书城传记聆听史诗丛书-格萨尔王传:英文
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第9章 God Son Is Born in Ling ...(4)

Now, since the father had been found where was the mother to be found? A son of the deities ought to have a mother coming from the Dragon family. The first place to think of was the Palace of the Dragon King. The deities settled on Meto Natse, the youngest daughter of Dragon King Chona Rinchin. Once she came into the human world, she would naturally be protected by the nine brother warriors. The Dragon King was the richest one, so nobody could bring great wealth to the people of the State of Ling except him. His daughter would be the perfect mother.

The deities then talked to the Dragon King Chona Rinchin. He agreed to send his youngest daughter into the world to be the mother of Toipa Garwa. He also promised to provide a large dowry for his daughter, which included a green tent called “Tangxoi Gonggu”, 16 packages of the All-Embracing Heart Sutra and three treasures —namel yone treasure for dispelling poverty, another treasure for getting rid of drought and a gold bucket abounding in food.

Meto Natse parted in tears with her father, mother and sisters. According to the deities’ instructions, she came out of the sea and stayed with the Guo tribe for that moment. The head of the Guo tribe was a kind and gentle man named Toinpa Gyaincain. He took Meto Natse in and took good care of her.

According to the arrangement of the deities, Gesar’s natural father, Senglong, was one of the tribal chiefs of the Ling Garpo young family. He married a woman named Nagar Zholma, who came from the Han echinic group and bore him one son. The son was out of the ordinary when he was born. He had a fair face and grew very fast. So fast that his growth in one month was faster than other children’s growth in one year. He was called Pengpa Chatsa Shigar by others and also addressed respectfully as “Chatsa, Your Honour”.“Gya” means Han people or Han ethnic group; “Cha”means nephew; and “Chatsa ” means the nephew of the Han people. “Xie”means the face; “Gar”means white.Because of his blood relationship with the Han ethnic group, Chatsa was named in that way for his fair and delicate complextion, which stood out among the dark-complexioned Tibetan people. Chatsa usually called the people of the Han ethnic group “uncle”.

Once, in order to get food for the tribe to overcome the spring shortage, Chatsa took some people hunting. At that particular time the Ling Tribe was fighting against the Guo Tribe. While he was away Lianba Qoigyi, the second son of the old chief Rongcha Chageng, was killed in a fight against the Guo. When Chatsa returned he swore to take revenge and clean up the remnants of the Guo Tribe.

Since the old chief knew that the Ranlho Toinpa Tribe of the Guo area was under the sanctuary of the Dragon King and the Ferocious God, and the Dragon King’s daughter also lived with the tribe, he did not want to fight with the Guo people. He also asked his nephew Chatsa not to start a war. However, Chatsa Shigar would not wait to take revenge. All the efforts of the old chief were to no avail. In the end he finally had to agree to command an expedition to fight against the Guo.

Another uncle of Chatsa, Zhaotoin, was vicious and jealous. He was very shrewd in looking after his interests. If Chatsa and his other brothers went to fight with the Guo tribe they would definitely win. Then, the Dragon King’s daughter and all the treasures in the Dragon Palace would belong to Senglong. How could he allow this to happen?

Zhaotoin did some thinking and hit upon an idea: send a message to the Guo Tribe immediately to let them know of the impending war. Later on, he would coerce the Guo Tribe into consenting to his marriage with the daughter of the Dragon King. He would also be able to enjoy the inexhaustible treasures of the Dragon Palace! After thinking about this, Zhaotoin wrote a letter at once:

“Your Honour Go Ranlho Toinpa Gyaincain, your friend Zhaotoin from Darong informs you that: “To take vengeance for the death of the son of the old chief, the warriors of the Ling Tribe have assembled and will dispatch their troops to attack the Guo Tribe the day after tomorrow. I suggest that you should escape as soon as possible. As I am saving you this time I will ask for repayment in the future. Please remember this.”

Zhaotoin finished the letter and tied it to an arrow. He then fired the arrow while he was muttering incantations. With a whistle, the arrow arrived at the Guo Tribe.

Ranlho Toinpa Gyaincain read the letter and hurrily informed the people of the tribe to escape. He himself decamped and was ready to run away with his family. The only animal that could carry away the yurt and the treasures of the Dragon Palace was the Dragon Cow, so all of these were loaded onto the Dragon Cow.

The Guo people started to leave but the Dragon cow, carrying all the treasures of the Dragon Palace, ran in the opposite direction. It was strange that no one could see it and no one knew in which direction it was running, except the Dragon daughter Meto Natse. She was originally riding a horse but she wanted to turn round to catch up with the cow when she saw the cow running backward. The horse would not go backward so the Dragon daughter had to get off the horse to catch up with the cow on foot. She followed the cow closely. It was strange that no matter how fast the Dragon daughter ran, the cow ran as fast as she did or when she sat down for a rest, the cow also stopped and ate the grass. It always kept a certain distance from the Dragon daughter. Meto Natse felt hungry and thirsty. She was also extremely tired and distressed.

Chatsa led the Ling army and arrived at the Guo Tribe encampment. He found that the Guo people had disappeared into thin air. He decided he must find them no matter where they had gone.

Zhaotoin disagreed: “Do not pursue a beaten enemy. Since we have no idea where they’ve gone, how can we chase them? We’d better go home.”

Neither Chatsa or Zhaotoin could persuade each other what to do. Then the old chief came up with a plan:

“Since we, the Ling Tribe, dispatched the troop no matter where we go there is no reason for us to return empty-handed. I suggest that we ask Senglong to practise his divination to see where the people of the Guo Tribe went. We can then make a decision.”