2. Once upon a time, in the faraway land
of China, there lived a powerful Dragon
King. This king had a beautiful daughter
that he hid away, deep in his castle, so
that she could not be tainted by society.
The king loved his daughter, and so he
wanted her to remain ignorant, pure.
3. But the daughter grew lonelier and lonelier
with every day. And the King did not like
this. It made him sad to see his daughter so
lonely.
4. The king could not let his daughter
leave the confines of the castle, for that
would risk making her impure. Just
when the king was about to give up
hope of making his daughter happy, he
found a solution.
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5. He went to his men and told them to go
across and into Mongolia and find a friend
for his daughter. The king gave his men
enough gold for ten horses, and sent his
men into Mongolia.
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6. The princess could not wait! And when
the day came that her father’s men
returned, she sat at her window, and
watched as they brought with them a
sad young girl.
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7. “Hello!” squealed the young princess in
excitement.
“Сайн байна уу,” said the girl. “It is how
we say ‘hello’ where I come from.”
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8. This delighted the princess, for she had
never before heard such a strange word.
Suddenly, the princess grew worried
because her new friend did not look happy.
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9. “What’s wrong?” asked the princess. “Why
don’t you smile? Why do you look so sad?”
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10. The little girl looked up and sighed.
“Here, I am not allowed to do anything. I
was told on my way here that I will spend
all of my time sitting in the castle and
talking to you. I am not allowed to learn,
and I am not allowed to play.”
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11. The princess laughed. “Why would you
want to do those things?” she asked. “Those
are activities of boys and men! Girls are
supposed to be sweet and pure, graceful and
innocent. Besides,” said the princess as she
lifted her feet, “how could I possibly play
with my feet so small?”
12. The little Mongolian girl screamed, for she had
never seen anything so scary. The princesses feet
were the size of a baby’s!
“What have they done to you?” she asked in
shock. “This is not how it is in Mongolia! There
women have a voice. The men look to us for
wisdom, and they would never ask us to give up
our feet of give up our freedom.”
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13. This was very new to the princess, the idea
that, somewhere, men actually listened to
women and went to them for advice.
14. “Here,” continued the little Mongolian girl,
“women are nothing more than wall
flowers. They sit and look beautiful. It
makes me sad to think that this is how I will
have to live.”
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15. “Strength is prized in Mongolia, along with
beauty. A woman should be able to show
some independence from her father to show
her strength.”
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16. The Chinese princess
considered this and wished
that she had been born in a
land where she could have
influence, could learn.
But at that very moment, her
father walked in, and all of
that was forgotten. She had to
look beautiful and pure for
him, for that was the only way
she could make him proud.
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