Chapter 36 The third section "Xiangmeng"

The protagonist, Xiangmeng, is the third prince of Mengweiza, a small country.His eldest brother inherited his father's throne, and his second brother became the king of another country, Mongpa Ginta, after overcoming the test of the devil.Xiangmeng was not satisfied with life in the court, and asked his father to let him go among the common people to learn how to be a man.He left the small palace and walked into the vast forest alone, hunting happily like a golden deer.One day he suddenly heard crying by the Golden Lake, and he shot open the solid stone gate with an arrow. It turned out that a beautiful girl was crying inside.Her name is Nanxili Zongbu, and she is the princess of Menghedai, a powerful neighboring country.Her elder brother Shawari had the ambition to conquer 101 countries. Using the method of martial arts to recruit relatives, he betrothed the princess to Maung Shulai, the prince of Mengwati, another powerful country, in order to conclude a military alliance with marriage relationship.Just when Zongbu Nanxili was sighing for her own fate, there was a sudden gust of wind, and the devil took her away.Thanks to Xiangmeng's rescue, the devil was shot to death.The princess developed admiration for Xiangmeng.They danced, sang, and expressed their feelings to each other by the lake.

princess said: O bravest hunter of the forest, The sister you rescued is not a celestial being, She is the loneliest water lily in the pond, There is no trace of spring in my heart, There is no confidant singing in my ears. Xiangmeng said: O brightest jewel in the crown, The most beautiful peacock in the forest, If you are really a flower without a master, Xiangmeng is willing to water you for the rest of your life. When Xiangmeng learned that the princess' elder brother had promised him to Maung Shulai, he was very disturbed and planned to send the princess back to her hometown, so he left quietly.But the princess's love is very steadfast. She said that the original Nanxili Zongbu had died, and the reborn her would belong to Xiangmeng forever.

In order for the common people not to be bloodbathed by the war, Xiangmeng buried the weapon under a tree before entering the city, trying to influence Shawari with benevolence and righteousness.Arrogant Shawari looked down on the prince of this small country, repaying kindness with grievances, accused Xiangmeng of being the devil who abducted his sister, and ordered Xiangmeng to be executed that night.Shavari's atrocities were resisted by four small officials guarding the city gate. They found different excuses and refused to open the city gate to the executioner, delaying the execution time, so that Xiangmeng was rescued and fled back to himself. hometown.

Shavari learned that Xiangmeng had escaped and ordered to pursue him.At this time, Xiang Meng's father and the common people were determined to fight back against the invading enemy, but Xiang Meng still did not advocate using war to solve the problem.In order to protect the common people of the two countries, he first sent envoys to Menghedai to propose marriage with dowry gifts and letters, but failed. Meng Hedai's military adviser is the wizard Wei Luoha. Instead of mediating and persuading Shawari, he blindly instigates it, making the originally tense situation look like a war is about to break out.The righteous Mengweiza decided to stop Shavari's brutality, united with allies, and fought against Xiangmeng's command. "Xiangmeng" used a lot of space to describe the battle scenes. In addition to the soldiers, there were also trained war elephants. From morning to dusk, the two sides fought fiercely. Xiangmeng finally shot Maung Shulai to death. Killed the military strategist Veroha and captured Shawari alive.

After the war, Shawari died of illness due to shame and indignation. Xiangmeng married the princess, and at the request of the old king of Menghe Dai, inherited the throne and unified 101 countries in the forest. 101 is a common imaginary number in Dai folk works. It simply means that it was a period when there were many clans and tribes and the jungle was prey to the jungle. To ensure safety, it was necessary to form alliances with neighboring tribes, and the alliance between relatives was even stronger. In "Xiangmeng", there are two opposing alliances, one is headed by Shavari, and the other is headed by Xiangmeng.As an ideal hero, Xiangmeng represents the peace-loving national character of the Dai people.There is a sentence in it: "Let peaceful people come and go on the bridge from generation to generation." "Xiangmeng" expresses this theme very artistically.

According to the ancient Dai book "On Dai Poetry", "Xiangmeng" was produced in the late period of Luyexin era in Dai history.What is the "Green Leaf Letter Era", there is a legend spread by the Dai people: a kind-hearted young man bid farewell to his fiancée and went to a distant place in order to find happiness and light.His fiancée gave him a golden parrot as a messenger to pass their love letters carved on banana leaves back and forth.Youth go farther and farther.Banana leaves will dry up, they finally interrupted the message, missing each other.Later, the young man inadvertently found in the forest the lines of little black worms crawling over the leaves. Even if the leaves are dry, the lines are still clear, and the leaves will not be broken.Thus, the young man was inspired to start engraving on the Bayeux, and restored his connection with his fiancée.Since then, young men and women have used Bayeux to write love letters.In the history of the Dai people, this period is called the era of writing letters with green leaves.Dai scholars believe that this is not a fantasy, but has a high value of historical understanding.From this, we can know that the Dai people had characters but no ideal writing tools at that time, and the discovery of Bayeux made up for this defect, which undoubtedly has important significance for the development of Dai culture.In the later period of the Luyexin era, it is said that Dai poetry entered the most prosperous era of "Phoenix poetry".At this time, Buddhist temples in Dai areas were very common.

Comparing "Xiangmeng" and "Lifeng", it is obvious that these two works reflect different social forms. "Xiangmeng" has obvious influence of Buddhist thought. "Lifeng" is rough and magnificent, while "Xiangmeng" is wonderful, in which there is a combination of poetry and philosophy, and the fragrance of nature radiates between the lines.