Mulbe-Catalpia Saga Canto 1 - Agricola Cor
Chapter Two:

""Blue badger was sacrificed for the son in the rite,
Jade Dragon in dream helped GuQin to form his tribe"

My daughter, think about those: SwartShoulde let the people used blades to chop him into pieces, as to unite the people in danger. SkyThunder LongSword decided to sacrifice himself for the country at the Undone Alcove, and before his death he chopped off his arm to awake the morale of his people. And there was MeetWeb Poon, he was expelled from his family, and even his people called him "Mad Man" in front of him.

These people did not have desirable luck, but they tolerated almost every kind of suffer. They did a lot in their lives, because these things were what they should do.

So, never say that our luck is not enough for us. Do not say that The Heavenly Sire does not give us enough of grace, do not yell that why He does not sign a covenant with us, and do not hope that there will be any must-be-fulfilled promise. Who can know all about these? Actually, being able to do what we should do is already a kind of grace of The Heavenly Sire.

Don't say, "I am weak", and don't say, "I do not have enough power", and never say, "I am only a girl, and how can I help?" Who can make the judgment? As to punish the pride of The Evil Dragon, during its conquest and its climax of its pride, The Heavenly could use just a little piece of stone to stumble The Evil Dragon!

My child, think about that, the salvation can come from the most unexpected place. This lays the truth which is too difficult to you, but which is also necessary for you to know it as soon as possible and to work it out. So you can be a little piece of stone: Hide yourself in ashes and mud, spend the life humbly, which will not arouse the attention of the other people, but at the time of need you can know how to advance and retreat, and give the people the importance just like a piece of shiny gold. Remember, if a person can do the thing which has to be done, that person has already been blessed, is a salvation for the dangers, the victory over evil - it will not be the kind of pride which belongs to The Evil Dragon, but the great pride which belongs to The Heavenly Sire Himself.

~~KepTyme Kang, "The Letter to My Daughter - A Little Piece of Stone"

When LookCaellus and his tribe reached at the land of Goldchamber, they settled their lives there. At the time when Lonerus was the leader, his family had already developed into a large tribe. Under the grace and protection of The Heavenly Sire, the tribe was continuing to flourish.

According to oral legends, Apiarius the son of LookCaellus was the first one who knew how to keep bees to get honey. Other than beekeeping, on the land of Goldchamber there are alpacas for people to get milk and also crops for wine making. Also, there are a great variety of fruits, vegetables, birds, fish, the fresh shellfish and the tender mushrooms, all of them were existing for the people there to eat. On this land, the descendants of LookCaellus was going to forget about what happened in the Great Flow of Blood.

LookCaellus's son was Apiarius, Apriarius' son was FourBreastus, after FourBreastus died, Lonerus succeeded him to be the tribal leader.

At his youth, when he had been once full of power, Lonerus put so much effort on his tribe to maintain the prosperity that accumulated since his ancestors. When Lonerus went into his middle-age, he put his power and his effort onto other criteria - He found beautiful lasses outside from his own tribe to satisfy his own bodily desires. He got three girls from the "wanderers", and got one from the dark-skinned-tribes, all of them became Lonerus' concubines.
'Wanders' is a special term for those who lost their connection with their tribes after the Great Flow of Blood. Being unable to hold among themselves, and having no lands for them to settle on, the 'Wanderers' were forced to wander on the land, or to mix with other tribes, or just hold together in a very small number. As they married by their own wills without much consideration, or even because of rape, their blood thus got mixed-up. And the rising of the dark-skinned-tribes might because of long exposure under the sunray during the lives of the 'Wanders', thus it is not because of marriage but because of geographical reasons or life habits.

Lady LongNight was the youngest among Lonerus' concubines from the 'Wanderers', and she was his favourite. 'LongNight' was the name that Lonerus gave her, that she was the one whose beauty can entertain Lonerus for the whole night that he would never find it tasteless.

The skin of Lady LongNight was white as the moon at night, her eyes and hair were dark as the night sky. As she was born among the 'Wanderers', she knew nothing about her origin, the tribe that she came from, and even her original name indeed. Other than her beauty, she also had a soft temper and was obedience to her husband. After she became the favour of Lonerus, she did wish with her whole heart, that she could spend her given life on the land of Goldchamber, and her wish was going to come true.

Alas, the fondness of Lonerus to Lady LongNight brought her disaster indeed. That fondness made Lonerus always be in joy during the long nights, but it also aroused the Lonerus' first wife's envy to Lady LongNight, especially when Lady LongNight gave birth a son to Lonerus. The first wife of Lonerus had decided to kick Lady LongNight and also her son out of the land of Goldchamber.

The son of Lady LongNight, was later known as GuQin, the ancestor of the Quads, the race on the land of Mulbe-Catalpia.

As years passed, the body of Lonerus had ruined to a stage that he himself would face his own death. Then he managed to divide his properties to his sons as legacies - Firstly, he gave the war of the tribal leader to the eldest son of his first wife. The son's name DyeCaellus. DyeCaellus was given most half of the alpacas and apiaries

Lonerus had other eight younger sons, so he divided the remaining properties into eight smaller parts of legacies. He called these eight sons each to prepare a goatling of alpaca, kill it and roast it, then Lonerus would give them their blessings.

Lonerus himself killed a young alpaca for his eldest son DyeCaellus, cooked it and made it a sacrifice to The Heavenly Sire. After that Lonerus fed the roasted alpaca to DyeCaellus, and gave him the blessing.

Including DyeCaellus, nine sons have been mentioned, the youngest among them was seventeen, and DyeCaellus the eldest was just forty. All of them was married and had their own family.

But the tenth son of Lonerus was not included.

The tenth son was the son of Lady LongNight, the boy who would be known as GuQin. He was ten years old, without getting any of Lonerus' legacies. He hadn't gained anything for his title and marriage.

All of them is the result of the plot of the first wife of Lonerus. She ordered her maid to put a voodoo doll in the tent of Lady LongNight. On the doll was crafted the time of birth of DyeCaellus, and also ten long nails.

Of course that voodoo doll was quickly "found out", and the first wife of Lonerus aroused the elders of the tribe to force Lonerus to expel Lady LongNight and his son.

In this Incident, DyeCaellus showed his willingness to forgive. He was not influenced by his mother to turn to hate his youngest brother. He questioned that the voodoo doll was just too easy to be found, and also, Lady LongNight was a simple minded person who did not seem to be a woman of plots, and her face of sadness and misery after the exposure of her "plot" did prove this. DyeCaellus even proposed to Lonerus that is it was needed, DyeCaellus would cede a small part of his legacies as the legacy for his youngest brother, and also to let Lady LongNight to have something to live on.

Finally DyeCaellus' proposal was not accepted, and no one was interested in investigating the incident of the voodoo doll. Also, The Heavenly Sire had His own preparation for DyeCaellus' youngest brother, and there was no need for his minor cede. The dying Lonerus cannot debate with his first wife and the elders, and he finally decided that Lady LongNight and her son would be expelled as the punishment of performing witchcraft. They had to leave the land of GoldChamber in ten days, and would be forbidden to come back forever.

They were also forbidden to bring any alpaca or critter, even a baby alpaca. An ignorant elder even daunted Lady LongNight that, if she and her son dared to go back to GoldChamber, the people would only welcome them by striking them to death according to the laws of The Heavenly Sire.

Lady LongNight sobbed, but her tears could not wipe out the stubbornness of Lonerus. Unexpectedly, DyeCaellus chose ten seasoned and honest servants and their families as the last gift to his youngest brother. DyeCaellus also prepared some dried meat and water for the son of Lady LongNight, and he boldly ordered the ten servants not to harm the helpless mother and her son.

It was the tenth day after the ceremony of the division of legacy, DyeCaellus led Lady LongNight and her son to a knoll called "Overturned Basin", which was located at the western boundary of GoldChamber. Although the son of Lady LongNight was young, he was already old enough to realize what had happened. That was a dawn, DyeCaellus led the two expelled and also his men, the ten servants and the maids, totally about forty people to the "Overturned Basin". Stepped on the top of the knoll and under the golden sun, the wastelands at the west of GoldChamber could be seen.

The Heavenly Sire overwhelmed Lonerus, and he himself also made the preparation. On that morning, Lonerus brought ten other servants and their families, and also WindLady to the "Overturned Basin" by carts.

WindLady was also a "Wander" in the tribe of Lonerus, she was originally called as MinxMaid, and the name "WindLady" was indeed made by GuQin later. "MinxMaid" was interpreted as "Mad Girl", it was because WindLady like to talk, and always had a lot of unconscious and involuntary moves. At that time, WindLady was also ten years old.

On the "Overturned Basin", Lonerus stopped DyeCaellus and sent him back. When DyeCaellus wanted to question about this, Lonerus just said, "Calm down, the people I chose is as dependable as the people you chose. And for MinxMaid, you can also know that she is not an ordinary child, and she may have a good marriage with your young brother indeed - It may, it may. My child, by the name of Heavenly Sire, just go back to your home." After Lonerus' reply, DyeCaellus and his people went back to the land of GoldChamber.

When Lady LongNight met Lonerus, she again collapsed in sadness and tears. Her son also saw his father and asked, "Father, where should I and Mum go to?"

Lonerus put his hand on the son of Lady LongNight and went to give him a bless. Lady LongNight knew what Lonerus was doing, so she stopped to sob and called her son to kneel down and knock his head three times on the ground in front of his father. Lonerus took out a bag of bullion from his breast and gave it to Lady LongNight, and he said, "The elders of our tribe said that our alpaca must not be taken away from GoldChamber, as to prevent that other people could get the good breed that we get through long years. I do not have any critter for sacrifices for your son, but I have prepared a girl to serve him…"

"Yes, that's right," Lady LongNight wept again, " We are the people who live to be ordered, Yes, what a good match! Me son should live with the people who live to be ordered!"

Lonerus was shocked by her words and just didn't know how to respond, suddenly one of the servants cried, "A Blue Badger! A Blue Badger! Look, Master, it is on the slope!"

As they said, there was a badger on the slope by its own. The badger was as big as a child, and it is blue in colour, and its colour was clear as the sky. On the land of GoldChamber, there are badgers and boars, but there were only gray or brown ones. Even the eldest servant of Lonerus had never seen such a blue badger, and so their surprise was shown by their cries.

The blue badger settled on the slope. It seemed not to be afraid of the people, and it was just hissing on the ground, and was quite interested to the men of Lonerus.

The people and the blue badger stared at each other without making a single move. The son of Lady LongNight suddenly stood up, so her mother grabbed his shoulders firmly, thinking that he was going to chase the blue badger. At the same time, Lonerus just made a strange decision and so he ordered his servants loud, "Quick! Bows, arrows and rope, Let us get that blue badger!"

Some of the servant had horses, so that they got on their horses to chase the badger. Two of them firstly used some food to attract the badger, and the other servants used ropes to catch the badger, and finally not a single arrow was shot. One of the servant said, "This badger is just a cub, haven't seen any human before. It might want to go out to play at the dawn, and facing it was so shocked so that it forgets the way back to its cave perhaps!"

So, the son of Lady LongNight finally get the sacrifice for the granting of his legacy from his father, and it is a unique sacrifice indeed.

Lonerus ordered his men to kill the badger and rib its skin off. He gave the fur of the badger to Lady LongNight, and then roasted its meat as a sacrifice of gratitude to The Heavenly Sire. Then Lonerus fed the meat to his youngest son of Lady LongNight, and she ate the meat too. Then Lonerus boldly told the servants again that they must obey Lady LongNight and her son in the future, also he talked a lot with Lady LongNight. Finally, Lonerus and his men left at noon, back to their land of GoldChamber.

Lonerus left twenty servants and their families to follow Lady LongNight, and only six of them were known to us.

The one who was good at hunting was ProGlorius HillHit. HillHit means hunting.

The one who was expert in agriculture was CelebLife RedCrop.

The one mastered in sword play was SkyLight LongSword.

The one mastered in shooting was WhitRaised ThreeDarts. ThreeDarts is the other name of arrow.

The one who domesticated the wild badgers and boars was GeneSpread BlackGold. (BlackGold means pig in the language of GoldChamber)

And the last one who was an expert of digging wells was MistGerm WellDig.

These six men were the ancestors of the six surnames of the land of Mulbe-Catalpia - HillHit, RedCrop, LongSword, ThreeDarts, BlackGold and WellDig. All of them gained their surnames by their skills.

Started their journey at the Inverted Basin, Lady LongNight and her son went west and got into the land of FlowSandstan. There was a gang of Wanderers who struck these exiles and managed to rob them, but the Wanderers were soon dispersed by the servants of Lady LongNight. Once being an Wanderer, Lady LongNight knew what the raiders wanted were only food and water, so rather than fight, she welcomed the wandering attackers and treated them well. So one by one, many wanderers joined the people of Lady LongNight. The sacrifice of the blue badger was also known by the people of GoldChamber from the mouths of Lonerus' servants, many people then believed that the son of Lady LongNight must the one who was specially blessed by The Heavenly Sire. Many people, including young ones who wanted to be explorers and pioneers, then left their home to join the people of Lady LongNight. As a result, the tribe of Lady LongNight expanded from twenty families tribe in a thousand-people-tribe.

There was almost no men on the land of FlowSandstan at that time. The thousand people of Lady LongNight found water in a small valley, so they dug wells and settled down there.

There land of FlowSandstan was not as fruitful as the land of GoldChamber - there were no alpacas, and also there were no horses nor cattle. Only badgers were there, living on insects, worms and callas. They hadn't seen men before, and they even didn't know to escape, so the badgers were so easy to catch. The people of Lady LongNight started to catch and domesticate the wild badgers, but they never saw a blue badger again, and of course won't getting one.

Days passed, the son of Lady LongNight grew up, and his behaviors and abilities showed that he is qualified to be specially blessed by The Heavenly Sire. He was a good son to his mother, and he had started to learn all skills since his childhood, that he wanted to lead his servants well and appoint suitable tasks for them when he had grown up.

WindLady was also changing like the son of Lady LongNight. After Windlady married him, her real characters was released and known by the others. Windlady, originally known as MinxMaid, was a kind girl indeed, she was good at observing things, did all sorts of things without any hesitation, and she also was a good daughter-in-law for Lady LongNight. And one thing more - WindLady did not love to talk, but she was a lover of music. Under her inspiration, the son of Lady LongNight shaved wood into a Qin, and get fibers into wires, and then created the unique musical instrument "Mulbe-Catalpian Qin" after he had settled in the land of Mulbe-Catalpia. Because of this, he got the title of the ancestor of the land of Mulbe-Catalpia - GuQin. (The Aged Qin)

GuQin named the little valley "Badger Valley", because his people found water there, and also successfully domesticate the wild badgers. The badgers fed on insects, worms and also callas, so the people of GuQin tried to plant those callas. In addition with the badgers, there would be no problem for the people's food supply. Lady LongNight also made the skin of the blue badger into a cloak for her son, as to show his identity.

But GuQin's divine property did not lie in the Badger Valley. When he was 20, there was a disastrous earthquake. Although the earthquake did not made a large number of injury and death, it did destroyed most of the houses and badger byres. Later, their water supply was polluted by the carrions, then plaque broke out among the domesticated badgers, many badgers died, and also the people had a bad harvest of callas that year.

Knowing that there would be a famine, the leading-man under GuQin tried to persuade GuQin to send some people to seek help from the land of GoldChamber. Although GuQin was unwilling to do it, he knew he should not turn down his men's proposal because he was responded to the lives of his people.

One day, GuQin was tired after his work, and he rested on WindLady's thighs. He then unwittingly feel asleep and started dreaming.

In his dream, GuQin saw that it was raining heavily at the Badger Valley, a place where should only have a little rain. But it rained only for a while and then stopped. In the sky which the rain has just stopped, there came a dragon which colour was just like the sky after raining. It hovered for a while and then flew to GuQin.

A sound said near the ears, "Climb onto my back, your descendants will envy on you, because they think that riding on a dragon and fly into the sky is the greatest of the sign of fortune. Don't be afraid, climb onto my back!"

GuQin felt that he had an indescribable affinity towards that dragon, and the voice of the dragon made him thought of The Heavenly Sire without reason, also he then thought of Lonerus his father who abandoned him. GuQin felt that the dragon did not had the will to harm him, so he bestrode the dragon on its neck. He touched on the dragon, and he felt that the body he touched was hard but also soft, warm but also cool. At that time, people still not yet how to mine jade, of course GuQin hadn't touched jade before, but it was a very comfortable feeling.

The dragon loaded GuQin and rose into the air, within a flash it seemed that it had reached another land. The voice of the dragon again sounded, "Here it is. This is the new world that is given to you and your descendants. Catch me tight, we will go down and have a look."

The dragon descended, GuQin felt that wind was blowing on his face, so he kept his eyes almost closed and grabbed the neck of the dragon tightly. Noise whirled in his ears and then faded away, so GuQin opened his eyes again - what in his eyes was a large surface of green. Green rivers, green mountains, green sky, green plain - refreshing green! What a good piece of land!

That was the land of Mulbe-Catalpia at its earliest stage, that no one was living there at that time.

The dragon shivered a bit, giving a signal to GuQin to get down, and GuQin did so. The land was covered with grass completely, that there would not have such a densely grown grassland in the land of GoldChamber. GuQin did have some knowledge of agriculture, and knew that the land h stood on was extremely fertile, and was a land which can grow crops more than the callas they had before. When GuQin wanted to bent down to look more about the soil, the dragon again spoke to him, "Remember the things you see, so that you can tell your people. If they don't believe you, show it to them! Behold, I am going to set the boundary of your land!"

GuQin raised his head and he saw that the dragon rose to the air again. This time cloud was coming out from the body while the dragon was flying, and the cloud did not disperse. GuQin saw that the dragon flew to the west firstly, after a while it flew to the east, then to the east, and finally turn to the north. As the dragon had finished its flight, four pieces of cloud appeared in the sky - they were so straight, and formed a square, that no one knew about its length and width.

"There are ten thousand miles from the east to the west, and also ten thousand miles from the north to the south - this is the property of you and your race given from The Heavenly Sire. It you go west and climb over the mountain of "Sky-Pillar", you will reach here. Remember, the blue badger is your mace, and the wide land here is you property! You have to treasure these two things, or plagues will be on you from The Heavenly Sire, and the land of Mulbe-Catalpia will be embroiled. These are the words that I have to tell you…" When the words were spoken, the dragon suddenly disappeared. What left in the sky were the four pieces of cloud which had not yet dispersed.

GuQin could not control himself any longer, he rushed a few steps and cried to the sky, "Don't go! I have many o ask you! Here is the land of Mulbe-Catalpia? And who are you? What is the meaning of 'my race'?"

The voice of the dragon sounded in the sky, "I am the Jade Dragon, the magistrate-angel of the land of Mulbe-Catalpia! And you, are one of the ancestor of the twelve new races set up by The Heavenly Sire! It is just temporary for Him to make you migrate from the land of GoldChamber to the land of the badgers, but you will finally receive the land of Mulbe-Catalpia to spread your descendants on it, as to fulfill The Heavenly Sire's will of remaking the twelve pieces of Holy Continents. Remember, it is the land of Mulbe-Catalpia… the land of Mulbe-Catalpia… treasure… your property…"

It's sound echoed and then faded away. GuQin looked clouds remained, and his emotions stirred in his mind, making him hard to think and control himself.

So, GuQin woke up and found that he was still on the thighs of WindLady.

On the next day, four pieces of long cloud formed a square on the west sky of the Badger Valley. GuQin summoned his leading-man and announced to them:

Listen! The exiles of the land of GoldChamber! We, including me and my mother, are the people were originally the people who lived to be ordered, or to wander on the land, and no one has his title and properties, and piece of land was belonged to them and their families. Now, because of earthquake, famine may come, and perhaps we will die in this land which originally belongs to the badgers! Exiles of GoldChamber! GoldChamber will not welcome us to go back, if we seek help from her, we must cover our face with hands and bite on our lips to burst out words of plea! Who will like this? Exiles of GoldChamber! Listen to me, I have a good message to direct to you. The Heavenly Sire has sent the Jade Dragon and appeared in my dream, saying that He would give us a piece of land that will be really belonged to us. So we will not hunger to death, nor taking up slavish lives like we had in the past - we will become the ancestors of a large race.

Or you may ask me, that what is the proof of this blessing? And how the dream of me is also the dream of you? You do not have to perform fortune telling, or by the runes of turtle shells, nor by stripes of rocks, flow of night water, liver and intestines, nor the petals. Just look at the west, and the sign left by the Jade Dragon is there - a QuadStraight sign which means that the land we will get, and it is also the proof of the title and legacy which The Heavenly Sire will give to us.

Walk to the west, climb over the Sky-Pillar, we will reach that land. The name of that land is Mulbe-Catalpia, which is one of the twelve continents that The Heavenly Sire has spent a lot of power to recreate - it has fertile soil which is even more fertile than the soil of GoldChamber. The Jade Dragon has released that land to me. Look at my cloak of blue badger, which you think that makes me unique among the people - by it I call you, follow me! Let us prepare to get the title and legacy which have been prepared to us! Let us get up, stretch our limbs squeeze out all of our power to proof that we are deserved to get that title!

This declaration made by GuQin was later known as "The Oath of the Long Cloud", just like "The Ode to the Jade Dragon", is one of the two valuable literal legacy of Mulbe-Catalpia. The decedents of GuQin - the acceptor of the land of Mulbe-Catalpia - also called the land as the land of QuadStraight, according to the word in the oath that the "sign of QuadStraight" indicates the land they will receive, and to prove that the land is the title and legacy given by The Heavenly Sire. They also liked to called themselves as "Quads", "people of QuadStraight", and also liked to called themselves "exiles of GoldChamber", "Descendants of GuQin", "Master of Mulbe-Catalpia", or "sons of The Jade Dragon".

After the oath, some people chose to stay, some still chose to go back to GoldChamber for help. GuQin did not stop them. However, most of the people chose to follow GuQin, that meant to follow "The Sign of QuadStraight", to climb over the Sky-Pillar which also called as "Immeasurable", to search for the title that they deserved. These most of the people suffered a lot, drank on the ice and fed on the furs, even nine people out of ten died. The remaining people finally got into the land of Mulbe-Catalpia through the gap of "Golden-Rock", and became the real master of Mulbe-Catalpia…