A Mongol’s Story
Gigi Seaver, Group 2: Fiction, French International School
e are marching to get to the Great City in China. I am a Mongol’s warhorse and my rider is
Zanabazar, a great Mongol warrior. As we walk, I listen to the beat of our hooves and feet on the
rocky ground. Clip, clop, march! Clip, clop, march! We are following our brave leader to go to the
Great City in China in search of food. We started our trip from our small camp, already far from
Mongolia and close to China. We have been in war with many people for a long time, as long as I
can remember, and now we need food for the winter that will come to Mongolia. We hope to
return to Mongolia soon and I am worried that we will not have enough food for our cold winter. It can get as
cold as minus 55 degrees and the wind can roar louder than a great Mongolian tiger. We are travelling to China
because it is the closest and richest destination to us, and we know that the Chinese people have food.
W
We travel for many hours, and soon we see in the distance a great wall. We stop and stare in shock and
anger. We are in shock because we did not know such a wall existed. The wall is as big as a giant and as long as
a river. We also stare in anger because this giant wall will keep us from getting to the Great City of China. Now,
we cannot get the food we need for the fierce winter to come, and we will probably die. I am a great war horse
who has helped my rider defeat many enemies but never an enemy like this!
We march closer to the giant wall and begin to see other things – guards with weapons standing on top of
the wall. After a minute, we stop, and our leader rides to the front of our group and shouts, ‘’we will fight them
with our arrows and spears. Use your horses to get over the wall! ATTACK!’’ Then we run as fast as we can
toward the great wall. Suddenly, arrows and spears come flying at us! WOOSH, WOOSH, THWAPP! They
keep flying at us like eagles diving to catch rabbits and do not stop! I look around and see many of our riders
and our horses are lying wounded or dead. We try to climb the wall but it is too high and we have no chance.
My master falls off of me, to the ground, and I see he has been hit by a spear. I cry out as I watch him die. Our
leader yells for us to run back ad we hurry back toward our camp.
Back at camp, we cry for the dead and for our defeat. I cry for Zanabazar. Our leader does not seem to
know what to do. We need food but we have been defeated. “Oh,’’ I think to myself, ‘’perhaps we can make a
trade with the Chinese!’’ I think and think. ‘’But what do we have to trade?’’ At last I have an idea that might
work. Mongol horses are the best horses in the world. Maybe the Chinese will trade us food for horses. That
night I sneak out of the camp and go back to the Great Wall. I try to communicate with the Chinese guards, but
they have no idea what I am talking about because I am speaking in horse. Finally, they bring an old woman to
the wall. She is bent over and tired-looking. She is very old. She looks down at me with nice, understanding
eyes. I whine and stamp my hooves and she nods her head very slowly. She tells the guards what I am saying
and then they rush to tell the Emperor. That night I wait patiently next to the wall. I have dreams of my rider and
me together. I miss him.
The next morning one of the gates opens and three large carts of food are led out by the old woman and five
guards. The food smells wonderful, like sugar and spices, and it is very colourful with meats and fruits. The old
woman tells me to go get three more horses and bring them back to the wall by night and then the trade can be
made. I hurry back to the camp and I go to see our great leader. Like all wise Mongol warriors, he can
communicate with me. I tell him what has happened, and after some time, he tells me to pick three of the best
horses from our camp and six of our warriors to bring back the carts of food. We leave right away and go back
to the Great Wall. Soon we arrive at the Wall and are led in through a gate into the Great City. I look around in
amazement. I have never seen such a beautiful place in my life. Its buildings are magnificent and painted in gold!
The people stare at us. As the Mongol warriors begin to leave with the carts of food, I realize my new life has
just begun on the other side of this Great Wall.
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