Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/44

36 After the lapse of three years Khan Gander Uriuha sent a man to the mountain where those he had banished lived, and said, "If after three years a new child is come, that is a sign that the elder child belongs to them, and in such case they are to be slain. If, on the other hand, there is only with them one child, as before, then they are innocent." The messenger saw the mode of life of the banished ones, and said to the khan "His was the deed." The khan sent an army to slay them. When the woman saw the army coming she ran to the Lhama and said, "An army surrounds the mountain." The Lhama ordered her to pluck a quantity of grass and bring it to him. Then he breathed upon the grass, and it became a numerous army, which put the khan's warriors to flight. The khan's city was besieged. Then the khan said, "This Lhama is a great miracle worker: he cannot be a sinner." So he sent an embassy to him with the prayer that the Lhama would throw himself into the city.—(A Khalka man from the Khêhē tushe gun Gachoun.)

There was a great city, in which lived an amban (Chinese military governor). In the city, in the market, appeared an expensive handkerchief. The amban asked who made it; it was made by a woman who lived in great poverty on the shore of the lake. When the amban knew that the kerchief was worn by the husband of the woman he ordered him to build him a palace. The old man returned to his wife and wept. The wife said to him, "Do not weep, but go to the lake and call the white man who lives at the bottom of the lake and say the word, "Khêl mêrchēn." From the lake came forth a man all in white clothes and with white hair, and took him to the bottom of the lake, where there was a beautiful town. In that town he said the word, " Khêl mêrchēn." Then the white man gave him sand from the bottom of the lake. The man thought, "What good will this sand do me?" he nevertheless took his lap full of sand to his wife. She said, "This is Khêl mêrchēn," and she threw it there where the amban had ordered a palace to be built. In that place sprang up a beautiful tower. Next morning the amban saw it and was delighted; he ordered, "Let that man make five golden towers, otherwise I will cut off his head." The old man returned to his wife and wept. The