259852

Story 167: Marrying Princess Wencheng

Marrying Princess Wencheng

Author: Anonymous

Usually only the Princess Wencheng segment is performed. This is a historical drama about how King Songtsen Gampo, after taking control of the Tubo regime, sent his minister Gal Dongzan to the Tang Dynasty to propose marriage. Emperor Taizong of Tang set five difficult questions to test the envoys from various countries who came to propose marriage. Whoever could outsmart them would marry the king of that country.

The first task was to thread a nine-bend jade bead with a silk thread. Envoys from other countries could not thread it through, so Galdongzan tied an ant’s waist with a silk thread, placed it at the hole of the bead, and blew air slowly to let it crawl through, and the thread was threaded through.

The second competition was to have the envoys of each country take 100 sheep and 100 jars of wine. They had to kill the sheep, skin them, eat all the meat, rub the skin, and drink the wine. Some of the other envoys got drunk before they finished eating the meat, and some got tired before they rubbed the skin. Only Galdongzan ordered his followers to drink wine slowly in small bowls, eat, drink, and rub the skin, and finally complete the “task” assigned by the emperor.

The third time, the Emperor ordered the envoys to identify the mother-child relationship of 100 mares and 100 foals. Galdongzan locked the foals alone for one night, only giving them foals but no water. The next day, he released them to the mares, and the foals all recognized their mothers and went to suckle. In this way, the Tubo envoys won again.

The Emperor of Tang also ordered the envoy to bring out one hundred wooden sticks with the same thickness at the head and tail, and asked them to identify the head and the tip. Gal Dongzan pushed the wooden sticks into the water, and found that the head was heavy and the tail was light, so the heavy ones sank and the light ones floated on the surface, and he could identify them clearly.

Finally, Emperor Taizong of Tang mixed Princess Wencheng among 300 beauties dressed exactly the same and ordered the envoys to identify her. The one who recognized her could go with her.

Gal Dongzan first asked the old lady who had served Princess Wencheng about her appearance and features, and learned that the princess had a cinnabar red mole between her eyebrows. The Tibetan ministers followed the instructions of the Han old lady and finally recognized the princess.

Therefore, Emperor Taizong of Tang married the princess to Songtsen Gampo and gave her many gifts and dowry for her to take to Tubo.