2010-04-03
Four seasons within half month

          It is boiling hot! It is unbelievable that today is September. It is simply like a summer day. On this day, the Mobile Library embarked on a new trip. I can’t remember how many trips I have completed. I lost count. In Mongolia, which has an area of 1 million 500 thousand square kilometers, there may have left only few places I haven’t visited so far. We started taking off our clothes. When we were driving fast on earth road, we noticed two white gers (round felt tents used as dwelling by the Mongols) among green hillocks. We left our road and approached the gers through yellow flowers until children on horseback came to meet us. Now, they know us perfectly well. It wasn’t like that 16 years ago. Children in the countryside hadn’t much interest in reading books. At that time, I attracted them with candies. They began to like books more and more. Even, I wrote a poem, called “Delicious Books.” The melody crossed my mind on my journey. Since then, I have been singing together with children up until today:

            Candy will melt in your mouth,

            But books will stay forever in your mind.

I met not a few children who came home on horseback at weekends.

On our way, we stopped over at local schools, where children gathered to read books we were carrying. Thus, we reached a large river in the KhangaiMountains. When we were crossing the river, the wheels of the van disappeared in the water. The two sides of the river had begun to ice over. Cold wind blows, and it seems that fall is coming. Obviously, we are leaving a steppe zone and entering a mountainous zone. Two children riding pillion on a yak are approaching. When we asked why they hadn’t gone to their school, they said that they didn’t study at school. It seems that they can’t read. We read aloud one of Andersen’s tales. They were very interested. We presented them some nice books, saying that they should learn to read. The two children riding pillion on the yak were really happy and promised: “We will surely learn to read!” Stiff clouds appearing on the horizon is going to turn out badly. Is it going to snow? It snowed heavily tomorrow, as I thought. We had difficulty starting the engine but managed to continue our trip. But what happened next? Our van broke down suddenly. The driver diagnosed that summer fuel is frozen. There is snow and snow everywhere! We had no choice but to do nothing on the steppe where we can meet no one. Suddenly, snowstorm broke out, and we couldn’t see anything. It is like an airplane flying in the clouds. We mustn’t freeze to death. What to do now? I had no choice but to make a decision, as my son is the driver, my wife is the librarian, and I am the boss. I thought we are not three, but many. Characters of our books travel with us. I began to think of a brave man (a character of one of Jack London’s stories) who managed to overcome obstacles by fighting hard and an old fisherman depicted in an Ernest Hemingway’s story. “Let’s go,” I told. “Where?” I said: “To a ger.” Judging from some horses running away down the storm, I thought there must be a ger around here. We went against the storm. As all of us were in fall clothes, it was so cold as if a storm devil bites us with its frozen teeth. I wish I could ask Little Mook for his pair of magic slippers or Karlsson on the roof for his propeller on his back. I heard a dog barking. All of us were extremely happy. Yes, there is a ger, but the dog approached, snarling at us. The dog doesn’t want us to enter into the ger. I found a large wooden rod under snow. When I brandished with that rod, the dog got away, while yelping. We entered into the ger, in which there was a little girl. She told us that her parents had gone to capture the animals which had run away down the storm. When we asked her how old she was, the girl stuck up five fingers. She was continually burning droppings. It was very warm inside the ger. The girl offered us cups of hot tea and a plate of dried curds and clotted cream. And then, she brought some droppings filling her skirts into the ger and was busy cleaning the ger.
          Naturally, children in the countryside are grown as hardworking people from their early childhood. We told her: “You’re such a hardworking girl,” and recited the story of the Little Red Riding Hood. The girl liked the story so much that she told that she had one and took out a red hat from a trunk. In the meantime, her parents came back, driving their livestock, which had run away down the storm. As soon as I went out of the ger, the dog suddenly bit me in the thigh. Why has that dog bitten only me, when everybody went into or out of the ger? I remembered that I raised a large wooden rod to it, when I first came here. So the dog bore a grudge. Next morning, I gave a slice of meat to that smart dog to apologize according to Mongolian customs. Afterwards, I went to our van. That dog saw me off with a gentle look as if it makes its apology to me. The snowstorm had already blown over, and it was so quiet on the steppe as if nothing had happened. We had to burn droppings under the van in order to start it, and finally, we were able to continue our trip. We noticed tracks of many different animals on the fresh snow. Like reading a book, we tried to discover by these tracks what animals had recently gone. All at once, we found large-size tracks, which were similar to those of a dog, but they were larger. We followed the tracks until we saw a wolf. It was a wolf! It was the first time for us to see the king of the steppe. The Mongols say that if someone sees a wolf, he or she will easily achieve his or her goal. On the ridge of the mountain, the wolf stood for a while, staring at us, and began to move away at a slow trot without any fear. It probably knew that we hadn’t any weapons. In such a way, we drove through the valleys covered with snow and warmed with books the hearts of many children living in the countryside. Now it is time to drive back.

On our way back, snow has already started to melt, and the ground had spots here and there, as if spring has come. It was getting warmer. It seemed that families are leaving winter camps for spring camps. In fact, they are moving to their fall camps. Yes, today is September. It seemed that we had had a trip to help children in the countryside to read books during four seasons or throughout the year. But it took only two weeks.

Dashdondog Jamba

Mongolian children’s writer

Бичсэн: Жамбын Дашдондог | цаг: 19:32 | Нийтлэл
Холбоос | email -ээр явуулах | Сэтгэгдэл(0)
Сэтгэгдэл:


Сэтгэгдэл бичих



:-)
 
xaax