Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti Read online

  Bhutanese

  Tales of the Yeti

  Kunzang Choden

  For Mila

  Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti

  Copyright © Kunzang Choden, 1997

  First Published 1997

  by White Lotus Co., Ltd.

  Smashwords Edition

  eBook Edition published by

  DCO Books

  Proglen Trading Co., Ltd.

  Bangkok Thailand

  http://ebooks.dco.co.th

  Illustrations by Kunzang Dorji and Karma Wangda

  ISBN 978-616-7817-24-8

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and other elements of the story are either the product of the author's imagination or else are used only fictitiously. Any resemblance to real characters, living or dead, or to real incidents, is entirely coincidental.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Acknowledgment

  Part 1

  Laya

  The Layaps

  The Greedy Herder

  Goelak, the Place Where the Migoi was Defeated

  Part 2

  Bumthang

  Yaks and Yak Herders

  Mimi Khandola’s Story

  The Migoi’s Sense of Smell

  The Migoi Does Not Bend

  The Talisman

  The Mule Tail Robbers

  The Skin of the Tiger

  Boots for the Migoi

  The Unintentional Trap

  The Ultimate Divine Test

  Part 3

  Kurtoi

  Kurtoi

  The Final Grip

  In the Tracks of the Migoi

  The Heroes

  The Migoi and the Tiger

  Not Even a Corpse to Cremate

  The Mirgola’s Spirit Bag

  Not Everybody Sees the Migoi

  Part 4

  Merak and Sakteng

  Brokpa Beliefs about the Yeti

  The Brokpa Who Forgot

  The Novice

  The Mirgoe’s Bride

  The Mirgoe Who Fell Asleep

  The Author

  Introduction

  International curiosity, excitement and the consequent debate over the existence of the abominable snowman have been sporadic. Whenever there is new evidence about the existence of the yeti, in the form of footprints or an alleged scalp or supposed yeti droppings, excitement peaks but quickly dies down. Societies that depend solely upon the media for information and knowledge are often confined. The world’s interest in the abominable snowman rises and falls with the whims of the media. For most people from the Himalayas, belief in the existence of the yeti and attitudes related to it are beyond scientific judgment or analysis. We operate at the level of the primordial stirrings deep in the very core of our beings that provoke us to question ourselves every time we deny the yeti’s existence. The belief in the existence of the elusive creature is so widespread that it is known by different names in different regions of the Himalayas; to the Tibetans it is Gangs mi (Glacier man), Mi shom po (Strong man) and Mi chen po (Great man); to the Sherpas it is Yeti; the Lepchas call it Chu mung (snow goblin) or Hlo mung (mountain goblin); it is Nyalmu or Ban Manche to the Nepalese and in Bhutan we call it Migoi (Strong man) or Gredpo. The migoi is an essential part of the backdrop of our existence in the Himalayas. So real and so ancient is the migoi that in some pre-Buddhist Bon rituals the archaic texts call for the blood of a migoi that has been killed by a sharp weapon.1 The migoi exists for all time, whether we acknowledge it or not. Our first encounter with it cannot be dated, for there was no first encounter, since the migoi has been around for as long as we have, and surely much, much longer.

  1 Rene De Nebesky-Wojkowitz, 1993 (reprint), Oracles and Demons of Tibet. Tiwari’s Pilgrims, Kathmandu.

  The first introduction of the yeti to the world at large is a very recent event. It was perhaps when a British traveler, William Hugh Knight, a member of the Royal Societies Club, recorded a yeti sighting in 1903 while returning to India from Tibet. Later, in 1925, the Greek zoologist N.A. Tombazi gave a description of the creature.2 The first photographs of the yeti were taken in 1936 by F. S. Smyth, while crossing a 5,029 meter high pass in the central Himalayas.3 Credit must be given to Eric Shipton, who took photographs of the yeti on the Menlungtse Glacier in October 1951 and thereby gave a modern representation to the snowman myth.The first Westerner who claimed to have seen the abominable snowman in Bhutan was Slavomir Rawicz, a Pole who escaped from a Siberian prisoner of war camp, together with six others, and crossed the Himalayas to freedom in India. Rawicz, in his bestselling book The Long Walk, claimed that during their escape in 1942, he and his companions saw two eight-foot tall creatures somewhere between Bhutan and Sikkim.4 And of course, on a different scale altogether, the Belgian cartoonist Herge should be acknowledged for his introduction and global popularization of the yeti with the publication of Tintin in Tibet! To the non-Himalayan mind the existence of the yeti hangs precariously; it has been reduced to the status of a mythological being, an effect of high altitude hallucinations and even a tourist bait! But after several attempts to find it dead or alive failed, and Sir Edmund Hillary wrote an Epitaph to the Abominable Snowman, as recently as 1986 the world renowned Italian climber Reinhold Messner reported seeing the yeti while walking through the forests to the north-east of Everest.

  2 Hutchison, Robert A., 1989, In The Tracks of The Yeti. Macdonald and Co Ltd., London and Sydney.

  3 Lall, Kesar, 1988, Lore and Legends of The Yeti. Tiwari’s Pilgrims, Kathmandu.

  4 Furguson, Daniel and Angus Hall, 1989. Great Mysteries, Mysterious Monsters, Bloomsbury, London.

  It’s unfortunate that the modern world must always have tangible and empirical evidence. As a result of this it misses the opportunity to share much of the folklore and mystery that are as old as the Himalayas. Today, we are caught at the crossroads of traditionalism and modernity; we must not sacrifice our fields of experience for fear of exposing ourselves as backward under the scrutiny of the modernists’ glare.

  Most Bhutanese believe there are two types of biped creatures that live in the high mountains. Both beings are the subject of awe and mystery and encounters with them have reinforced beliefs and stories related to them. The mechume or mirgola is said to be an apelike creature that lives in the dense forests of larch, spruce, bamboo and rhododendron, at altitudes of 2,500 meters and above. They are bipeds of about a meter in height and have long arms. They are usually reported to be brownish-red in color and have hairless, almost human faces, with a fringe which covers most of the forehead. Most sightings of these creatures are reported by cattle herders who are forced to venture into the depths of the forests in search of missing cattle. The rare encounters result in both the human and the mirgola being extremely shocked and the latter consequently disappears into thin air or the dark depths of the forests. On occasions they have been known to grin menacingly and make strange noises; they are said to indulge in mimicry. This aspect of their character has given rise to many tales and legends. It is generally agreed that encountering them is a bad omen, which leads to misfortune and even death in some cases.

  Now it is believed that the migoi or gredpo, better known as the abominable snowman, or yeti, inhabits the high altitudes ranging probably between 3,500 to well over 5,000 meters, the same areas as yak pastures. It is, therefore, quite natural that most encounters with the elusive migoi are usually by yak herders, hunters and people who frequent these environments. These unexpected confrontations often take place during unusually bad snow storms when the migoi are forced to wander around at lower altitudes looking for food and shelter. The migoi is known by all accounts
to be a very large biped; sometimes as big as “one-and-a-half yaks” or occasionally even as “big as two yaks!” It is covered in hair that ranges in color from reddish-brown to gray-black. Its limbs are ape-like and its face is generally hairless. The female has large breasts that sag. They are usually encountered alone or as couples but rarely in groups. We are told that they communicate with each other by whistling and they exude an exceedingly foul odor, akin to shing-kuen or Asafoetida (a somewhat smelly brown resin used in Indian cooking for its digestive properties and very distinct flavor), that heralds their approach. It is said to have a hollow back, and as little children we were often threatened that if we were naughty we would be carried off in the hollow of the migoi’s back. In some parts of Bhutan it is believed that the migoi carries a special bag, known as sem phatsa, or the “spirit bag.” According to the legends, once the spirit bag is stolen from the migoi it becomes a helpless bonded slave to the person who possesses it. Without its spirit bag, it becomes spiritless. The migoi’s sole existence then is to try and retrieve the spirit bag. Others believe that the migoi has a special charm called a dipshing, which it conceals under its right arm, and it is this charm that endows the creature with the power to become invisible or visible at will. When we were very young we used to be completely fascinated by the concept of dipshing and spent hours on end imagining all the wonderful adventures that we could have if we had access to such a charm. This naturally heightened our enchantment with the migoi, the possessor of the dipshing.

  Village elders often said that it was possible for us to lay our hands on the dipshing. This is what we were supposed to do. First of all we had to locate a magpie’s nest—these birds build their nests on the upper branches of tall spruce trees. It is extremely difficult to find them; however, once located, the nest has to be observed closely, without being touched or even breathed upon. This is because a bird will not lay its eggs in a nest which has been polluted by the presence of humans. We would then have to stealthily obtain an egg from the nest during the period when the bird keeps the eggs warm in order to hatch them. Following this, the stolen egg would have to be hardboiled before being returned to its nest. All the eggs will hatch in due course, except, of course, for the boiled one. The mother magpie will continue to sit on this solitary egg for several days more, and when nothing transpires despite this she will venture forth in search of the dipshing. Presumably, one of the places where she finds this fantastic charm is under the right arm of the migoi. The dipshing, we are told, is an ordinary looking twig, just like any other twig with which a bird’s nest is built. Once the hard-boiled egg finally hatches, due to the magical powers of the dipshing, and after the last chick has flown, we would have to collect the nest and its entire contents, ensuring that not a single twig is lost. Our next task would be to go to the mill, driven by water and flowing at a tremendous velocity down a slanted wooden trough suspended at an angle of about fifty degrees. One by one each twig would have to be immersed in the trough of flowing water. The dipshing would be the only one to flow against the force of the current. Now the dipshing and all its magical powers was ours. I do not really know why we never tried to obtain a dipshing, although I must confess that in spite of the magpie being a common bird in Bhutan, I have yet to find its nest.

  We were also told that it was possible to see a migoi at will if we could empower our eyes with the tears of an owl. However, we were warned that the owl sheds tears only once in a lifetime just a few days before its death and nothing else will induce it to do this. We simply accepted the fact that most of us would never get the chance to find such rare and precious tears and had to be content with just knowing that the migoi exists.

  Unlike other wild creatures the migoi is apparently not afraid of fire, in fact it is often attracted to it and approaches it seeking warmth. From the stories we hear we know that the migoi live in caves and make nests to keep themselves and their young warm. They are believed to be herbivores, although they are known to kill both humans and animals when provoked or perhaps out of fear and extreme hunger. Apparently the migoi manifests a peculiar eating habit in that it grasps its food in its hands and eats only what protrudes on either side of its fists; the food in its fists is then discarded. People say that there is a wild shallot that the yeti is particularly fond of eating. One can tell that a migoi has been in the vicinity when one finds fistfuls of cast away shallots that have been eaten from both ends.

  The migoi seem to be extremely curious about human beings and perhaps it is this curiosity that often makes them vulnerable to human tricks and treachery, sometimes costing them their lives. Migoi stories can be heard all over Bhutan. Most of the descriptions are almost standard and some tales appear to be different versions of a particular story. Certain regions, however, represent very distinct behavioral norms and attitudes surrounding them, e.g., stories typical of Merak and Sakteng in eastern Bhutan.

  In his book In The Tracks of the Yeti Robert Hutchison lists the following five reasons which may have caused all yeti expeditions to fail:

  1. The expeditions were too large and opulent;

  2. They were inappropriately equipped;

  3. They had a poor understanding of the animal and its psychology;

  4. They were not static enough;

  5. Their members were inadequately prepared for the physical

  hardships.

  I agree that all the reasons stated above are valid and real but take the liberty of adding one more reason, which I think is extremely crucial.

  The expeditions were aimed at getting hard core evidence to prove its existence. Most migoi-human encounters are purely chance encounters; they happen when least expected. These confrontations, far from being deliberate, are predetermined by a persons basic human qualities which in turn are influenced by each individual’s astrological forces; a person’s wang thang (field of presence) and lungta (field of wind that represents surges of energy). The migoi has powers beyond our comprehension; the Bhutanese respect that and therefore regard it as a lhaende, a being possessing all the supernatural and phantasmagoric attributes of gods and demons.

  The stories in this collection are actually about human beings, with only fleeting appearances of the migoi in the lives of these people. I have attempted to record some of the migoi stories from a large body of legends and tales within the Bhutanese oral tradition of folklore. These stories have, no doubt, suffered deletions and additions with each generation, as is natural with all oral traditions. But I am sure that the core stories have been passed down unaltered. The stories were narrated to me by various people who had heard them from the village “elders” or in some cases they actually met and heard the stories from the people who had the encounters. I have taken the liberty of fictionalizing the stories but have tried to keep as close as possible to not only the particular geographical regions and cultural contexts but also the psychological realities of the people at all times.

  It will be apparent that in some stories the migoi will appear as a curious and often clumsy giant, overwhelmed by humans and their inventions; this is, no doubt, because the stories are narrated by humans themselves. Although the supernatural is an accepted phenomenon in Bhutan, even the Bhutanese mind is not entirely freed from the universal human tendency to rationalize and control situations. The stories that bring the supernatural giant to the level of the ordinary are probably subconscious attempts to stifle the inexplicable and negate the overall confusion arising from encounters with this extraordinary being. Some Bhutanese elders explain that just as our encounters with the migoi are influenced by our wangthang-lungta, so also the migoi encounters and interacts with humans, in a physical and tangible form, when its supernatural powers and physical strength are on the decline. This may then explain why some of the migoi described in this collection of stories are sick or injured, thereby dying like ordinary creatures at the hands of ordinary humans.

  Acknowledgment

  I consider my self fortunate in being able to s
hare some stories which are direct accounts of personal experiences. Mimi Khandola himself told me his story just weeks before he died. Pringmo who still herds her cattle, traveling back and forth between Bumthang and Kurtoi told me the story of the Migoi and the Tiger. For the others, I am especially grateful to the following people for so generously sharing their stories with me: Sonam Wangmo who has the ability to give you goose bumps when she tells the stories of the mirgoe in her homeland, Sakteng; Uncle K.T. from Kurtoi, whose genuine enjoyment of the human-migoi encounters is highly contagious; my first teacher and friend, the late Lobpon Goempo Rinchen from Tang, Bumthang, who not only taught me the Bhutanese letters but also nurtured in me a basic appreciation for Bhutanese stories and legends. (Lobpon’s ability to set a stage for a story along with the sound effects was so compelling that he would, in my opinion, have belonged to that special group of, “true oral traditionalists”’ so rare in today’s world, obsessed with hi-tech entertainment); Dasho Gyalstenla, a scholar of great learning and knowledge who accords a valid place for migoi in his vast reservoir of legends and stories. Dr. Pema Gyamstho, who while doing research for his Ph.D. thesis in the yak pastures of Laya and Lingshi could not escape the lure of the migoi of the region. Finally I am grateful to Zhilha, a weaver from Kurtoi who combines the arts of fabric weaving and story telling to the sheer delight of both the story enthuiast and the fabric devotee. It seems that his skilful fingers fly in and out of the warp creating intricate patterns to the rhythm of his quiet and modulated voice, truly a celebration of the oral tadition. I salute them all and all the others who take time to listen and tell stories of the migoi for they are perpetuating a vital oral tradition, in this case, Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti, which is surely in danger of disappearing.