14. The Storyteller

Summary

A. O'Brien takes Bashir to Bajor to treat the dying Sirah, or storyteller, of a village which is menaced every year by a cloud creature called the Dal'Rok. During each attack, the Sirah's job is to recite a story which inspires the villagers to drive the Dal'Rok away. The Sirah surprisingly names O'Brien his successor, much to the resentment of the Sirah's apprentice, Hovath. After the Sirah dies, O'Brien tries and fails to control the Dal'Rok. Bashir tells Hovath that this must have been the old Sirah's intention, to get Hovath to gain the confidence needed to tell the story with conviction: it is the villagers' belief which defeats the Dal'Rok. Hovath takes over.

B. On the station, Jake and Nog befriend Varis, a young leader of a Bajoran nation, and inspire her to try compromise in a border dispute with another group.

Summary provided by The DS9 Encyclopedia and Lexicon by kind permission of Tracy Hemenover.