Meanwhile, Almambet told others how to make full use of the dead wild duck and the big-head sheep. According to him, anyone clad in the garment made of the wild duck’s plume would be considered to be Konurbai by mistake as the people living in Beijing if he shook the garment for three times. The people in the capital would salute him by means of standing still with hands dropped down. They could also peel off the sheep skin so as to use it to make an overcoat which should be the same as the cloak of the prince’s father, Sooronduk Khan. Similarly, the counterfeit overcoat could also be utilized to deceive the enemies into relinquishing the control over the troops. “We can make best of their mystical power to defeat the enemies’ attack. Afterwards, we should try our best to catch a white fox which can be exchanged for beautiful girls. The white fox is also quite nimble in action. If we are spotted by it beforehand, all that has been achieved by us will be spoiled at once. As a result, we should keep a close eye on it and be cautious in recognizing it no matter what it might be turned into,” Almambet emphasized.
More than forty warriors kicked off their next section of expedition after eating their fill. They rode on horseback in high spirits. They urged each other to keep cautious in pursuing after the fox. They needed to get closer to the area near the fox den quietly so as not to be spotted by the fox. Though the
Legend of Manas
task was painstaking and dangerous, all of the warriors were delighted and had confidence in performing their duty successfully.
Almambet signed to stop other warriors from pressing forward. Instead, he divided all of them into different groups which guarded the ten valleys respectively. As far as the Khitan prince was concerned, the mystical fox would own a total of seven mutants. Thus, he advised the other warriors to keep in mind the would-be mutants of the mystical beast. While walking side by side with Manas, Almambet said to him: “We are sworn brothers keeping no secrets from each other. Chubak is an unparalled hero. But, to be quite honest, he usually does not obey my orders. If the fox cannot be eliminated by us this time, all our previous efforts will be wasted. That white fox is very clever and able to discern the body odors of us. Anyway, I want to look into the fox hideout by myself first of all. I shall strive to kill that beast. If necessary, you’d arrange some people to come to my aid.” After saying so, he rode away at once.
Almambet well knew the sly animal. So he decided to fulfill his goal by strategy rather than by forceful attack. It occurred to him that Esen Khan once figured out an efficient way to beat down the arrogance of his enemies. The way was quite ingenious: He put bronze bells under dunes in order to judge if the enemies come or not. Once the enemies trod the bells underfoot, the sounds could be heard by the people who were as far as six-day ride away. “Let me crank out a trick and give a misconception to the sly fox. I ought to enable it to believe by mistake that Muradil and his companions are to make an inspection,” the Khitan prince thought. Having made up his mind, the prince took out an iron rod from under his saddle. He used the iron rod to pound the bells buried under the sand with great force. With a deafening sound, the mountains seemed to tremble all of a sudden. Subsequetly, a few timid soldiers felt as if the field had already cracked. “Before reaching Beijing, we would likely have to bid farewell to our family members,” they reproached Almambet in an angry tone. In addition, they kept cursing and swearing in secret merely because they considered the Khitan prince as a scorpion. To his surprise, the iorn rod flew away as Almambet raised it once again. The prince was extremely flabbergasted at what had happened before his eyes. The whole stuff seemed to be unknown to him entirely. “Only after snaring the sly fox might I get a comprehensive understanding of that,” he thought.
Manas Goes on an Expedition to Save Compatriots from Adversity
57
The mystical fox hid itself inside a cave. Almost at the same time, he found the fog concealing the entrance of the cave had vanished completely. The sly beast was on to the theurgy of the prince in a flash. In his judgment, it was the Khitan prince who sure had already set off in pursuit. The fox was not only very familiar with but also extremely afraid of the theurgy of Almambet. The beast had smelled the odor of gunpowder but could not know where it came from. As a result, it set off on its retreating way in a flurry, only to be stopped in its tracks by a trail of strange foot prints. It occurred to it that the hooves of the Khitan prince’s mystical horse must have left such deep indentations in the mud. The cunning animal came to realize that its life was at stake for the first time in its life.
As soon as he found the running fox, Almambet spared no pains in setting off in pursuit right away. To his surprise, the white fox ran into the ring of encirclement organized by Chubak and his subordinates. Waving his spear, Chubak rode horseback and pursued after the cunning animal. The valiant warrior usually thrust his spear at the fox directly. But he missed the target every time. In order to kill the wicked beast at once, he opted to thrust his spear into the chest side of the fox. However, his new strenuous effort fell flat once again. His spear was thrust into the sand deeply. Acutually, the fox had run away before the point of his spear could touch the hair of the animal.
