The Bride of Kunbaga. Part - 1. The Lotus Flower
The Choice of the Bride
Whose chest was adorned with such a precious and exotic bead? Was it not the beautiful guest from another, distant country, who became the mistress of Chigoo?
The Usun rulers rose so high that they even became related to the Chinese emperor. The princesses of Hanjiye often became wives of the Kumbags and lived in Chiguchene on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul. Let us tell the fate of one of them.
In 105 AD, another embassy from the Usuns arrived in Han. The hosts were not surprised by the event itself. What surprised them was the excessively rich gifts, including 1,000 remarkable horses. But when they learned that the ambassadors were, in fact, suitors, they stopped being surprised: the agreed-upon gifts for the princess from the Han house should indeed be such!
It is known that emperors of all eras were extremely reluctant to agree to marital unions of their princesses with barbarians. Many foreign princes were refused, and the gifts were sent back.
However, in this case, it was necessary to think hard. Is there any other way out? These are not the times of the legendary Shunya or Cheng Tan; the nomads are pressing. The Huns have gone north—will they be gone for long?
And the Usuns are the strongest alliance of tribes. They fear no one. The army they can muster is 188,000 strong. Power! And most importantly: the trade route to the West passes right through the lands of the Usuns. Refuse—and everything that has been spent a lifetime on, for which so much effort and resources have been invested, could go to waste.
The emperor simply did not know what to decide. And then the cunning advisor Chelin suggested: why not give this barbarian not a beloved daughter or a dear granddaughter, but a cousin? Or a forty-fourth great-granddaughter, born from the seventeenth grandson? Though they are of "heavenly" blood, they bring little joy to the Great Heart. Moreover, there are so many side princesses (as well as princes) that losing one of them would be hardly noticeable. Besides, does not the Great Sovereign sacrifice his precious life and health daily, hourly, minutely, and secondly for the prosperity of the country?... It is time for others to do the same...
The choice was made in favor of the Lotus Flower—not without the involvement of the same Chelin.
For two years now, she has been betrothed and is preparing her hairstyle. However, not a single suitor has come to court her so far—and this despite her "heavenly" blood and the fact that the Lotus Flower is very beautiful. She is too willful! Moreover, she composes poems in which she scornfully mocks her admirers. And once she allowed herself to compose a little song that contained a hint... Of course, it can be interpreted this way or that. And still: it is frightening even to imagine... So let her go to the barbarian! This is perhaps the only useful thing for the House and the State that she can do!
...The princess cried bitterly. The court ladies saw her in such a state for the first time, and they gloatingly sighed with envy at the same time. She cries beautifully! After all, she—defying everyone—has never used cosmetics.
Let any of them try to cry: immediately murky tears would flow down their cheeks, leaving ugly trails among the blush and powder. But for her—it was like crystalline droplets of dew on petals... No wonder her name is the Lotus Flower... In the end, she had to agree. She only set one condition before leaving: she wished to perform the ritual of "Sweeping the Graves" at the tomb of Zhang Qian, who gave her name.
The request was honored.
The princess did everything as required by the customs of her ancestors, and at parting, she said:
— O, my named father! Why did you go to the west! Why did you tell us about the wild Usuns?...
And so the happy Usun ambassadors set off on their return journey. The bride traveled with them: with her dowry, a host of maidservants, and the treasurer Liu Shu—an old comrade of the unforgettable Zhang Qian, an experienced traveler and connoisseur of those places.
Sarybulun Bead
