Soon, it began to grow dark and the cold mountains reared their heads from the darkness like frozen monsters. Pemba pulled his clothes around him and kept on peeping through the cracks
The monk said to the distressed parents, “Wait for my arrival tomorrow morning. For now I need to make some preparations.”
Then he retreated into the depths of the monastery. Everyone returned to their homes and bolted doors and windows as darkness and mist shrouded the village.
But Tshering’s elder son Pemba had stayed back. He was the one who had seen the huge monster with matted hair as it strode away with the baby. Pemba had screamed for help. But by the time his father ran into the room with Dolma close at his heels, the monster had vanished in the dusk. Recalling the dark shape of the monster brought a shudder to Pemba’s body. He felt sorry for his little brother and wanted to help. He knew the monk was a wise man. Villagers had told him he possessed magical powers. But he could not believe how the old man would overcome the powerful monster even as he knew that the villagers’ stories were not false.
He scaled the walls of the sacred building as he had done so many times as a child. He’d learnt of the right cracks and footholds that would lift him up. And while playing hide and seek, he’d discovered that nobody could find him as long
as he hid on the stone roof. It was during such adventures that he’d found out that the stories people told about the monk were not just stories. From the cracks in the stones, he would often peep in on the monk meditating in his chamber, or doing other strange things.
He was staring through the same cracks now, and was overcome with both concern and curiosity. His baby brother was constantly in his mind, and he wanted to help, but Pemba could not show himself to the monk for fear that he’d be told to go back home. Soon, it began to grow dark and the cold mountains reared their heads from the darkness like frozen monsters. Pemba pulled his clothes around him and kept on peeping through the cracks. His toes began to freeze, and he was almost ready to give up when he suddenly jerked back to attention.
He had seen a strange thing happen—stranger than what he had ever seen through the cracks as a child. For through the haze of the incense, he could see a snow leopard at the exact spot where the monk had been standing. With the swiftness of an arrow released from a bow, it leapt away.
As Pemba stared, he was numb with shock. He tried to gather himself and climbed down the roof. Looking around carefully, he walked to the front door of the monastery. There he saw a trail of leopard footprints that led into the mountains. Though he was cold and scared, Pemba was overcome with curiosity and decided to follow the trail.
Cold gusts of wind were blowing and it was already getting hard to make out the footprints on the snow. But Pemba had strong eyes. He always collected the maximum number of yarsagumba when he went to the mountains with his father and uncles. But even his sharp eyes were about to fail in the deepening darkness. He eventually came upon the mouth of the cave. There was no mistake; the footprints led into it.
Pemba had always been discouraged from entering the mountain caves because they were dangerous. Strange things lived in them and you could easily get lost. Many who ventured into these places never again made it to see the light of day. He thought that if he were to follow the snow leopard’s footprints he would be all right. But it was too dark inside the cave to see them anymore.
Suddenly he heard a heartrending cry resound throughout the cave. He was chilled to the bones as he heard more screams and shrieks. A leopard was leaping towards him. Pemba screamed and fell down on the snowy ground, with his hands thrown back to break the fall.
But the leopard stopped just in front of his face. Its green iris, shockingly, resembled the monk’s. Then it fell down on the ground. Pemba saw deep red blood spread on the snow.
“Please, don’t die,” Pemba said with tears in his eyes. “You have to help my little brother.
My parents are waiting back home.”
But the snow leopard was too weak. As its strength drained out, it transformed back into the monk.
“Listen carefully,” the monk said with laboured breathing. “I knew that you would follow me! I have failed. I am old and too weak. I must retire. It is all up to you now. You have to be quick. You need to find the baby.”
As he said these final words he put something on Pemba’s palm.
What he found was a shiny ring. “What am I supposed to do?” he asked frantically. But the monk was too weary to make any sound. Suddenly he heard a horrible roar thunder through the darkness of the caves. It was the yeti.
Desperate Pemba wore the ring on one of his fingers. He had been staring fearfully at the darkness, but soon found his vision turn extraordinarily clear. He began to trace the walls of the cave which were blazing like green fire. Suddenly, he was filled with nothing but pure wrath. He roared and launched himself into the darkness, towards the monster that he could smell storming towards him like a boulder of fury.
The next thing he saw through the green fire was the vanquished enemy. The corpse of the yeti lay on the snow, its head split open.
Leaving the dead monster behind, Pemba walked deep into the cave. The place was littered with bones and skulls. He was afraid lest the monster had already killed the baby. But to his relief he found the baby safe.
He pawed off the ring and was back to being his human self again. He picked the ring up and put it in his pocket. Then gathered the baby in his arms and began walking out.
To his surprise, he knew which way to take. He felt a surge of a mysterious power run though his body. It seemed that along with the ring, the monk had passed him
much more.
He was soon at the entrance of the cave again. And an even bigger surprise waited for him. There was no one lying on the ground. He looked around for the monk so that he could thank him. But the old man was nowhere to be seen. Then he saw fresh leopard footprints lead away deeper into the mountains, far from the village.
And then everything made sense. He smiled as he recalled the monk’s last words “I must retire!”
Pemba made his way back to the village through the mountain trail shrouded in mist with the little baby snuggled close to his chest and the magical ring in his pocket.- Roshan Thapaliya
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