THE BOOK OF SHIONI AKEK

1And it did not take much time for the news of the outrage of Mentina to reach the ears of the families and friends of those whom Tucantor had imprisoned there. And they were wroth with the people of Mentina and with the high priest in particular, insomuch that they did gather in the cities and settlements closest unto Mentina.

2And a particularly large body of people did gather at Elak Kowa. And the people did call for the Great Council to take up the matter of the immediate relief of the Nem of Mentina. And it was the decision of the Council that I should write an epistle one last time unto Tucantor and request that he release the Nem from the city, that they might gather with their own people in other places.

3And behold, I did write an epistle unto Tucantor, even according to the will of the people, saying:

4Behold, Tucantor, I write unto you from the city of Elak Kowa for and in behalf of all the Nem of the mountains. And I do request that you let the Nem come out of the city of Mentina. Yea, let them come out from Mentina and join their families in other places.

5For, it is clear that you do not esteem them as you ought. Yea, because that they are of other beliefs and customs than you, they are made slaves in their own city, even the city which they have built up with their own hands. Therefore, release them that they may take their beliefs into another place.

6It is not good that you should shut them up and keep them in bondage. Behold, do you not know that a great multitude has gathered here in the valley of Meninta because of your determination to hold the Nem hostage in their own home? And do you not fear that this steadfastness in your wickedness shall bring upon your city the wrath of all the people? Come, Tucantor, put aside your pride and let the people come out.

7Behold, I am commissioned by the people to tell you that if you do not open up the city and allow the Nem to depart from out of it in peace, verily, the people shall descend upon you and take them out by force. And never before has such a thing been in all the history of this land since the days of Father Hagoth. Do you wish to be known in all the land as one who brings down the peace and sows the seeds of death and destruction? Yea, the first of your race to do such things, you shall leave an inheritance unto your children that will win them the onus of all the world.

8Wherefore, cousin and brother, seek reason! Open up the gates of the city and let the people go!

9And behold, Tucantor answered him, saying:

10Behold, we know that we are righteous and the Lord has chosen us because we do steadfastly adhere unto His word and His commandment. And we do also know that you have stirred the people up against Mentina because of your wickedness. For you are of the ways and wickedness of the Nehors, teaching to all people that they may decide for the Lord what is right and what is wrong. Behold, you shall not prosper in this wickedness and must repent.

11For you do teach that all people may discern the mind and will of God and we know this to be false. For, He has always called up prophets to serve Him and to be His mouthpiece upon the earth. But you teach that all people may approach His holy throne and impose upon Him in all things. Behold, you must repent of this evil.

12And we also know that you do teach the people that they may form councils and act in the name of God. To act in His holy name requires His authority. Do you not know that He does not give this authority except by the word of His mouth unto His servant the prophet? Behold, you call up your priests and your prophets by the word of the people. Wherefore, how can you declare yourself high priest? You are nothing but a puppet of the people.

13And again, your councils are called up by women. This is an abomination before God. Do you not read the scriptures? Do you not recall that Adam is the head of Eve? Wherefore then, do your women act as the head of the body?

14But, we do acknowledge that you have greater strength in your wickedness than we have in our righteousness. Wherefore, we will release the wicked into your hands. Do with them as you will but do not expect good to come of them. For they are full of sloth and are unprofitable. They are the most idle of the people, wherefore, take them and do with them as you will.

15But behold, they shall not take out of the city any possession. For we are the chosen of the Lord and have all things in common. Wherefore, how can they take from the city ought that does not belong to them? Let not anyone think that these idlers may rob from the industrious because that they will not hearken unto the Lord and unto His prophet.

16And this was the language with which Tucantor did abuse Shioni in his epistle. But behold, Shioni did not allow his wrath to be kindled against Tucantor, but he did rejoice that the people of Mentina were to be allowed to come out of the city without that the people of Meninta should have to rise up with force of arms to take them out.

17Behold, it was not the desire of Shioni that all people should agree with him or with the majority. Rather, he only wanted the freedom of the people to move away from that which did enslave them. Wherefore, he did rejoice that he had obtained the freedom of the people.

18Now, when the people of Mentina who were prisoners there were allowed to come out of the city, they were miserable indeed. For Tucantor had ordered that they be flogged and stripped of their clothing before they were allowed to depart. And they presented a scene of woe and despair as they proceeded through the deriding shouts of the people in their naked and miserable state. And the wicked people of the city, who had once been their brethren, did cast stones at them as they passed, and many were

19And the people who had gathered in to succor them took blankets and covered them as they passed out of the gates of the city. And they gave them wine to drink and food to eat. For behold, many had not eaten in many days and some were dying for want of food or drink.

20And the angry wrath of the people was kindled against Mentina because of the miserable state of the refugees. But Shioni did calm them and they brought the sufferers down unto Elak Kowa to nurture and to comfort them.

21And the priests of Elak Kowa did go straightway even unto the archives in the mountains and they did gather together all the records of the people quickly, lest Tucantor take possession of them too. And they did leave copies in the archives, but they did also take out all the histories of the people since Hagoth came out of the Land Southward, that they might not be lost to the people because of the wickedness of the high priest and the people of the city of Mentina.

22And the mothers of Elak Kowa called upon me to convene a Great Council again to discuss what must be done. And I did call for a Great Council and delegates from out of all the peoples who called themselves Nem came to the Council.

23And when the delegates from every city were gathered, I did call for a count of the delegates. And these are cities that sent delegates unto the Great Council at Elak Kowa:

24Phaynith-Im and Phenith of the new settlement of Phenith Ee-It; Midgan-Idi and Da-In of Elak Kowa; Kamiakim and Toniah Lotnah of Potal; Nohonaya and Pa-Sineth of the city of Elgiah; Parah and Nomiah-Min, of the city of Pagwit, which is also called Michim-Mic; Monoriah and Mineat of Hagoth; Pingwit and Kayith of Sevim; Pa-Wayat and Panah-Nin of the women’s refuge of Korinah; Ealekoet Akekt and Kochets Kunnin of Nespelem; Peliah and Beleuh of the Pahshi settlement of Porinor; Tlin Gee-it and Tso-Tsit of the city of Tliningsah and of Haydats; Rhen and Kaboret of the city of Witchittim and Kodahah; Megnem and Pa-In-Nah Waylit of Corianton and Winebag.

25And there were many cities of the Nem represented, but these were the delegates that were chosen to hear the matter.

26And the Great Council of Elak Kowa determined that the city of Mentina had committed a great evil upon its own people, insofar that the Council recommended to all the Nem that Mentina be no more considered part of the Nem of the Mountains or of the Plains and the Lakes. Yea, the Council recommended that there should be no more trade of the surplus of the Nem to the city of Mentina and its inhabitants. And they did also recommend that the old city be no longer recommended to the sojourner or the traveling sage, for it had become perilous to anyone who believed not the doctrine of Tucantor.

27And when word went out from the Council and the Common Consent of the people was sought, behold, the voice of the people did rise up in condemnation of the people of Mentina. And the recommendation of the Great Council held, and Mentina was cut off. And when this was published throughout all the land, many families did come out of Mentina secretly and did also join with their people in other cities.

28And Mentina did at once become an impoverished place. For, without the surplus of the Nem, who was left to support the priests and the teachers? Yea without the support of the surplus, Tucantor had not great riches at his disposal and all the people were made poor. And they had not all things in common and they did contend with one another to find trade and to sell their wares and their produce. For the Nem did no longer find use for their goods and avoided the city altogether.

29And the Council of Elak Kowa did also meet to discuss the outcome of the Great Council. For Elak Kowa was only a day’s ride from Mentina and it was very close to the place where Tucantor had begun the division of the Nem of Mentina. And the Council decided to make preparations for all of the inhabitants who wished to follow them to depart out of the valley of Meninta and go even up to Nespelem.

30And the people did also give their Common Consent to this plan and great preparations were made ready. It was determined that, when the snow melted and the ice passed from off of the rivers in the following spring, the people of Elak Kowa would be no more and they would take of all their goods, and their houses, and their animals, and all manner of things with which they did administer their stewardships, even up into the north country. Yea, and it was the plan of the people to make a new settlement near unto Nespelem and Potal.

31For behold, the people of Elak Kowa would not live in the same place as a city of people who would do wickedness such as the Tucantorites had done unto the people of Mentina. Nay, they would not have such people as their neighbors. Wherefore, they made great preparations to leave the valley.

32And it was to the great surprise of the people of Elak Kowa that their council did receive an epistle from Tucantor and from the priests and teachers of Mentina. And in this epistle the people of Mentina did beg the people of Elak Kowa to remain in the valley and continue to be their neighbors and allies. But the Nem have always avoided the Gadianton Robbers and they have always shunned them and worked to shelter their people from them. And if this was the way of the people concerning the Gadianton Robbers, who conspired daily to overthrow all that is good, how then could they do otherwise with the Tucantorites, who had conspired to take away the liberty of the land and of the people?

33And in the space of the remainder of the summer, and with the passing of winter the people, having made all manner of preparations, took up their burdens and removed out of the valley of their forefathers, just as Nephi of old took his people out of the place of their first inheritance in the Land Southward because his brethren did conspire to destroy the people.

34And the whole of the north of the valley of Meninta, as well as half the habitations in the south of the valley were made desolate at once. And houses were left empty and became the habitation of vermin. And farms were left unworked and unplanted. And shops were left unattended and warehouses were left barren.

35And the people of Mentina were disrupted in all that they did. For, of a necessity they were forced to take up much more work than that to which they were accustomed. And this was a sore trial for them, for the Tucantorites had become enamored with the idleness that the new doctrine allowed them. But Tucantor, seeing the ruin of his city, ordered them to take up once again the plow and the hammer.

36For, with three quarters of the production necessary to feed the populace of Mentina and to support them in the manner which they had chosen gone out of the land, it became expedient for Tucantor to press the remaining people into labor.

37And even the priests, who had tasted of the leisure of their callings, were made to take up all manner of work with their hands. And the priests were brought low again because of the impending hunger that they knew would fall upon the city because of the lack of production and of trade. Surely, in but one season Mentina was reduced to the poorest and hungriest of the cities of the Land Northward.

38And the people of Mentina complained bitterly against their high priest. Yea, they were wroth with him because of the disaster he had brought upon them. And they did hold him responsible for all of their woes. For they had thought to become rich with the surplus of all the cities, and this because of the many things he had promised them. But now they were the poorest and most wretched of people in all the land.

39For, whereas in the year before the ascension of Tucantor to the seat of high priest, the city of Mentina might have been called the richest and best supplied city of all the Nem, yet in one year it had been reduced to the poorest.

40And Tucantor discovered that it was difficult to press his people into service one for another after that they had made prisoners and slaves of their neighbors. Yea, he found his flock troublesome to shepherd when the Nem had gone from out of the land.

41And the people that had once loved that their neighbors had once provided for them did quickly become idlers. Wherefore, it was doubly difficult for them to take up a greater portion of work than they had been accustomed to do even before they had sustained Tucantor in his wickedness. Yea, they were sore pressed to do even enough to survive, let alone to provide any surplus at all.

42And behold, the greater portion of the valley lay desolate and empty. And the fields went fallow and were not planted. And the streets were not filled with people plying their trades. And the warehouses were not filled even enough for the people who remained to pass through the winter without want.

43And thus, a beautiful age of peace and prosperity ended for the valley of Meninta and all its inhabitants. Yea, the people began to flee in haste and in secret, for they feared that another winter in Mentina might devour them. And the city of Mentina was reduced to scarcely two hundred souls.