A story of Grand Shaman and Young Shaman
Once upon a time, in a Magical Land not very far away, there was a very well known and famous shaman. This shaman which we shall call Grand Shaman, was a very difficult man to meet up with, not because he was too proud to meet with strangers but because he had many interests and many demands on his time from people who needed his skills.
We now introduce the second character of our story; the Young Shaman. At the beginning, Young Shaman was not even a shaman but a shaman ‘wannabe’. He had learned some shamanistic knowledge through a correspondence course from another shaman in the Maple Leaf Land. Young Shaman might have attended some classes on shamanism in person by another shaman in the Maple Leaf Land but I am not sure. Anyway, Young Shaman was interested in obtaining more knowledge. In his quest of knowledge, he heard of the Grand Shaman and after the use of much networking, managed to meet up with Grand Shaman.
Young Shaman wanted to learn from Grand Shaman and as an offering, suggested that he organize a shamanistic study class in Down Under Land and he could participate as well (for free). This was accepted by Grand Shaman and it was successful.
Grand Shaman in his generosity offered to partner with Young Shaman, a wet behind the years, 22 year-old at the time, in setting up the Center of Shamanistic Study. The offer was very generous, equal partnership in the new shaman practice. Of course Young Shaman had to work for his half of the practice. This was the first big mistake that Grand Shaman made; he belonged to the old school and believed that word of mouth was good enough.
Young Shaman was very industrious, from the outline given by Grand Shaman; Young Shaman came out with a shamanistic study course syllabus. Grand Shaman proceeded to flesh out the course syllabus with the technical details and Young Shaman wrote them down properly. Now bear in mind that this happened within one year of the first meeting between Grand Shaman and Young Shaman.
Of course nowadays, Young Shaman claims that he wrote the shamanistic study courses all by himself. Young Shaman claims that Grand Shaman did not teach him anything and he has no reason to call Grand Shaman master as he did not go through the ritualistic fasting, sacrifice of a wild buffalo and blood oath to be accepted as an apprentice. On the other hand, he says that his knowledge was taught to him by other shaman masters from Place of Smelly Waters. One wonders, did he perform the ritual to be accepted as an apprentice or did he just pay with many pretty pieces of yellow metal? If the latter, it would seem that buying an apprenticeship is worth more than being treated as an equal by a revered shaman. Strange world this is… luckily it is just fiction, otherwise it would not make sense, right?
Anyway, on with the story… Did I mention that Young Shaman was a very cunning chap? Because Grand Shaman was famous, Young Shaman thought that Grand Shaman’s name should be protected from other people who might seek to use Grand Shaman’s name to sell snake oil. So Young Shaman asked Grand Shaman to sign a writing skin giving permission for Young Shaman to register the use of Grand Shaman’s name with the Grand Council of Name Usage (that was in the old days, in these modern times we would call this the patent and trademark office). Grand Shaman, trusting Young Shaman, signed it assuming that the use of Grand Shaman’s name would be registered to the new partnership. This was not to be. Young Shaman recorded the name in such a way that it was in the control of himself and not the Center of Shamanistic Study.
Young Shaman also wanted to teach his own things on certain aspects of Shaman Magic. Grand Shaman gave his blessings even though there was potential conflict in what Young Shaman was doing and the Center of Shamanistic Study.
Then one day, it was pointed out to Grand Shaman that he should make sure that he really owned half of the new business. Grand Shaman had nothing official to show for the business. True, he got a big pile of animal hides every few months and a big horse drawn cart, but everything was controlled by Young Shaman. Even all the bonded labourers in the practice were selected and taken in by Young Shaman himself (some of the labourers are still collecting animal hides for Young Shaman today, knowing and denying what had happened a few years ago).
When Grand Shaman requested for the scroll containing the records of the Center of Shamanistic Study, Young Shaman told Grand Shaman that he could not take a copy. He could only view it in the cave that housed the Center of Shamanistic Study. When Grand Shaman wanted a record of the ownership of the Center of Shamanistic Study he had to apply to the King’s Record Center; Young Shaman would not provide such information.
In the end, Grand Shaman decided to sit down with Young Shaman and see about resolving those issues so that the Center of Shamanistic Study could still continue on. Young Shaman was not ready to share the information of the Center of Shamanistic Study with Grand Shaman. Young Shaman instead was very angry and said that since he did all the hard work, everything should be his and out of the goodness of his heart, he offered Grand Shaman the chance to kill the partnership and sell off all the belongings so that the animal skins can be distributed. Of course all the scrolls that Young Shaman claimed that he had written were to remain his, and only his.
Until such time that Grand Shaman agreed to end of the partnership and the partnership actually ended, Young Shaman told Grand Shaman that Grand Shaman could not use his own Name to teach as it is in the control of Young Shaman. This was a threat so that Grand Shaman would quickly end the whole partnership and agree to what must be some unfair points. Otherwise, pressure would not have been put on like this.
All this while, Young Shaman continued teaching his own Shaman Magic classes. Did I mention that in the last year before the partnership ended, Young Shaman had News Sprites to shout about his classes more and more? In the meantime, the News Sprites paid to shout about the Center of Shamanistic Study was getting less and less work to do. Grand Shaman decided to agree to kill the partnership. However, there was no way that Grand Shaman can agree to all the conditions set by Young Shaman. Grand Shaman is a fair shaman and he is willing to let Young Shaman go his own way, just as long as the whole process is fair.
"We will stop this story here as it is getting a bit too hot to handle. Keep checking in as I may get new chapters to this work of fiction from reliable sources. I hope you've enjoyed reading the story and please tell it to your children and grandchildren for many years to come."
Written by Coyote
At the beginning of the 21st Century
Once upon a time, in a Magical Land not very far away, there was a very well known and famous shaman. This shaman which we shall call Grand Shaman, was a very difficult man to meet up with, not because he was too proud to meet with strangers but because he had many interests and many demands on his time from people who needed his skills.
We now introduce the second character of our story; the Young Shaman. At the beginning, Young Shaman was not even a shaman but a shaman ‘wannabe’. He had learned some shamanistic knowledge through a correspondence course from another shaman in the Maple Leaf Land. Young Shaman might have attended some classes on shamanism in person by another shaman in the Maple Leaf Land but I am not sure. Anyway, Young Shaman was interested in obtaining more knowledge. In his quest of knowledge, he heard of the Grand Shaman and after the use of much networking, managed to meet up with Grand Shaman.Young Shaman wanted to learn from Grand Shaman and as an offering, suggested that he organize a shamanistic study class in Down Under Land and he could participate as well (for free). This was accepted by Grand Shaman and it was successful.
Grand Shaman in his generosity offered to partner with Young Shaman, a wet behind the years, 22 year-old at the time, in setting up the Center of Shamanistic Study. The offer was very generous, equal partnership in the new shaman practice. Of course Young Shaman had to work for his half of the practice. This was the first big mistake that Grand Shaman made; he belonged to the old school and believed that word of mouth was good enough.
Young Shaman was very industrious, from the outline given by Grand Shaman; Young Shaman came out with a shamanistic study course syllabus. Grand Shaman proceeded to flesh out the course syllabus with the technical details and Young Shaman wrote them down properly. Now bear in mind that this happened within one year of the first meeting between Grand Shaman and Young Shaman.
Of course nowadays, Young Shaman claims that he wrote the shamanistic study courses all by himself. Young Shaman claims that Grand Shaman did not teach him anything and he has no reason to call Grand Shaman master as he did not go through the ritualistic fasting, sacrifice of a wild buffalo and blood oath to be accepted as an apprentice. On the other hand, he says that his knowledge was taught to him by other shaman masters from Place of Smelly Waters. One wonders, did he perform the ritual to be accepted as an apprentice or did he just pay with many pretty pieces of yellow metal? If the latter, it would seem that buying an apprenticeship is worth more than being treated as an equal by a revered shaman. Strange world this is… luckily it is just fiction, otherwise it would not make sense, right?
Anyway, on with the story… Did I mention that Young Shaman was a very cunning chap? Because Grand Shaman was famous, Young Shaman thought that Grand Shaman’s name should be protected from other people who might seek to use Grand Shaman’s name to sell snake oil. So Young Shaman asked Grand Shaman to sign a writing skin giving permission for Young Shaman to register the use of Grand Shaman’s name with the Grand Council of Name Usage (that was in the old days, in these modern times we would call this the patent and trademark office). Grand Shaman, trusting Young Shaman, signed it assuming that the use of Grand Shaman’s name would be registered to the new partnership. This was not to be. Young Shaman recorded the name in such a way that it was in the control of himself and not the Center of Shamanistic Study.
Young Shaman also wanted to teach his own things on certain aspects of Shaman Magic. Grand Shaman gave his blessings even though there was potential conflict in what Young Shaman was doing and the Center of Shamanistic Study.
Then one day, it was pointed out to Grand Shaman that he should make sure that he really owned half of the new business. Grand Shaman had nothing official to show for the business. True, he got a big pile of animal hides every few months and a big horse drawn cart, but everything was controlled by Young Shaman. Even all the bonded labourers in the practice were selected and taken in by Young Shaman himself (some of the labourers are still collecting animal hides for Young Shaman today, knowing and denying what had happened a few years ago).
When Grand Shaman requested for the scroll containing the records of the Center of Shamanistic Study, Young Shaman told Grand Shaman that he could not take a copy. He could only view it in the cave that housed the Center of Shamanistic Study. When Grand Shaman wanted a record of the ownership of the Center of Shamanistic Study he had to apply to the King’s Record Center; Young Shaman would not provide such information.
In the end, Grand Shaman decided to sit down with Young Shaman and see about resolving those issues so that the Center of Shamanistic Study could still continue on. Young Shaman was not ready to share the information of the Center of Shamanistic Study with Grand Shaman. Young Shaman instead was very angry and said that since he did all the hard work, everything should be his and out of the goodness of his heart, he offered Grand Shaman the chance to kill the partnership and sell off all the belongings so that the animal skins can be distributed. Of course all the scrolls that Young Shaman claimed that he had written were to remain his, and only his.
Until such time that Grand Shaman agreed to end of the partnership and the partnership actually ended, Young Shaman told Grand Shaman that Grand Shaman could not use his own Name to teach as it is in the control of Young Shaman. This was a threat so that Grand Shaman would quickly end the whole partnership and agree to what must be some unfair points. Otherwise, pressure would not have been put on like this.
All this while, Young Shaman continued teaching his own Shaman Magic classes. Did I mention that in the last year before the partnership ended, Young Shaman had News Sprites to shout about his classes more and more? In the meantime, the News Sprites paid to shout about the Center of Shamanistic Study was getting less and less work to do. Grand Shaman decided to agree to kill the partnership. However, there was no way that Grand Shaman can agree to all the conditions set by Young Shaman. Grand Shaman is a fair shaman and he is willing to let Young Shaman go his own way, just as long as the whole process is fair.
"We will stop this story here as it is getting a bit too hot to handle. Keep checking in as I may get new chapters to this work of fiction from reliable sources. I hope you've enjoyed reading the story and please tell it to your children and grandchildren for many years to come."
Written by Coyote
At the beginning of the 21st Century
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