Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/238

 appear, ordering it to overturn the capital of his sovereign. Whereupon the Emperor in his fright set the Kutukhtu at liberty, and the latter countermanded his order to the bird, which had only time to raise one end of the city, accounting for the slightly inclined plane on which Peking is situated at the present day.

The miracle-working saint then resolved to quit the inhospitable city and settle in Tibet. Setting out on his journey, he arrived safely on the banks of the Hoang-ho; but the Chinese here refused to ferry him across to the other side: his wrath was now rekindled, and he determined to revenge himself in good earnest this time. He forthwith started for Northern Mongolia and selected a large chain of mountains from the Altai range, which he fastened to his stirrups and dragged behind him on horseback to the bank of the Hoang-ho, intending to throw them into the river and by damming its current to inundate the surrounding country. Buddha now appeared in person to protect the unfortunate inhabitants, and entreated the Kutukhtu to abate his anger and show mercy to the innocent. The saint obeyed the voice of the god, and left the mountains on the bank of the river as a monument of his might; he then unfastened his belt and flung it across the Hoang-ho to serve as a bridge, over which he passed to the opposite bank and continued his journey to Tibet.

In depositing the Munni-ula on the banks of the Hoang-ho the Kutukhtu reversed its position;