Chapter 33
Te-in’s Lords and their angels departed out of Che-su-gow, Te-in’s heavenly place, and descended to the earth on their mission; and the following is what came of it:
Kan Kwan was the son of Kwan Ho, a flat-head; but because Kan Kwan’s parents became converts to the Brahmin priests, Kan did not have his head flattened. But because su’is and sar’gis had been in their family for many generations they descended to Kwan all the same. And he could see and hear the angels and their Lords; hear all the words spoken to him, a most excellent thing in a king, when drujas are restrained from observing him.
The Lords guarded Kan Kwan on every side, day and night, and Kwan being stupid, because of the flat heads of his parents, was well suited to carry out all that was commanded of him. So he announced himself at once with all his titles, and sent heralds here and there to proclaim him and let all peoples and kings know that he was coming to subdue them to himself.
Kwan issued this decree: Kan Kwan, king of the world, and of the sun, moon and stars, I command! I, son of the sun, son of Te-in, behold! There is only one ruler in heaven, Te-in! There shall be only one on earth, Kan Kwan. Bow your heads down! I come! Choose to bow down, or to die. One or the other shall be. When the world is subdued to me, I will war no more!
In those days there were many great kings in Jaffeth, and their kingdoms were in many places, and far apart. Between them, in a sparse region, in the Valley of Lun, lay the city of Ow Tswe, and this was Kan Kwan’s small kingdom, which had been known for a thousand years.
When other kings heard of Kwan’s proclamation they laughed. And this is the vanity of mortals, for they disregard the power of the Gods over them.
So Kwan started with an army of four thousand soldiers, men and women, with spears, axes, scythes, swords, slings, and bows and arrows; and he marched against Tzeyot, a city of a hundred thousand people; and here king Cha Ung Chin ruled, with twenty thousand soldiers. Cha Ung Chin laughed. He said to his captain: Send a thousand women soldiers to kill Kwan and his army; they are mad, and do not know what war is.
The captain went forth to battle, but in addition to the thousand women soldiers he took a thousand men soldiers. But lo and behold, Kwan and his soldiers knew no drill, but ran forward so strangely that their enemies did not know how to fight them, and they fled in fear, except the captain and a hundred women who were instantly put to death. But not one of Kwan’s army was killed.
Cha Ung Chin was angry, and he sent ten thousand soldiers against Kwan’s ragged army; and when the battle began, the angels cast clouds before the hosts of Cha Ung Chin, and they thought they saw hundreds of thousands of soldiers coming upon them, and they turned and fled also, except five hundred men and women, who were captured and instantly slain.
Cha Ung Chin said: It is time I go myself. My laziness has cost me dearly. Tomorrow I will lead thirty thousand pressed men and women, and make it a day of sport to slaughter Kwan’s army. So the king sent his marshals to select and summon his soldiers during the night. Many were too frightened to sleep; and those who slept had such visions and dreams that when they awoke they were as persons nearly dead.
Next morning, Cha Ung Chin sallied forth out of the city to battle, going before his army. When he saw the pitiful army of Kwan, he said: In truth, the world is going mad! That such fools have courage is because they do not know what a battle is. With that he rushed forward, faster and faster, calling to his soldiers. But they stretched out in a line behind him, for they trembled from head to foot, remembering their dreams.
Presently Kwan and his army started for them, not with orderly commands, but screaming and howling. Cha Ung Chin’s soldiers took panic, broke ranks and fled in all directions, except one thousand, including King Cha Ung Chin, who were captured and instantly slain.
And on the same day Kan Kwan took possession of the city, Tzeyot, commanding obedience and allegiance from the people. And on the following day he put twenty thousand men to work building a temple to Te-in, pulling down other edifices for their material. Nor did Kwan have a learned man in all his army; but the Lords with him showed him how to build the temple, east and west, and north and south, and how to make the archways and the pillars to support the roof; and the sacred chambers and altars of sacrifice. Out of brick, mortar and wood he built it, and when it was completed it was large enough for twelve thousand people to do sacrifice in. And it took forty days to build.
Besides this, Kwan put another ten thousand men and women to work clearing away houses and walls, and making new streets in many directions; so that at the time of the first sacrifice the city of Tzeyot did not look like itself; and Kwan gave it a new name, Lu An, and commanded all people to call it by that name, or suffer death.
Kan Kwan made the people go and do sacrifice to Te-in in the temple every morning; enforced a day of rest for each quarter of the moon; enforced worship on the part of children to their fathers and mothers, the father taking first rank.
Then Kwan made them pray for those who were slain in battle. And these are the words he commanded them to use: Te-in! Father of Life and Death! Who feeds on suns and stars! Whose refuse is mortals. In your praise I bow my head. For your glory I lie on my belly before your altar. I am the filthiest of things; my breath and my flesh and my blood are rotten. Death would be sweet to me if you or your soldiers would slay me. For my soul would come to you to be your slave forever.
Behold, my brothers and sisters who fought against you are dead, and I glorify you because of that. We have buried their rotten carcasses deep in the ground; good enough for them.
But their spirits are howling about, lost and wild on the battlefield. O Te-in, Father, send your spirits from Che-su-gow, your heavenly place, to them, to help them out of darkness. And we will always praise you, our mightiest, all highest ruler! ||
When they made the sacrifice they laid down on their bellies, while certain ones prompted them with the words that Kwan received from the Lords.
After this, Kwan appointed to them a governor, Ding Jow, who was the first governor of a province in Jaffeth, in the order of governors as they exist to this day [1882]. Which is to say: As a Lord is to a God, so is a governor to a king. And this was the first of that order established by the Gods of hada. Prior to this, Jehovih had given a similar government to the Faithists; even as it had been given in its purity to the pure, so now it was given in its crudity to the crude.
Jehovih had said: Independent kingdoms shall not exist side by side; nor shall one be tributary to another; but there shall be one whole, and the lesser shall be parts of it, not over nor under them, but as helpmates. The wicked will not see this now; but their own wickedness will bring it about in time to come. And it was so. ||