Ti Pan

The King and the Queen lived at Morne Mombin, 30 kilometres from the city of Les Cayes.

Every day, the King played cards with his best friends, which made the Queen very angry and jealous.

One day, she decided to give the King a good, hard lesson.

But to do that, the Queen needed a messenger.

One Friday morning, while sitting on her porch, the Queen saw a horse.

Queen: “Hey, could you give me a hand?”

Horse: “OK, let’s see. I would be delighted.”

Queen: “I want the King to stop playing cards. In order to do so, I'm going to lie in bed and pretend to be dying and YOU go to the boat where he will be playing cards with his friends and tell him I am dead. Then he will come home when the cock crows.”

Horse: “Well, no problem, quicker done than said. I promise.”

Queen: “Ha ha! Then, show me what you can do.”

Horse: “Hihan, hihan, hihan, hihan!”

Queen: “No, no, no, that’s not good enough, it will never work! Forget it, I’ll find another messenger.”

Shortly afterwards, the Queen interviewed a dozen animals including a goat, a dove and a pigeon, among others.

At the end, she was so tired that she fell asleep in her hammock on the porch. Suddenly, Ti Pan, (a bird unlike the others), having heard the news, flew to the branch of a huge flamboyant flame tree that provided shadow and coolness to the porch.

Ti Pan: “Hello Your Majesty, please allow me to disturb you.”

Queen: “Oh, Ti Pan, what brings you here?”

Ti Pan: “Well, I heard you were desperately looking for a messenger. How can I help?”

The Queen explained the whole scenario and Ti Pan said yes straight away.

Queen: “Ti Pan, could you show me what you will do?”

Ti Pan: “Yes, Your Majesty, I am going to sing this song:

“Ti Pan, Ti Pan
Ti nouvèl-o kriyé lonè
Ti Pan, Ti Pan,
Ti nouvèl-o kriyé lonè
Adelina, the Queen
She is dead, She is dead.””

Queen: “Bravo Ti Pan, you have understood well! I will hire you.”

Delighted, Ti Pan flew to announce the news to the King who was playing cards, as usual, with his friends on an old ship. Since leaving the Queen’s Palace, Ti Pan had not stopped singing the song as loud as he could so that the King could hear.

So, after a long and tiring day, Ti Pan eventually reached the ship. He saw the King and his friends and sang so loud that the King could clearly hear the news.

The King rushed back to the Palace, forgetting all about the money and the card games. At the Palace, the King threw himself on the Queen who was waiting for him impatiently.

Since then, the King has never played cards again. He prefers instead to stay beside his dear wife who gives him big hugs.

And, Ti Pan drops in from time to time to say hello.