The Lion King and His Officials Burn a Demon’s Body, and Gesar Selects a Wife for the Prince
There was once a beautiful state called Gyayo, which was far away from the State of Ling. The King of Gyayo was Garlha Kengung. He was assisted by hundreds of ministers and aides. He had some 1,500 concubines but no queen.
One day, his ministers were discussing how to choose a queen for the king. One of the ministers, Hashang Chinpa, said:
“The Queen must be a noble and humane beauty. She should not only gain our king’s love, but also favour the common people. This beauty can only be found in the Dragon Palace. It is said that Dragon King has a daughter called Nyima Trichi. Her beauty is beyond compare. If our king marries her, he will be pleased.”
Everyone agreed on this, but how could they find the Dragon Palace and persuade the Dragon King to marry his daughter to Garlha Kengung? Finally, they came up with an idea. They dispatched the best swimmer in Gyayo to look for the Dragon King with valuable gifts such as gold, silver, turquoise, elephants, fine horses and yaks.
When the envoy finally came to the Dragon Palace, he presented the gifts and stated his mission. The Dragon King readily promised his daughter in marriage. He also gave his daughter many treasures for her dowry and another 500 Dragon daughters as her maids.
When King Garlha Kengung saw the beautiful Dragon Princess, he was very satisfied. He conferred the title of Queen on her immediately.
Then, a problem cropped up. If such a beautiful queen was seen by the ordinary people of Gyayo, it would set tongues wagging. To avoid this, Queen Nyima Trichi had to be confined to her palace.
Several years later, the queen gave birth to a lovely princess, named Ngagungco. King Garlha Kengung held a grand fete to celebrate the birthday of his daughter. Performers from every corner of Gyayo poured into the capital city to give performances.
At the same time, the deities divined that Nyima Trichi was originally derived from the flesh and blood of nine sirens. If this demon queen stayed alive, she would become the master of the people in the future and control their life and death. Therefore, the deities turned themselves into lame, blind and dumb performers. They brought a pack yak and a donkey to the door of the queen’s palace. Then they started their performance, the dumb dancing, the blind singing loudly, and the lame performing magic. Many people stopped to watch. The deities started to beg for food after a while.
“Please give us some food to eat. Please give us enough food for a year. If you can’t do that, please give us enough food for a month. If you can’t do either, please give us enough food for just one day. We wish the queen never grows old and we wish the king many happy returns of the day.”
The people in the capital flooded to the door of the queen’s palace at the news of these performers. Queen Nyima Trichi herself was also attracted by the noise. She stepped out of her palace to see what was happening. The people gathering at the door saw the pretty queen for the first time. They talked with each other in surprise.
“Wow! How beautiful the queen is! Such a beauty, she is out of this world!”
“She is as beautiful as a fairy.”
….
The people of Gyayo could not help themselves seeing and talking about the beautiful queen. When the queen remembered that she should not go out of her palace, it was too late.
Queen Nyima Trichi took to her bed that evening and never left it again.
Since the queen fell ill, everybody was forbidden to visit her except the king and the princess who was living with her in the palace. One day, when Princess Ngagungco was serving tea for her parents, she heard them speaking behind the portiere.
“My queen, I have spent a lot of money holding religious ceremonies to worship deities for your recovery. Why are you still very poorly?”
“My illness is incurable, even if you spend all the money in Gyayo. If you really love me and do not want me to die, you must do as I say. When I die please wrap my body in silk and put it into a room where no sunshine can enter in. At the same time, you must have the golden bridge connecting Gyayo and Ling cordoned off in order to check goods exchanged between the two states. Nine years after I die I will return to the world and be with you forever.”
King Garlha Kengung never heard that the dead could be revived before. Surprised by this, he asked:
“Why and how can you rise from the dead?”
“Because my father is a demon and my mother is a Raksasa. So my life is as strong as iron. After I come back to life I will become the antagonist of the power of Buddha.”
Garlha Kengung was frightened.
“Well, is there any way to stop you from rising?”
“Yes. If Gesar, the King of the State of Ling, knows that I am dead, he will do anything to get here and burn my body. I will never come back then. So, please be aware and for God’s sake do not divulge my death to anyone. This happening should never be learned about especially by the people of Ling.”
Princess Ngagungco heard her parents’ conversation clearly and bore it in mind. She didn’t tell anyone else.
Soon Queen Nyima Trichi died and King Garlha Kengung felt heartbroken. He immediately put her body into a concealed place. In order to keep her body’s temperature, Garlha Kengung himself stayed with the body all day long to warm it with his own.
King Garlha Kengung accompanied the queen’s body day and night so that he ignored all government affairs. All the officials and the common people experienced a hard time. They didn’t know how and what to do. Princess Ngagungco thought to herself: “My mother is a demon. The people in Gyayo are having such a rough time after her death. More evils must befall people when she comes back from the dead. What shall I do?” Ngagungco was so anxious that she told the seven sisters what the queen said to the king before her death.