The Tale of the Khaan And the Badarcin
Once
upon a time there lived a khaan (1).
One day he announced: "I will leave my throne to the man telling a lie
which makes a sitting man stand up and wakes up a sleeping man."
A
tailor heard this and came before the khaan. "Dear khaan, dear khaan! In
the heavy rain of the day before the last the edges of the heaven got torn and I
went and sewed them up again using the tendons of a louse," he lied.
Complacently he thought: "Now I have surely told a lie which will make a
sitting man stand up and wake up a sleeping one."
But
the khaan said: "Bah, you sewed it up badly. After all it rained again
yesterday morning." The tailor left the room silently.
Then
an herdsman stepped in front of the khaan and told him: "Dear khaan, dear
khaan! My deceased father owned a whip with which he struck the stars from the
sky."
The
khaan answered: "That's nothing. My own deceased father, the former khaan,
owned a pipe. When he lit it up, the smoke curled around the stars in the sky
and tied them all together." The herdsman didn't know what to say and went
away.
Just
then a badarcin (2) came into
the room carrying a bucket. The khaan asked him: "Badarcin, what do you
want?"
"What,
don't you recognise me?" asked the badarcin, "After all you have
borrowed a bucket full of gold from me. I have come to get my gold back."
The
khaan then jumped out of his seat and demanded to know: "And when should I
have borrowed that gold from you? You are lying!" The noise woke up the
khatan(3) who had slept nearby.
"You are lying when you claim to have borrowed me gold. Beat him, hit him!"
the khaan yelled.
The
badarcin said: "If I am lying then leave me your throne, dear khaan."
The
khaan thought about that for a moment and then he replied: "Wait a moment!
You are telling the truth. I did borrow the gold from you. I just remembered."
Then
give me my gold!" demanded the badarcin.
(1) The title of the khaan is similar to the one of the king. (back to the text)
(2) A badarcin is a lamaistic monk wondering throughout the country. (back to the text)
(3) The khatan is the wife of the khaan and therefore like the queen mother. (back to the text)