Doyod is a fifteen year old herder boy with tanned brown skin and black hair. He was born in the Tuvan tribe which is located at the north side of lake Buir.
When he was three years old he learned how to ride a horse. And when he was eight years old, he learned how to read from his uncle who is the tribe leader.
At that ti when Doyod learned how to ride, many of his tribesn praised him as a genius. Unfortunately for nomads, books are rare as phoenix feathers. For a long journey, books take a huge load therefore nomads avoid creating many books. Instead they pass their knowledge from father to son verbally. Therefore, learning how to read is not an important skill for the nomads.
For Mongolias, how to ride a horse and how to shoot arrows accurately is the best skill you should attain while you are young. If you are a good archer, if you have your own family then you would have the skill to hunt animals and bring food back.
But for Doyod instead of hunting and riding a horse reading was a joyful thing he would cherish. On his tenth birthday, Doyod’s father has given him a new book that he purchased from a passing rchant. The book is nad Heart Sutra a Buddhist scripture about stories about the Buddha and his disciples. At first, Doyod didn’t understand the true aning of the book, but when he read it again and again he would sohow understand the underlying aning of what the Buddha was about to say.
Usually children at Doyod’s age plays as becoming archers and shoot arrows at a dried and rolled sheep skin target. Occasionally, Doyod would join his comrades and shoot arrows to find who is the best archer. But deep in his heart, Doyod knows that becoming a warrior is not his true dream. Instead, secretly he wishes to find another book to read and imrse into the story.
Days passed, seasons changed. It was just an ordinary day, just like the other years. Compared to the previous year, this winter is a bit warr. For Doyod, he didn’t know that his long awaited source of books was coming. One fateful day, it all started when a group of Khereit soldiers passed through their settlent. A self acclaid ssenger of Tenger forced us to succumb and yield. My parents reminded to keep a low profile again and again. If we offend the ssenger of Tenger, we would be punished by the tenger and be struck by lightning. At night, my father was worried that the Khereit tribesn would rob our living stocks and take away our won. He stood awake all night to guard the ger and protect and my mother. Different than my father’s expectation, the expected robbery and rape never happened. Instead the ssenger of Tenger’s troops were as calm as a river and loyal as a dog. The only thing they urged us was to migrate to a new location. Whenever we pass through a new settlent, they would subdue the people.
Finally, when we reached the basin of river Shilka, all children under the age of 16 were forced to learn from teacher Bator. My comrades who know nothing but fight all had a harsh reprimands from teacher Bator. After a few days they resisted and nagged their parents to not let them go to teacher Bator. So would fake to have fever and stay at their ger. But when teacher Bator found out they have faked to be ill, they were beaten almost to death and soon they would never miss a session anymore.
At first teacher Bator would check our literature level and give us assignnts based on our level. But today is a bit different.
"Doyod, after the session, please head to ssenger of Tenger’s ger. He asked to send a children who is literate." inquired teacher Bator from .
’What? The ssenger of Tenger wants to et ?’ I was terrified. Even though the ssenger of Tenger is young and not many years older than , he commands almost fix hundred troops and is a holy deity.
My heart pumped blood rapidly. I didn’t know how I reached the door of his ger, but I am standing in front of his ger at the mont.
Two guards looked down at with a bit mockery.
"Boy, do you know whose ger this is?" asked a Guard with a bit of mockery.
With a weak voice I replied. "Um. Teacher Bator.. Teacher Bator..." nothing could co out from my throat. Damn. If I knew i was this timid, I should have done hunting with my comrades before.
"Let the boy enter the ger." said a young man from inside the ger.
"Yes my lord." replied the previous guard who was mocking . With shaking hands I pulled the door and opened it.
When I entered the ger, I kneeled down and said. "Doyod, I pay greetings to the ssenger of Tenger"
’At least, this was a decent greeting. I believe the ssenger of Tenger had a good first impression about ’ I thought inwardly.
"Oh you may get up. Don’t be too polite.Please sit in front of " instructed the ssenger of Tenger.
’Argh! Of course, who would like a bootlicker! I was too obvious and too respectful to him. Of course, he noticed that I was trying to make a good impression to him. He is the ssenger of tenger’ I thought with intense regret and bit of a sha. With stiff body movents I stood up and sat down in front of the ssenger of Tenger.
In front of , the ssenger of Tenger was a young man with white teeth and a big smile.
"Ah! That should be more comfortable. Would you like to drink so tea?" asked the ssenger of Tenger and poured so black tea.
"Thank you ssenger of Tenger!" I replied and took the cup with black tea. With a deep breath I blowed to the cup and took a sip from the tea.
"You must be wondering why I summoned you here." said the ssenger of Tenger with calm tone.
"Ah. Yes. Teacher Bator asked to co here after the session but he didn’t tell why you have summoned my lord" I replied with a weak voice.
"I heard that you liked to read books. Is it corerct?" asked the ssenger of tenger while he raised one of his brows.
"Yes My lord." I replied.
"Good! Then I this is my question. What is your dream? What would you like to beco?" asked the ssenger of Tenger from .
’What is my dream? What would I like to beco? What a strange question. The answer is obvious. To have a beautiful wife and have many livingstock are all Mongolians dream...’ I thought with a sense of surprise and was about to reply.
Upon seeing the gaze of the ssenger of Tenger, however I realized that having a beautiful wife and having many living stock is not my dream but the dream or must to be status which was installed into my mind by my tribesn.
’Wait!’ I should not hurry. What is my true dream?’ I thought, I thought about my yearning of books, my thirst of knowledge that I had so many years. The nights I dread about having a new book and only to find it was a dream in the morning.
"My lord. My dream is to read new books." I replied.
"Reading new books? What a simple dream. Then who would you like to beco?" asked the ssenger of Tenger with a hint of curiousity in his tone.
"My father once told a story about a passing rchant to . In the story, there is a country called Western Xia and there is a place called Palace. In the Palace there is the king and many beautiful won. The king has many knowledgeable officials and they are loyal to them. If I have the chance, I want to beco an official at the Palace of the Western Xia."I replied without thinking much. I truly had a dream to beco an official at the Western Xia kingdom.
"Hahahaha! Becoming an governnt official at the Western Xia? That is a truly absurd dream. If I create a governnt, then would you beco my governnt official?" asked the ssenger of Tenger from .
’Damn. Why am I this stupid! Ofcourse, the ssenger of Tenger should be able to know where Western Xia is and is testing my loyalty. I should have answered differently.’ I wanted to hit my stupid head for answering like an idiot.
"My lord. I apologize, but. I you create a palace I would definetely beco your official" I lowered my head and bowed.
"Then. It is decided. From now on, I will teach you. When other batch of students learn literature, I will make a group of students and teach them various topics from Mathematics, Social science, Physics and Chemistry. Depending on your talent, I will appoint you at a position at my Tengeriin Uls in the future. So from now on, you are freed from the sessions at Bator, but you are only to attend my sessions." instructed the ssenger of Tenger.
"Mathematics, Social Science, Physics and Chemistry...." I mumbled in my mouth.
’The words flowed out from the ssenger of Tenger was in Mongolian, but sohow I couldn’t understand the aning of what he has said if I make the words into a sentence.
’Idiot! He said sothing about he wants to teach ! Hurry up! Stand up and pay respect to the ssenger of the Tenger!’ lightning alike nerve struck my body. I hurriedly stood up and took my position.
"I bow to you deity, I bow to your wisdom, and I bow to you as my teacher!" I stood up and kowtowed to the ssenger of Tenger three tis.
Reviews
All reviews (0)