Chapter 13

Zithrusa thought that the goats and sheep could survive if they were split off to the north, to the foothills, where some pools of water existed, and there was forage for them, just not a route to anywhere else. With a few herders, they could survive the few months until the rains came, and the trade route greened up again.

She offered the option to the new men, and almost all of them took the opportunity, even sending one of their number back for the laggards who had not stayed with the caravan. Zithrusa told them the landmarks to look for, and that in three months or four, they should head either west or east on the trade route as they chose, and try to make a life for themselves using the goats and sheep as their resource.

One family, who were Aramaic traders who had been caught up in the slavers capture wanted to continue west with the caravan, however. John, Tuk, and John's wives had many conversations with the western trader about the conditions and people to the west. Persia was in ascendancy, and Babylon had fallen not long before. There was a climate of welcome to traders, and roads were built and patrolled, keeping them free of bandits and little taxing kingdoms and warlords.

The Great King was strong, and all the power of the Satraps derived from him. It was courtesy for traders to stop in and present themselves to the various local rulers, and announce their intentions, and make a small gift, not a bribe but more acknowledgement that one was submissive to the power of the ruler.

The new people sold the wool from the sheep to the caravan for food and weapons, and set off on their own, to make whatever life they could, the good fates willing. Adding them to the caravan would have overtaxed their supplies, and the best cure for slavery was independence. Giving them the herd was the best they could do, and the herd would not have been able to follow the caravan route at this time of year, due to the availability of forage.

It was difficult enough to find enough for the mules and desert hardy ponies and camels, and the sheep and goats would do better for having herders to watch over them. It was one thing for John to ask what his people thought about rescuing a lost caravan, but it was entirely the duty of the Caravan master to make decisions concerning the safety of the day to day existence of the caravan. If they hadn't had extra food, they wouldn't have been able to do anything.

That night was John's story night, and as he was telling his story, he noticed the attention of the children was on the tent wall behind him. It seems Tsee and Rouya were making shadow images on the wall to illustrate the story. John was amazed at how well the shadow play was done, and thought of puppets.

He talked with Rouya and Tsee later, and had them help him design some articulated puppets, and come up with some stories to choreograph to his narration. It was decided that it could be a nighttime act, illuminated by lamps, and John could be lit for a segment of narration, then the puppet stage lit for an enactment of the story. with sound effects by all, and guest voices as needed.

After trying to make the puppets move with strings, it was found to be easier to dress in dark blue suits that covered the entire body, face and hands, and manipulate the puppets using wooden sticks. The legs and feet of the puppets were seldom seen, the effect of walking and horses trotting was instead suggested by sound effects. Zithrusa and the other musicians joined in this new night-time drama and storytelling, adding their talents to create the effect of mood, ambiance and foreshadowing.

The result was startling, the little wooden puppets embodied with the sound effects, the music, and the voices gave the stories, which previously had been the only form of entertainment in this age besides music, sporting contests and dances, a transcendent quality which drew the viewer in, suspending their disbelief and involving them entirely in the story. John had to be careful what his message was, it was almost of mind control effect.

He made sure that the music identified and vilified the villains, and that the heroes and heroines were not of the anti sort. The wooden puppets were of various basic types, and were brought to full life with a few simple costumes and sound effects, and voices.

The horse doubled as a donkey or mule, depending on its motions and sound effects, and it was a simple matter to dress a puppet as a male or female, with a padded bra or not under its clothes. Some specialty puppets were made, like a large puppet which could be a djinn or an ogre, a giant or a heroic figure. A very small puppet could be a spirit, or an infant. It was all in the costumes or voices.

The caravan took to stopping before dawn to put on puppet shows by various little groups of collaborators every morning before bed, and setting out in the cooling of the evening to make up the time. Everyone looked forward to the new presentations, and the best were remembered, or the best parts of several were combined to produce a worthy show. As they traveled they developed quite a repertory of fine puppet plays.

John was glad to have an act which would not require the entire big top setup. The scouts let a few harmless herders and passing nomadic folk slip among the audience, while keeping an eye on them. They were entranced by the unfolding stories, and felt they had passed the night in a dream, or among the spirit folks.

They started to encounter the various peoples living on the land, as the climate permitted more and more inhabitants. They were of all different tribes that the Babylonians and Assyrians had conquered and translocated, scattering and intermingling to dilute and negate their heritages. As a result, the reverse of a tower of babble occurred, and everyone learned the same language in order to be able to converse.