miko asked.
“Hey! It was my idea!” Toli whined.
“I guess . . . you can work on the sides too, Toli. How about . . . Kibi and Buna start on the flowers. They look like the hardest part, and you guys can see them best.”
“Now that they told us what to look for, I can see it too,” Mati said. “Can I help?”
Kibi and Buna nodded.
Miko looked around. “That leaves the jar for me, Neti, Rini, and . . .”
“There’s nothing for me to do!” Kodi said in a hurt tone.
“I was just about to ask you to work on the jar with us.”
“I don’t want to!” the youngest boy said with a pout as he went to the hearth to play with sticks.
“Okay, fine. Me, Neti, and Rini are doing the jar.”
“Flowers are being made at this end of the table!” Kibi announced, and Buna moved over.
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“Let’s save the middle of the table for the sides of the painting . . .”
Ilika returned about an hour after noon.
The completed puzzle lay on the table, a variety of blue flowers in a green blown-glass jar, with bits of clouds and sky in the background. Most of the students had smirks on their faces.
“You guys are good!” Ilika said, looking at the masterpiece. “There’s a free table. Anyone hungry?”
“I am!” they chorused.
Down in the common room, when everyone was supplied with stew and bread, cheese and a few fresh greens, Ilika spoke. “The documents I mentioned have been started, and should be done tomorrow. We have a tailor coming later this afternoon to outfit all of you. The bootmaker is coming tomorrow.”
As Ilika ate, he began to notice the tension in the group. It was difficult to pinpoint the source, as several people talked happily among themselves, laughing about the difficulty of matching and fitting some of the puzzle pieces.
Miko was unusually quiet.
Once back in the sleeping room, Ilika took up his perch on the hearth.
“You guys are a team. You’re a learning team right now. Someday, five of you will be the crew of a ship, and the other five might choose to be a team also. The most important thing about being a team is trusting one another.
Because of that, I will never ask you to tell on each other. That only destroys trust.”
“Our masters always wanted us to do that,” Kibi said, “but we wouldn’t.”
“Good. I noticed on the test day that confidence was a strong value with all of you. It’s also important to share your thoughts, feelings, ideas, and experiences, so I’ll teach you how to do that in ways that build trust.
“The main rule is to only talk about yourself. You are the only person whose thoughts and feelings you really know. We can only guess why someone else does, or doesn’t do, something.”
He paused to see if they were with him. Most were nodding.
“This morning you had your first experience together without me controlling everything like a . . . well, like a ship’s captain. I can sense there
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were some challenges. Anyone who wants to work on a ship — or do anything else that takes teamwork — has to be willing to report everything he sees or thinks that might be important to the team.
“But, like I said, you are only talking about yourself. If someone else made you feel something, that is your feeling. Say, ‘I was angry,’ not ‘Sata made me angry.’”
Sata grinned without concern.
“See the difference?” Ilika asked.
Some nodded understanding. Most looked thoughtful.
“Sata, what can you report about your experience in the puzzle project, from your point of view, without using anyone else’s name?”
“Um . . . I had fun. I was finding the sides with . . . two other people. It was easy to pick out those pieces, but hard to put them together. I loved it when the other parts were moved into the frame.”
“Miko, what can you report?”
“Well, um . . . someone suggested I be the leader of the project, and I tried, but I don’t think I did a very good job.” He fell silent.
“Why do you think that?”
“I think if a leader is good, everyone in the project would be happy, but . . .
not everyone was.” He looked at his blanket.
“Do you think a leader is responsible for everyone’s happiness?”
“Um . . . I don’t know. Now that you say it like that, it sounds a little strange.”
“I hope it sounds a little strange,” Ilika asserted. “We’ll talk about that idea more later, but I want to get everyone’s report first. Kibi, how about you?”
“I had lots of fun, and me and . . . someone . . . were able to see the picture before it was put together, and it made me feel closer to . . . that person. Then three of us put the flowers together. I think . . . the leader was really good, and I think everyone is responsible for their own happiness.”
“I agree with you. Kodi?”
“The leader was really good and the picture was really pretty,” he said in one breath, barely louder than a whisper.
Even though Kodi hadn’t said much, the looks on others’ faces at that
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moment told Ilika a great deal. “How about you, Rini?”
From everyone else, Ilika received reports of happiness with the project, some minor frustration with the puzzle pieces, and pride in the completed product.
“So, Miko, I’ve heard nothing but glowing praise about your leadership.
What do you think of that?”
“Gosh. I’m . . . surprised. I guess I’m not really sure what a leader is, even though I’ve always wanted to be one, ever since I ran away from home.”
“Is that how you became a slave?” Buna asked.
“Yeah. I was about nine. I hated my mother, ‘cause everything had to be done exactly her way. Even if me or my brother knew a better way, she’d beat us if she caught us. If we asked why we had to do it her stupid way, she’d just say, ‘Because I said so!’ and then she’d beat us for asking.
“My father would never lift a finger to her. She even told him exactly how to do things, and he’d say, ‘Yes, Honey,’ and then do it the way he knew was best.
“I don’t regret leaving home, but I should have waited a little longer. I just left one day when she made me really mad, and I didn’t have anything but the clothes I was wearing. I wish I’d waited another year or two, saved up some coppers and stuff. I lasted about a week, stealing food from gardens and cellars. Then I got caught and I’ve been a slave ever since.”
After a long silence, Ilika nodded. “Thanks, Miko.”
“I’ve been working up my courage ever since Boro told his story,” Miko added.
Ilika continued. “Kibi already mentioned that a leader is not responsible for others’ happiness. There are people who can be happy even in the worst situations in the world, like being a runaway or a slave . . .”
They all smiled or chuckled.
“. . . and there are people who are rich and famous and are unhappy.
Happiness has very little to do with anything outside of you, including who is leading.”
He let his words linger in the air for the ten to think about. Just then a knock rattled their door.
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“Kibi, would you answer that, please?”
She sprang from her bed and opened the door. The innkeeper and the tailor, with a load of samples over his arm, filled the doorway. Little waves were exchanged between Sata and her father. The tailor entered.
“There are many other things about leadership we will learn in future lessons. Thank you all for your excellent work on the puzzle, and your thoughtful reports.”
They all glowed with pride at his kind words — all but one.
Deep Learning Notes
Kibi’s and Buna’s ability to see the picture, before the puzzle was assembled, is a kind of intuitive intelligence that not everyone has, and can’t be gained by force of will. Word puzzles such as anagrams require the same kind of intelligence.
Do you agree that a leader is not responsible for the group members’
happiness? What does this notion imply for leaders or teachers who are forced to deal with all people placed in the group or class, regardless of skill or attitude?
Ilika teaches his students how to make reports that only reveal their own experiences and feelings. Even though bad feelings and poor communications among the crew members on a ship give us lots of possible story plots, they can spell disaster, as any captain or pilot-in-command knows.