If you didn't catch the start of the story, here it is.
With his friends, he sang his song as his friends joined him reluctantly in dance, until the woman let out a loud wail. The baby, it was starting to move! Ìyá olóyún was going to be a mother at last. But first, she needed to find a midwife to help her with her first delivery. And so Omele used his one shot back to redemption to help a woman he hadn't even met before. What's more, he even lost his necklace into the bargain when the ever-pregnant woman asked for a token to hang on the child as she rushed off to find a midwife.
And so the next man came along, about to bleed to death. He appeared to have been pumped full with a hundred bullets. His community had discovered that his wealth came from human sacrifice. They had found him out and his time was up. Or was it? He staggered till he got to the crossroads and there, all the minstrels could see was the next opportunity for the next person in line to get out of poverty. Even after detailing the reason for his wounds and the root of his riches, all that mattered to Sínsín was that he was rich and would be able to pay her back once he's been healed. Securing the promise first from the dying man, she offered her help as her friends joined her to sing and dance to restore the mortally wounded man back to full health.
Three minstrels sorted, two more to go. Next to the crossroads was not one, but three business men who were in desperate need of a miracle as the new military government had confiscated all their assets and detained their family members. It actually was not the fault of the business men. They had bidded for licence to import rice but before they knew it, their manager had disappeared with the licence. The old government did not ask questions about the undelivered rice but the new government wanted the rice or they, the businessmen were going to rot in jail. Big men like to do big things so the bandleader, Ọ̀gá Redio, stepped up to claim these ones for himself, not minding the protests from Jígí that it was her turn. As expected, he demanded his reward upfront and as they sang and danced, they felt the licence in their pockets. As if by magic.
It was finally the turn of Jígí and it was a prince who thought his native custom was so outdated that he took the royal python from the community shrine, the very one they said could never die, and set it on fire. His father, the king, heard about it and died from the shock and the chief priest was bent on making an example of the errant prince. Now, the women were after him to strip him naked and lead him back to town in a disgraceful procession. The only way he was going to avoid what was coming for him was either for the chief priest to join the python or for the python to magically come back to life. Good for him, help was right beside him but he was never going to get it until Jígí has been assured of bounties in reward.
By now, all five minstrels had used their powers and all that was left was for them to give a report back to the old man; account for how they each used the power and afterwards say goodbye to poverty forever. But before they got the chance to meet with the old man again, there was a final twist for the minstrels. Right where they stood, a pair of leprosy-stricken couple approached, in search of a cure for their hideous ailment. All they needed to be healed was for any person bold and selfless enough to embrace them and confirm to the owners of the world that their humanity was still intact.
This situation should never have been up for debate because all the minstrels (save for Omele) had been sorted. The only consideration should have been maybe for Omele to try to repair the chance he bungled the first time. But that was not Omele's sentiment. The leprous couple hadn't even said that they had anything to offer but Omele was willing to try the power again a second time. Not out of greed, he just couldn't bear seeing people suffering when he had the power to help. He was convinced that if the old man's power was any good, it should work anywhere there was suffering.
In the end, when the old man, the master trickster came to evaluate them, Omele was the only one found fit to be called a “human being”. He alone pitied the pregnant woman in spite of her wretchedness. Even when he was tested again, he did not let humanity down. Despite the warning from his friends not to use the power again, he yielded to unusual compassion to show that mindless materialism has never been profitable in the end. The essence of living and life itself is based on compassion, a sentiment now considered a sign of weakness in today's callous world. Ironically, no race, no generation, no world can survive without it.
“Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion.” – Dalai Lama