The Center for Central Asian Literatures in Translation

THIS IS WHAT THEY SAY... 

A STORY ABOUT THE SILVER POLE OF THE STEPPE

I told you before about the golden pole of the polestar.  Now let me tell you about the silver pole.

In Dariganga, the silver ingots which herdsmen received from the Manchu khaan as payment were paid in rent.  Finally, these silver coins were used to buy hammers and anvils and so fine craftsmanship spread far and wide.

Fine work was carried out by artisans, the hammer and the anvil came together and the people who herded their livestock grew scarce.  The lord khaan brought together all styles and types of craftmanship.  His subjects and ministers came together, they gathered and traded, and once the anvil and the hammer had done their work, no pocket held as much as a single piece of silver.

An order was issued that all the money thus collected was to be brought together in the form of a silver pole, unequalled in this world. The lord khaan was just thinking about doing this, when one of his old greyhaired countrymen said:

"Lord khaan," he said, "please deign to listen to me.  You have a greedy ulterior motive in bringing all this money into your palace.  Is it not a great error to bring it all to one random place on the great steppe?"  And the khaan secretly tied up this great silver pole and did not even show it to heaven.

So this was not a regular silver pole.  It is said that the craftsmen's very finest work remained undamaged, running down the middle of the pole.

Thus we should know how we retained in our homeland the great inheritance of Dariganga craftsmanship, and how the lineage of famous artisans remained unbroken.