The Great Khan

The Great Khan

Sitting at the darkened, polished wood, square table, my sister and I sit across from each other. Ancient sounds play as the lights in the room are dimmed. We are alike in many ways both being raven haired and green eyed beauties. Tonight we dressed alike in sheer silken robes.

Looking down at the table, I see elaborate rows of chopsticks. The light that hangs over the table reflects into my eyes. I blink my eyes as I touch the chopsticks. Looking up, I gaze into my sister's eyes; she sparkles at me from across the table. We are suddenly in the court of the Great Khan; our ancient memories have come alive. Tonight we will bow, sing, dance, and perform the time aged ceremony.

In the 12^th Century, the leader of the Mongol's was the Great Khan; he was notorious for his love of beautiful women; in his castle, for he had over one hundred concubines. Two young and beautiful Mongol girls were destined to be with the Great Khan. Their family brought them to the Great Khan's court to entertain the great ruler. The two raven haired, green eyed beauties loved to play with chopsticks; wooden, golden, sparkling, and porcelain, sticks of all kinds. They balanced the sticks on their heads, noses, and ears; twirling them here and flipping them there.

However, their greatest trick was to fly them across the room - they laughed and giggled as they twirled the sticks and themselves.

They created music by pounding rhythms on the tables, lamps, and dishes, as the words of an even more ancient song flowed from their lips. Their garments were thin and sheer robes, showing grace, their agility, and frames of great beauty.

The sisters became the great leader's favorite concubines; they gave him many sons and daughters, indeed, they had truly impressed the Great Khan. They enjoyed living along side of the great Khan for the rest of their natural lives.

I picked up the chopsticks to begin creating the ancient song with rhythm created from our table, my sister was still across the table from me, as she too picked up her own chopsticks and began a similar dance of sound, and beat.

Our minds swirled to ancient times, becoming the Mongol sisters from the past. We stood, twirled, and spun into a dance; lifting, and swinging the sticks to each other across the expanse of the room with ease and perfect balance. Our sheer costumes swaying against our bodies, showed our great combined beauty, as we re-created the ancient scene. This was the memory from Mongols long ago, who danced and sang; while the chopsticks flew. It created a sight and sound like no other.

My sister's eyes shimmered at me; the rhythm and song were over, however, the gleam our eyes will forever stand as evidence of our twinness. We were once again in the dim light of the table, with our chopsticks of porcelain.

The crowd's applause sounded loudly as we sat once more at the special table, we bowed our heads at the table to each other. Though the memory had ended, the ceremony of the Spring Solstice was now complete, and perhaps next year when the spring comes, the memories will play again and the famous Mongol twins will again play with chopsticks and sing the ancient tunes

Eating with Chopsticks- Jeanne Paquin Page 2