The Legend of Dar-Mok Luu

Deep in the Himalayan mountains, in a small Nepalese village, lived a young boy named Li-Chen. His parents had perished in the plague that had swept through this remote village when he was just ten years old. An only child, he was left on his own, living on the streets with dozens of left-behind orphans as well as other various and assorted miscreants. During the day he would scavenge for leftover foodstuffs that could be found in garbage bins or in the alleyways. At other times he could be seen near the small marketplace, begging for whatever might be offered by a passing stranger. Many times he went without anything at all, for when the older boys would see that he had something with him they would bully him into giving it up, occasionally even beating him until he was unconscious.

One day, as he was begging at the marketplace, a kindly old man with a broad smile stopped and said to him:

"Little man, why are you so dirty? And just why are you begging? And just where are your parents?"

Li-Chen replied: "My parents are dead sir and I have no one to look out for me and here it is three years now that I have been on my own."

The man reached out his hand and said:

"Come. Come with me, little man, and I will care for you."

At first Li-Chen was hesitant as his time on the streets had taught him to trust no one. But the man had a gentleness about him and was quite persistent. Li-Chen reached out his hand and grabbed hold of the stranger and together they walked for about five miles, deep into the mountains, to a large yurt that was standing alone in isolation. As they entered the yurt, and to his surprise, there were many children present; young boys and girls, about a dozen in total, all lying on small cots neatly arranged in a circular pattern. The man called out:

"Everyone get up! We have a new house-guest. His name is Li-Chen. Won't you make him feel welcome?"

In response, all of the children rose from their cots and approached him. But something was wrong. Their eyes were dull, their faces sullen, as though they had no emotions to express. He wondered why. One by one they came, each giving him a brief hug, none saying a word, all faces remaining expressionless.

Suddenly, and without warning, the tone of the kind old man's voice changed. He yelled out to all:

"Tomorrow we go by bus into the city. There we will earn our keep, won't we little ones?"

Li-Chen was puzzled by this statement and wondered why the old man seemed angry now. What had changed?

The following day a large green bus pulled up to their dwelling and the man ordered everyone to hop on board. All were hungry as none had been permitted to eat breakfast first and a few of the smaller children had tears in their eyes. Li-Chen felt a nervousness in his stomach like he'd never felt before. True, his three years spent living on the streets had hardened him a great deal. He had faced cold nights, bullies, hunger and every sort of deprivation that one might imagine. But this was a different kind of anxiety. He began wishing he had never accepted the strange man's offer.

When the bus had reached it's destination Li-Chen looked out the window and could see that they had entered a large urban area. He had never seen the big city before, only heard about it via stories told on the streets of his village. All around were huge buildings that reached high into the sky. And people everywhere! He would never have imagined that there were so many people in the world. The man led them to an old, ugly building made of bricks that looked like it had been abandoned for some time. They entered through a rear door and were subsequently led to a large darkened room that had only a few lit candles to provide a measure of illumination. The light cast ghostly shadows on the walls, which only served to heighten the tension Li-Chen was feeling. It wasn't long before he came to understand what this was all about. Strange men appeared out of the shadows. One by one the children were taken to interior rooms; rooms with locking, insulated doors that muffled the plaintive wails that surely cried out from within. On that day Li-Chen vowed two things to himself:

- He would somehow get out of this situation
- He would take vengeance on all men who exploit children

After about a month of living this life Li-Chen finally saw an opportunity to escape. Once a week the old man would leave for an hour or so to buy food and supplies back in the village. He always left Ming in charge when he would go, the oldest and certainly the meanest of the bunch. No one dared get out of line when the old man was gone for they would be beaten, terribly. On this particular day Ming was suffering from an awful bellyache and had fallen asleep on his cot. Everyone knew he was sleeping as he always snored so loudly. Li-Chen whispered:

"Now is the time, little ones. We must make our escape, quickly!"

But all the others stared at him in disbelief. Where would they go? How would they live? What would they eat? As miserable as they all were they considered their present circumstances to be preferable to the unknown. All except one little girl. She placed her hand in Li-Chen's hand and gave him a look that said: "Let's go." Together they left the yurt and braved the cold, as they trekked ever deeper into the mountains.

Meanwhile, the old man had returned and found that two of his captives were missing! He beat Ming so badly that the young teen died from his wounds. All of the other children were terrified that they might be next. But the old man seemed to rue the loss of the boy, as well as the two who had escaped. Losing three meant loss of income and that prospect sent him into a deep depression. They would not re-enter the city for many days.

Li-Chen and the little girl, whose name was Leng, soon found themselves surrounded by a vast mountainous wilderness without a living thing in sight. Li-Chen knew that they had to find shelter soon or they would die from exposure. As day turned into night the bitter cold began to sink deep into their bones. But all around there was nothing but snow and mountains. With a full moon above and the night sky filled with a billion stars Li-chen and Leng now lay down upon the frozen ground, their eyes toward the heavens. Both knew what was to come, yet neither was afraid. The peace that would embrace them would be a welcome relief to the life that both had known. He took her hand in his and they closed their eyes and went to sleep; a sleep without dreams... or nightmares.

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Day two of the raids upon the Himalayan villages. Chaos widespread as people flee to useless shelters. The fire-breathing dragons seemed determined to unleash their rage upon all, except for the children. Not a single child had been harmed to date and most of the mothers had been spared. But the men living in the villages were being roasted, one at a time, with no relief in sight.

The old man who had lured the orphaned children from the local villages was the first to die on day one of the surprise attack. As he walked back to his yurt prison with three fresh recruits there suddenly appeared in the sky two fiery-colored dragons. The children immediately scattered, but he dropped to his knees, begging for mercy. No mercy was to be had and all that was left in the place where he knelt was frozen ash. The children who had been held as slaves to the man were now free to go, free to find new lives, new destinies. Soon the raids were over and before long rumors began to circulate throughout the nearby villages that vengeance had been executed upon those who had taken advantage of the poor and the weak, or who had knowingly turned their backs on them, or perhaps who had simply chosen to look the other way.

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The legend of the dragon king, named by the locals Dar-Mok Luu, along with his queenly escort Ling-ul Luu, is still told to the children living in remote villages scattered throughout the Himalayas. And to this very day, no child in any village can be found living on the streets, none have to beg for their bread and not a single child is mistreated or abused in any way.

The legend suggests that the dragon king and his queen may have been children themselves once...

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