Chance and Choice

Chance and Choice

(With regard to Casual Bravery overcoming Discomfort)

By Vivi Sojorhn 

A millennium and more years ago, there was a Lama who was the right hand to his life-long friend, the emperor. They lived in a large empire surrounded by craggy mountains, so that it was very difficult to get to or away from. Sometimes it is known as Shangri-la, and sometimes as Shambala. Early in the Emperor’s reign, he decided to take a wife and sent his friend, the Holy Man, to find a wife for him, and bring her back over the treacherous mountains.

The Holy Man argued that he should not be the one to choose a wife for the emperor because his world was not about women, and he had no idea how to choose. The emperor assured him that since they had been friends all their lives, the Holy Man would just know who would fit into his Empire.

This dream was a possiblissity of the emperor’s, for as soon as he sent his friend on this mission, he forgot all about it and turned his attention to maintaining order in his lands.

The Lama set off in his litter, meditating on the problem until he fell asleep on the long road over the mountains and dreamt of eating wine apples. Travelers were forced to turn around and travel with the Lama to a plateau and then reinstate their journey up into the Empire. This was what was done for Lamas and other honored statesmen. Everyone understood.

Not very long before this journey, there was a Princess in a nearby Kingdom who was very happy where she lived. Though she was pretty and kind, she had never married. Even when her two younger sisters married and already had babies. Though their Kingdom was not wealthy, Princes from distant lands came to pledge their love and loyalty to her because her father’s Kingdom was strategically valuable. The Princess had figured this out and was not convinced that they were a strategic gain for her father, the King.

The Lama arrived at many kingdoms to peruse the emperor’s choices. There were many very nice and beautiful princesses, and the Holy Man became more wretched that he would choose the wrong princess to bring back for the emperor. He finally decided on three, including the skeptical Princess, who did believe that this marriage would be of strategic value to her father’s kingdom. All the steps it took the Lama to negotiate with the princesses’ kingdoms and what their dowries might include, relieved the Holy Man greatly, once all was said and done. Progress in the emperor’s possiblissity.

Possiblissity was the secret word kept between the young men throughout the emperor’s reign. It meant to hold a desire only for as long as it took for action to be taken. Then they let it go and moved on. It had never failed them.

The important step yet to begin -- an extravagant cavalcade of beautiful young women over the treacherous mountains to meet the emperor because his best friend, and right-hand man, the Lama, could not decide on his own. It was about getting the princesses over the frighteningly narrow road through the mountains without the princesses, and their sherpas and porters, and the small supplies train beginning to hate him before they had seen the Empire. The Lama studied the stars and meditated on the weather and decided to leave the last kingdom in late summer, in order to arrive at the emperor’s palace before the first snow.

The first week of their journey went as planned. The Lama enjoyed his tea with yak butter at dawn before they left. The men who carried the beautiful potential bride litters were well-fed lads, and barely noted the weight of their princesses, nor did the Lama’s porters tire from carrying him. Yes, all was going well. 

The Lama estimated they would enjoy a fresh harvest of baked wine apples when they arrived well before the first snow. He focused on this outcome, holding it with a grip that would not be pried from him under any circumstances because he was sure he knew how these things worked. So that when the herder of their small herd of yaks behind them came forward through the litters of the princesses, all the way to the Lama’s litter three times to warn him that he had seen a problem around a u-curve ahead on their very narrow road, the Lama, wouldn’t let him break his concentration. 

But eventually their caravan came to a halt, and the Lama rubbed his temples. The men put down their litters, including the Lama’s. The Lama ordered one of his own men to go forward to tell the travelers to turn around as all travelers must.

The porter marched up the increasingly narrow road until he reached a family bringing their young yaks to sell at the fall market in the next kingdom to the Empire. They had a small tent set up right on the road, and it became clear they had been there at least for a day. There was some confusion in their communication when the family man asked the porter if they had some water to spare and disregarded the request to reverse their course. He merely stated they would not be going anywhere soon. The porter heard shouts and screams and scurried back to tell the Lama they had refused the request to move.

This news disappointed the Lama very much indeed. He ordered his porters to take water to the family and request them to turn again. He did not want to argue.

Again, the family thanked the young man for the water, but refused to turn around. The eldest of the men, perhaps 35 years and showing the lines the wind had carved in his cheeks already, said, “We cannot move right now. Many apologies, but we cannot turn around. We will when we can.”

“Do they not realize who we are? Who I am?”

The porter nodded, yes, they knew, but they refused to turn. The sun was high above them. He tapped his fingers on the mat he sat upon in the litter that now sat on the rocky road. He began to worry about the Princesses deciding not to stay, and what the emperor, his friend for life, would say when he’d failed his request.

He decided to pull on the beautiful boots he’d been given by the second Princess’s mother. They were satin silk with beautiful stitching that could barely be seen. The embroidery was stunning. He did love a beautiful boot. Once they were on, he admired them and wondered if they would be noticed by anyone in this poor bunch. Probably not. 

The Lama wrapped his best shawl around his shoulders as the sun had now passed behind a mountain on this part of the road and the air did feel crisp, like autumn was perhaps going to be early no matter how he gripped summer for their travels. When he emerged from his litter, his number one porter noticed his boots, nodded his head down and asked where the Lama was going.

“I am going to use my station to turn this stubborn group of people out of our way.”

“My Lord, the roads are worn smooth by so many travelers.”

Already the Holy Man was climbing towards the yak traders. Indeed, some of the rocks were smoother than he had expected, and his satin-silk boots were impractical, to say the least, for climbing. He was determined though and imagined that the rocks wanted his boots for their own so the rocks would hold onto them

Unfortunately, as much as he wanted his boots himself, they let go of him and he slid very near the edge of the road when he was just five feet away from the traders. The senior yak trader saw him sliding and adeptly stepped down to grab the Holy Man’s hand.

The trader had ugly boots made of yak leather and few beads, but they gripped both his feet with straps and the slick rock. The Holy Man left his pretty boots behind him and made note that his bare feet were the best for travel, as even if it were chilly, and now easily climbed up in front of the man.

The entire group of traders bowed very low, as he turned looking at them sternly, “The road is very narrow here, and the emperor is expecting us to arrive before the first snow. You must return to a plateau immediately.”

He heard a powerful scream coming from the tent, “What are you doing to that poor woman?”

The Holy Man pushed his way into the tent not listening to the men who tried to politely stop him. There in the middle of the small tent was a woman sitting on a small bench. She was beautiful and naked, and he knew he should look away from her sweating body. He had never seen a woman in this way. His eyes darted to find a safer place to watch. Her hair was caked to her neck and back and two older women were holding her steady and before he could say anything she screamed again, and her eyes met his, and to his surprise, smiled, and moaned again.

Something strange was happening and for a moment the Holy Monk was frightened. The tent opened again, and the breeze relieved the laboring woman. To the Lama’s surprise it was one of the Princesses with more water. Truly the Holy Man was confused as he saw the Princess in all her finery combing the young woman’s tangled hair so gently. The young woman sighed, and the old women clucked, “Push.”

The Holy Man leaned in and watched as a small head in a bubble appeared between the young woman’s knees and he gasped and understood. The baby’s head was blue inside the bubble, and the face looked up. He felt the urge to bless the child for dead, as it slid out in this watery sack. He said a mantra as he fingered his amethyst beads.

The Princess burst the sack with a sharp pin pulled from her lacquered hair, and the older woman wiped the baby’s eyes. As the baby turned red and howled, the women let the baby crawl up its mother’s belly to nurse for the first time. The princess put the silvery pin into the young mother’s hair, now combed into a bun. The Holy Man stared and woke up from his importance to humbly offer a blessing to the mother and child.

The women moved around the mother and child, cleaning her up and wrapping them both in a shabby cloak. They invited the Lama nearer to see the baby, who looked around the tent as if drunk. The Holy Man moved forward rather timidly for him and laid his hands on them and whispered his gratitude at being permitted to see this miracle. He exchanged glances with the Princess, and from that moment knew that she would be the Empress with no doubt in his mind. Turning back to the baby he blessed the child and the mother with all the Holiness he had in him.

He looked around the room full of women, and asked, “Have you two been through this horror yourselves? You are not embarrassed?” They all laughed and nodded.

“I have helped my mother and my sister, Lama,” added the Princess and bowed. 

“And this is so casual among women. In fact, you look forward to this chance of bringing life into the world. You do not brag about it? I am humbled beyond belief. If I had to live a thousand lives, I would choose this experience, and chance, too. I never knew it was like this. All I know is war, meditation and mantras. This is the true meaning of life though. Hmmm.”

The women all smiled and chuckled generously and patted the Holy Man’s back. The mother held the child up with help from the Princess and offered him a knife. He had no idea why. He was plainly horrified. The Princess showed him that the child was still attached to his mother with his umbilical cord and showed him where to cut it, and then she tied it into such a pretty knot.

He nodded his head and smiled at the women. He gave the Princess his cloak to swaddle the babe and then he held the baby in his arms as the Princess showed him how, and the mother returned to her moan as the placenta was delivered to a bowl now behind his back. 

He was lost in love and didn’t hear anything as his smile widened when the baby howled, “Ah, you will be a strong one indeed. You must come to live in the palace someday. I will teach you everything I know. I cannot promise I will teach you this secret though because I might lose men for our monastery.”

He reluctantly gave the baby back to his mother and one of the older women latched the baby to her breast. The baby suckled happily with no regard or respect for the Lama.

The Princess kissed the mother on her cheeks and took the Holy Man’s arm to let them alone. She knew he would stay all day if he could. The men around the tent looked at him and knew all had finally gone well by his smile, “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said the Holy Man, “the baby is healthy, and the mother is stronger than any warrior.”

The Princess giggled, and said, “It’s a boy!”

The Holy Man ordered his porters to buy the family’s young yaks so that they could all turn around and go home. He gave his litter to the young mother and child and walked silently ahead of them in his bare feet. He meditated on what he had learned unexpectedly.

After that, women enjoyed freedoms that had not been known to them for a thousand years, and the emperor followed his Holy Man’s advice and married the Princess who knew about having children and strategy. Over 20 years they had 12 children, in fact, but never missed a chance to ride together, happily and well into their long lives.

The Holy Man left the pretty boots tied to the mountain road where it was most treacherous, and the cloak of splendor for the baby. From then on, he wore simpler clothes and was humble in his bare feet or sandals at most, knowing this was the least he could do in his life. He welcomed the young boy to his monastery to teach him all that he had learned. He was grateful to have this special relationship but prayed daily that if he had to live a thousand lifetimes as a man, that he be granted the life of a woman and that chance to give birth and know why women were so casually brave to do so generation after generation.

Chance and Choice © 2022 by Vivi Sojorhn