The story so far: Rigzin, a young Tibetan boy, finds a magical gemstone called Tethys Blue in Lake Manasarovar, which he is to deposit at the Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh. The forces of evil want to take the stone away from the boy.
Left in the care of a forest ranger at Deosai National Park, Rigzin feels lost and vulnerable. He is upset that he has lost the gemstone yet again. How was he ever going to fulfil his promise of restoring Tethys Blue to Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh?
Sherpa Snoregay tossed and turned in his sleep. He felt cold and shivered as a blast of cold air blew into his tent. He opened his eyes and shut them quickly when he saw the yeti peering through the open flap of his tent.
“Oh no! This thing is never going to go away,” he muttered.
“Tell story!” whispered the beast.
Patience worn out
Something snapped within him. He yelled, “Fine, your story ends tonight. I don’t care what you do with me... Eat me if you want to, or throw me into a gorge... I can’t take it anymore!”
“Big brown bears helped the boy, no?” asked the yeti, trying to jog the Sherpa’s memory.
“No!” yelled Snoregay, “Be quiet and listen to the story!”
It was late afternoon at Lake Manasarovar. Rigzin’s father had been away for many hours. The little boy had been sitting on the steps of the Chiu Monastery, just where his father had left him. He had, of course, ventured about exploring the surrounding and the shores of the lake. He chased the birds — the ducks and the bar-headed geese — about, till he was tired and sleepy. He climbed back the steps and lay down on one of the steps. He soon drifted into a deep sleep.
“Rigzin, wake up! Wake up! I am back. You know, I had the most enchanting walk around the lake. Open your eyes, my son! It’s your papa. Now, why are you crying?”
“Papa, I lost the gemstone. I am not a good boy. The spirit of the Himalayas will be angry with me,” cried the little boy, his face buried into his father’s chuba.
“What gemstone? You never lost anything, as you didn’t have one. Rigzin, it was just a dream! Come on, let us go to the nearest teahouse and have something to eat!”
“Only a dream?” echoed the boy, quite puzzled. “But it was so real!”
“Only a dream?” thundered the yeti. “But what is dream?”
“Close your eyes! Lie down outside my tent and you too can see a dream.”
The yeti nodded. Dropped the flap of the tent and lay down outside. “Small mercies,” muttered the Sherpa. He drifted back to sleep. It may have been hours or it may have been just a few minutes when the Sherpa was woken up by a violent shaking of his tent and the earth below. In panic, he crawled out of his sleeping bag and cursed the yeti. “You stupid, ginormous brat! Stop shaking my tent!”
Snoregay lifted the flap of his tent and peeped out. A new day had begun. The sky was pale pink and the snow-capped mountains stood tall and silent in dark grey and white suits. Even as he watched the scene outside, a rock or two tumbled down the jagged edges of the mountains. The violent shaking had stopped but loosened stones continued to roll down.
“Yeti, stop that shaking! You are going to start an avalanche,” shouted the panic-stricken man. His call echoed from the mountains but there was no response from the yeti. “Where are you, yeti? I am going home. Now, you can’t stop me,” he called out again. But for a pebble or two rolling down the sides, the mountains and valleys were silent.
“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” thought Snoregay. He smiled as he took down his tent, packed his knapsack and hoisted it over his back. Strong and surefooted he walked down the mountain path back to his village with a sense of relief.
“Thank God, you are alive. There is tremor in the mountain range that is causing a lot of damage to the villages around. Where were you?” asked his grandfather.
“I was kidnapped by a yeti... but a good fellow,” replied Snoregay. He had really come to like the beast. “Yeti? Migoi?” cried his grandfather and burst out into a loud guffaw. “There are no yetis. You must have been dreaming!”
The End
