weeper is dying. If you don’t hurry up and lower the drawbridge, you’ll miss your chance to see her tears.’ That shout elicited no response. The deer-boys cast their eyes towards the drawbridge, their patience exhausted. It was not coming down.
‘Open your eyes and see where you are. This is Hundred Springs Terrace,’ General Deer yelled at Binu, ‘not a place where you can dig a grave wherever you please. Lord Hengming rides his horse past this spot every day.’
‘Then carry me over to the moat. Lord Hengming rides on a road, but surely he cannot ride on water. Throw me into the water and watch me sink below the surface. If a gourd rises to the surface, then I will be dead. That will make things easy on you and on me.’
‘Who would dare throw you into the water? That moat belongs to Lord Hengming, it is Hundred Springs Terrace’s royal canal, and corpses are not allowed in it. Cleanliness is essential to Lord Hengming. Did you notice that not even a dead chicken or rat floats in that water? A human corpse would be unthinkable!’
‘Then carry me over to the road, find a spot where the dirt is loose, and I will bury myself.’
‘You are not an earthworm that can wriggle its way underground. You cannot bury yourself.’
‘You offer me neither a road to life nor a path to death. What are you going to do with me?’
The deer-boys were at a loss as to what to do with their catch. They put their heads together for a long time, until General Deer solemnly announced to Binu where she would spend the night. ‘Lord Hengming will not take you, so we will carry you to our Deer King. Hundred Springs Terrace may not want you, but our Deer King will, for certain!’
The Deer King’s Grave
They carried Binu deep into the forest, where, apparently, the Deer King lived.
Binu begged them to let her down off the wooden plank. ‘I won’t cause any trouble, and I won’t try to run away,’ she said. ‘After all, I’m going to die whatever I do. Please put me down and let me walk. The only things that are tied up like this are beasts on their way to the slaughterhouse.’
There was a moment’s silence, then a chorus of, ‘No, you are a sacrificial offering, and they are always tied to a board.’
Soon they arrived at a little earthen mound: Deer King’s grave. Sacrificial offerings were piled in front: an ox bone, a brass lock, a seashell, a slingshot and some dried-up dead birds. A tall scarecrow wearing a cloak of tattered palm-bark stood at an angle beside the mound, an arrow in its hand. Apparently, it was the keeper of the grave. But now that they had Binu, the scarecrow was knocked to the ground, where General Deer stampedon it, saying, ‘You failed to watch over the Deer King’s grave. See how birds have eaten the grass around it?’
General Deer took out a chain and told the deer-boys to release Binu from the wooden plank. Before she could even move her legs, one of the deer-boys roughly wrapped the chain around them and chained her to a tree. General Deer heard her cry out. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘This chain allows you to walk ten paces, enough to reach the edge of the forest to pick wild fruit. Don’t use Deer King’s grave as a toilet. Use the forest. Chancellor Deer will be nearby to help you. There are wild boars in the forest. Don’t let them root around the grave, don’t let birds land on it, and don’t eat all the wild fruit you pick; leave some as sacrificial offerings.’
So this was the place the boys had picked for her. She was afraid, not of dying, but of this bizarre spot. She began to scream and struggled madly against the chain that bound her. But she was quickly surrounded by the deer-boys, who pinned her down with their thin but powerful legs and stopped her struggling.
It occurred to Binu that they weren’t children after all, but a real herd of deer. Or if they weren’t deer, then they had the hearts of deer. She was frightened, not of deer, but of their
‘Open your eyes and see where you are. This is Hundred Springs Terrace,’ General Deer yelled at Binu, ‘not a place where you can dig a grave wherever you please. Lord Hengming rides his horse past this spot every day.’
‘Then carry me over to the moat. Lord Hengming rides on a road, but surely he cannot ride on water. Throw me into the water and watch me sink below the surface. If a gourd rises to the surface, then I will be dead. That will make things easy on you and on me.’
‘Who would dare throw you into the water? That moat belongs to Lord Hengming, it is Hundred Springs Terrace’s royal canal, and corpses are not allowed in it. Cleanliness is essential to Lord Hengming. Did you notice that not even a dead chicken or rat floats in that water? A human corpse would be unthinkable!’
‘Then carry me over to the road, find a spot where the dirt is loose, and I will bury myself.’
‘You are not an earthworm that can wriggle its way underground. You cannot bury yourself.’
‘You offer me neither a road to life nor a path to death. What are you going to do with me?’
The deer-boys were at a loss as to what to do with their catch. They put their heads together for a long time, until General Deer solemnly announced to Binu where she would spend the night. ‘Lord Hengming will not take you, so we will carry you to our Deer King. Hundred Springs Terrace may not want you, but our Deer King will, for certain!’
The Deer King’s Grave
They carried Binu deep into the forest, where, apparently, the Deer King lived.
Binu begged them to let her down off the wooden plank. ‘I won’t cause any trouble, and I won’t try to run away,’ she said. ‘After all, I’m going to die whatever I do. Please put me down and let me walk. The only things that are tied up like this are beasts on their way to the slaughterhouse.’
There was a moment’s silence, then a chorus of, ‘No, you are a sacrificial offering, and they are always tied to a board.’
Soon they arrived at a little earthen mound: Deer King’s grave. Sacrificial offerings were piled in front: an ox bone, a brass lock, a seashell, a slingshot and some dried-up dead birds. A tall scarecrow wearing a cloak of tattered palm-bark stood at an angle beside the mound, an arrow in its hand. Apparently, it was the keeper of the grave. But now that they had Binu, the scarecrow was knocked to the ground, where General Deer stampedon it, saying, ‘You failed to watch over the Deer King’s grave. See how birds have eaten the grass around it?’
General Deer took out a chain and told the deer-boys to release Binu from the wooden plank. Before she could even move her legs, one of the deer-boys roughly wrapped the chain around them and chained her to a tree. General Deer heard her cry out. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘This chain allows you to walk ten paces, enough to reach the edge of the forest to pick wild fruit. Don’t use Deer King’s grave as a toilet. Use the forest. Chancellor Deer will be nearby to help you. There are wild boars in the forest. Don’t let them root around the grave, don’t let birds land on it, and don’t eat all the wild fruit you pick; leave some as sacrificial offerings.’
So this was the place the boys had picked for her. She was afraid, not of dying, but of this bizarre spot. She began to scream and struggled madly against the chain that bound her. But she was quickly surrounded by the deer-boys, who pinned her down with their thin but powerful legs and stopped her struggling.
It occurred to Binu that they weren’t children after all, but a real herd of deer. Or if they weren’t deer, then they had the hearts of deer. She was frightened, not of deer, but of their
Similar Books
