I was once a tree. Standing proud in the forest. Now I am a pillar in the great hall of the Khan. I am the oldest. And today I have seen what I had never seen before. Tears on his face. And I must tell you; I have seen many things between these walls. I have witnessed his son growing up and becoming a great hunter. Oh, I remember the pride in the young man’s eyes when he could carry the heart of a bear into his father’s halls.
And I was here holding the roof up for the young Khan’s wedding. A strange celebration that one. Beneath the exaggerated happiness of it was a great sadness that could not be spoken, but it could be felt even by someone such as I. A part of the building.
Since then, a winter has passed. In here the seasons are dull. They do not penetrate the walls, and I miss the forest. But today something happened that reminded me I am still alive to see wonderful and terrible things. A horse came trotting into the great hall as if he was human and he went straight to the Khan and his wife and he spoke. “I have something to tell you about your daughter-in-law”, he said. And I could see the old couple straightening up in their seats. “Speak”, the Khan said.
And he went on telling them how she was not the rightful bride and how he had witnessed her stealing the young woman’s face and stitching it onto her own. And suddenly I felt him leaning against me, the young Khan. He was there, steadying himself while hearing from the horse’s mouth how he had been so deeply fooled, and what had to be done. If he ever wanted to come back to being himself and go looking for his true bride again, he would have to let the people tie him to a pole in the cold river Lena and then hang him up high in the tallest tree to be blown by the winds.
I wished I could have been that tree. I would have wanted to be the one carrying him through those days and nights. I have come to love this young man. As much as a pillar can love someone.
And then I witnessed the guards dragging the wrongful bride into the hall. I cannot tell you what they did to her, or she to them, once they had disappeared out again.
The young Khan carefully took a few steps towards his parents. He was unsteady. But he stilled himself. And then he nodded. Giving his approval. Holding his hands up for them to be tied to the pole in the river. And that’s when I saw his tears. That’s when I saw the Khan cry.
