White Horse Neighing in the West Wind #23

Waerlaqi’s heart gave a sudden shake, and he replied, “A’man’s mother… Yalixian…” Suddenly all the energy in his body evaporated entirely. His right hand sank, and he never regained the strength to raise it ever again.

Li Wenxiu affirmed, “Master, you’ve always treated me very well. I will remember you forever.”

Somewhere in the desert, a young maiden was riding a white horse, ambling eastwards in the direction of Yumen Pass.

She was meditating upon the final words she had exchanged with the Kazakhs at their time of parting.

Su Lu’ke had urged, “Miss Li, please don’t go, you can live here with us. We have fine young men, and will pick the most outstanding one to be your husband. We will give you many cows, many goats, and build the best tent for you.”

Li Wenxiu had blushed and shook her head.

Then Su Lu’ke had said, “You may be Han, but that does not matter, for there are good people even among Hans. Can Hans marry Kazakhs?” Scratching his head, he continued, “Let’s go seek the advice of Elder Habolamu.”

Habolamu was highly knowledgeable about the Quran, and the most intelligent and most erudite elder in the tribe.

He had bowed his head and contemplated deeply for a while, before commenting, “I am a humble person who is ignorant of everything.”

Su Lu’ke had replied, “If the most learned Habolamu also admits ignorance, then the others will be even more so.” Habolamu then explained, “The forty-ninth chapter of the Quran says: ‘O mankind, surely We have created you from a male and a female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other. With Allah, the noblest of you is the kindest of you.’ All the different tribes and families on earth were created by Allah. He only says that the kindest ones are the noblest. And the fourth chapter of the Quran says: ‘Be good to the near neighbour and the distant neighbour, the companion at your side, treat the traveller warmly.’ The Hans are our distant neighbours, if they do not infringe upon us, we should be good to them and treat them warmly.”

Su Lu’ke had expressed, “What you said is very right. Can our daughters marry Hans? Can our young men marry Han girls?” Habolamu continued, “In the second chapter of the Book, the two hundred and twenty-first verse says: ‘Do not marry idolatresses until they embrace faith. And do not marry your daughters to idolaters until they embrace faith.’ Finally, in the fourth chapter of the Book, the twenty-third verse strictly prohibits marriage to women with husbands and also to direct relations. Apart from these, everything else is lawful. If it is all right to marry servants and slaves, why not the Hans?”

As Habolamu was quoting lines from the Quran, all the Kazakhs had stood by respectfully and listened attentively. The scriptures managed to help them solve their difficulty. Enlightened, everyone declared, “What Prophet Muhammad instructs can never be wrong.” Someone praised the elder for his wisdom: “If we encounter any problems, we need only to consult Habolamu, and he will always be able to advise us appropriately.”

But no matter how brilliant, how learned Habolamu was, there was one puzzle he would never be able to decipher, because even the all-encompassing Quran contained no answer: if the person you loved deeply, deeply loved someone else, was there anything that could be done?

The white horse took her, step by step, back to the Central Plains. It had aged by then, and could only move slowly, although they would eventually reach their destination. In Jiangnan, there would be willows, peach blossoms, swallows and goldfish…… And among the Hans there would be no lack of brave and handsome youths, or elegant and unrestrained ones…… But this lovely maiden was as stubborn as the ancient Gao Changs: “That is all very very good, but it is just not to my liking.”

• End -