Maung Tun Thu - Red and Black

A group of people called them the Kuomintang. Then the whole world knew them as the Kuomintang. Within a group of people who lived together and formed their own group, they often gave each group a name, such as “buffalo-eaters ,” “deer-eaters ,” “honey-eaters,” etc., to distinguish them from one another. As a nation, they had no name. They did not need one. They considered themselves to be “human beings,” superior to other nations on earth in every way, and to be given special attention and protection by the spirits in heaven.

The light of dawn was streaming down on the two mountains. At that time, the black horse, a man from the Kum Mingchi, was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the spirit from the heavens above. At this time, the spirit would be sound asleep.

In any case, he will have to guard and receive the medical knowledge and extraordinary talents that the spirit will bestow, both as a warrior of the tribe and as a good man within his tribe.

In fact, he had been waiting for this day, this time, this period for eighteen summers. He had been preparing for this day, this time, for a long time.

Within a hundred miles of the white settlement, the plains of western Texas lay one upon another. The prairie grass, as far as the eye could see, seemed to cover the entire plain with a great emerald-green velvet carpet.

Standing tall on those plains, the twin mountains seemed to be sailing two ships at once on the open sea. Many white men knew of these twin mountains. But few had ever seen them.

Many miles to the south, the Brazos River, winding its way slowly southeastward, forks out from the foothills of the Twin Mountains. In the summer, the Brazos narrows its course. The water is filled with salt and silt, making it dirty and murky.

The water flowing from the tributaries formed by the mountain falls has formed two small streams. The Myin Nyo Shin tribe has built small huts along these two streams and settled there.

In the afternoon, the horse owners often leave their horses on the grassy slopes of the mountains. Since it is daytime, they are visible, so they do not need to be guarded tightly. They are usually left alone with children. At night, the horses are systematically collected. They are properly guarded.

The Kiowa tribes had been allies with the brown horse owners for many years, so the Kiowa tribes would not steal their horses.

In the west and southwest, the Apache tribe roams. The Apache are not trustworthy people. The Apache are very cunning. The Black Horses have been at war with the tribe for many years. No one knows why they fought.

The horseman had been guarding the horse all summer. He had been relieved of his guard duty the previous night, so he could prepare to find medicine for him. The horseman first bathed in the stream as instructed by the shaman. Then he drank the medicine. After these things, the shaman recited mantras for him. Then he had his face and chest painted with ink with marks and symbols.

At dawn today, the brown horseman set out alone to the mountain range closest to their village. He wore soft shoes soaked in flower essence and blood-stained clothes.

According to the tradition of their tribe, he must live alone in a secluded place for three or four days and four nights. The place where he must live must be completely free from other people and the spirits who will help him. If he is lucky, sometime before the four days are up, he will receive a special sign from the spirit.

The Myin Nyo people are not settled and settled in one place. They often move from place to place. They have no organized religion. They worship only the Father, who is believed to live on the other side of the Sun and who provides sustenance for all things. Everyone makes offerings to this spiritual Father.

According to their belief, the world is ruled by many different spirits. Some are “good spirits” who uphold the principles of love and compassion, while others are “evil spirits” who are evil and wicked. Everyone can choose and worship any spirit they like and seek its guidance and protection.

However, the young man, the Kum Ming Chi, was not the one he worshipped, but a big hat. The wound was deep and deep. The blood that came out was so bad that it was hard to see.

He slowly crawled to the nearby dry grass. He pulled out a handful of the grass and pressed it into the cut. After a while, the bleeding stopped.

Despite the intense pain in his entire body, he searched for his shield. He found it again. He immediately headed for the top of the dungeon and continued climbing. Due to the severity of his injuries, he could not climb as quickly as before. His legs were heavy and slow, like those of a stone. However, he stubbornly pushed on.

After a long climb, he reached the top of the mountain. Wearily, he walked to a rock, sat down, and looked down at the plain below.

The warm wind blew across his body with great force. His body, which was drenched in sweat and burning, immediately cooled down. The pain was not as severe as before. It gradually eased.

This wind rushed towards him like a close friend and embraced him. Some evil spirits, who were very angry, surrounded him and tried to destroy him, so that he would not continue climbing the mountain and give up. He thought that because of his indomitable will and determination, he would win. The signs he saw were encouraging for him.

He spread his buffalo skin robe on the ground and put a handful of medicine into the bone incense stick. Then he lit a fire with flint and some dry grass. Then he smoked the incense stick.

After taking a sip of the medicine, he sat down on the edge of the rock, facing east. He would wait for the Spirit from heaven to come. The waiting period would be long. He knew very well that this was a very lonely matter.

From what he had learned, 19 signs from the Spirit did not come quickly. He tried to focus his attention on the Spirits. But he could not. His eyes were fixed on his village, which was far away from him, while his attention wandered to the past.

His father was a very skilled healer. He had sneaked into enemy camps and stolen horses countless times. His father had also led and fought in many battles. It was not uncommon for a soldier in his army to be killed and his face painted black and his horse's tail cut off. However, his father was ultimately killed in a battle where he led the Ape-Chis at great risk.

At that time, the Black Horse had seen his father's soldiers returning with their faces painted black. That scene, like a ghost, often entered his mind. Every time it entered, he was moved.

That day, when she learned that her father had died in battle, her mother wept bitterly. Then, as was customary among her people, her mother had her hair cut short. Then, her entire body was stabbed with a knife. That day, her mother bled profusely from the wounds inflicted by the knife, and she even fainted.

Their family responsibilities were transferred to the hands of the Black Horse's uncle, the Black Horse. According to the ancient customs of the Black Horse and the Kumanchi, the Black Horse already had a wife, but he had to take his brother's widow as his wife. In this way, the Black Horse's siblings became the children of his uncle. This was a common occurrence among the humane Kumanchi people.

The darkness of night had fallen. The brown horse was immersed in the darkness. He was so lonely that he felt sad. He lay there, wrapped in his buffalo robe, listening to the wind blowing. And the sound of the grasshoppers. And the sound of the birds singing in the moonlight. He tried to sleep soundly. He couldn't. The wound on his knee was aching terribly.

The next morning he woke up before dawn. He took one pill after another, taking in the powers that the slowly rising sun would bestow. His knee was stiff. The wound where his skull had been cut was swollen and painful. He could no longer stand on his left leg.

He looked for a way to heal the wound. He walked around the area, limping, looking for any medicinal herbs. Luckily, he came across a wild pear tree with many thorns. Being careful not to prick his hand on the thorns, he cut off the top of a pear and applied it to the wound.

His mouth was so dry and thirsty. His stomach ached from hunger. He tried hard to concentrate his mind on the spirits. The day was not only too long, but also too quiet. There was not even a trace of the spirits yet.

The darkness of night fell once more. The loneliness set in again. He looked towards his village. The image of his family appeared in his mind's eye.

At night, his "Uncle Father" would tell the family gathered around him stories of his adventures. The way they had raided and plundered the Apaches, raided white camps and taken horses and cattle, and exchanged some of the cattle they had taken for captive women from the Mexican Comincheros, with the intention of using them as slaves for their women, was an interesting story. He spent the second night lying down smoking a pipe. The wound in his leg was also bothering him. Despite the severe pain, he was still suffering from thirst and hunger.

He fell asleep weakly.

The next morning, his leg was not only swollen but also in so much pain that he could not walk. When he walked again, he could only limp and take a few steps. He felt like he was going to get sick all day. His eyes were blue. He could not see anything clearly. He was so thirsty that his tongue was swollen. He could not even sing the songs that the shaman had taught him to sing in the temple to the good spirits. He spent his time lying on a buffalo robe, half asleep and half awake.

That night, he was awakened from his sleep by a loud clap of thunder. Immediately, his mind was at rest. His people were very afraid of storms. They were afraid because they believed that the power and strength of storms were something they could not control. He tried to go back to sleep, free from all his thoughts.

At that moment, he thought he heard his name being called in his ear. He lifted his head from his bed and listened. It couldn't be a voice. It was more like a feeling in his mind than a voice. It seemed like someone or something was trying to make contact with his mind.

Suddenly, under a flash of lightning, he saw a huge wolf standing on a large rock. The wolf was many times bigger than the one he had seen before. It was even bigger than the hut where their Kunming family lived.

The big wolf slowly approached him. He stared intently into his eyes. It seemed to be saying, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here to help you like a brother.” The big wolf licked the wound on his leg like a dog licks a wound. The pain from the wound gradually began to subside.

Then the big wolf picked up the undecorated shield with his mouth, shook it three or four times, and placed it directly in front of the brown horse. The brown horse could clearly see the four wolf footprints on the shield. The wolf footprints on the sand the first day were different. The footprints he saw now were fresh, blood-red. And the lightning flashed. The feathers on the other end of the shield were also colorful, making it look like a buffalo tail. At the bottom of the shield, a buffalo tail hung gracefully.

The big wolf told the black horse to do as he did in all important matters. He would also receive a potion that no one could compete with. Then the big wolf disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

When the brown horse woke up, it was clear and bright. The cool raindrops were falling on his body one by one. The fever was gone. His legs were pale. There was no more severe pain. He was happy and joyful, remembering everything he had seen last night in detail. What he had seen could not have been a dream. It must have been a vision.

He looked around him with a curious look. He found no footprints left. The footprints had been washed away by the rain that had fallen last night.

He could see the shield lying next to a bush about twenty paces away. He staggered to his feet and picked it up. He looked at it and was disappointed. There were no red wolf footprints on his shield. He didn't see any lightning. He didn't see any feathers. He didn't even see a buffalo tail.

Slowly, as I thought about it, I realized the truth. The wolf didn't actually paint the physical symbols on his shield. He just showed me the signs that his shield should be painted and decorated in that way.

The black horse understood that no one would believe him if he told him everything he had seen in detail. It couldn't have been a real wolf. It could have been just a vision, and it couldn't have been a wolf licking his wound. It could have been a wolf licking his wound, and it could have been a wolf licking his wound. In any case, only he understood his situation well.

Suddenly his eyes focused on the scratches that seemed to be along the hardest part of the shield's edge. Those scratches had never been there before, but now they were visible. They were the tracks of a wolf.

His whole body went cold. The wolf spirit had left a very clear mark on him. As soon as the rain stopped, he went back down the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, he found a large buffalo that had been killed and eaten by wolves. He thought he might be able to get medicine from this dead buffalo.

The brown horse owner cut off the buffalo's tail and tied it tightly to his shield. Then he opened the dead buffalo's abdomen. Inside the abdomen, he found a ball of hair. This ball of hair was accidentally swallowed by the buffalo's mouth as it licked its own hair throughout its life, and the hair was crushed and formed into a ball.

The Kunming people, the Black Horse Lord, highly value such hair knots. They believe that these hair knots are a kind of medicine that is priceless and powerful. In any case, the Black Horse Lord firmly believes that these hair knots are also a gift from the wolf spirits to him.

He would need a medicine bag to keep this hair tie safe. He cut a small piece of skin from the dead buffalo, made a bag, and put the hair tie in it. Then he limped back to his village.

When the black horse left home, he was a young man searching for a direction for his future life. Now he is a mature adult, confident in his destiny. He has also acquired what he had hoped for. That is, “wolf medicine.”