The Magnificent Seven Chapter 1

Some of you may recall that I have uploaded the first two chapters to this story before, but removed them because I realize that I had a problem continuing with the point-of-view that I initially used.  So, I took the story off to make the necessary changes and now it is ready to be viewed again.  Enjoy!

Update

For those of you who would like a brief synopsis on this story before diving into the readings or to help you decide if this story is worth your time investment, here is the synopsis taken from a post I've posted a while back.

Synopsis:

A rare female of her time, 22 year-old Lis Noog Xi returns to Laos in 1964 after completing college in Australia only to find her homeland in turmoil and war-torn. Shortly after her arrival and on the morning of Hmong New Year, her hometown of Nong Het is raided by Pathet Lao soldiers and she is taken a prisoner. After her miraculous escape and having no news of the whereabouts of her family members, she goes to live with her maternal aunt and uncle. But no Hmong village is safe against the infiltration of communist soldiers, so she and her aunt and uncle are forced to seek refuge in Sam Thong. It is there that Lis Noog Xi meets Edgar “Pop” Buell, head of the USAID Program in Laos. With her ability to read and write in English, Pop hires her to recruit, train, and heads a team of ethnic highlander nurses. She along with her fellow friends and comrades, Vaj Yuj Yeev, Hawj Yaj Mim, Thoj Suab Cua, Muas Ntsa Iab, Yaj Lwg Dej, and Xyooj Ntxhi Nag run Sam Thong Hospital to serve the needs of the people and the injured Hmong soldiers under Military Region II.

Their journey as nurses test their strength and significance as Hmong women in an era of ever changing fates, where their history is neglected in the context of a man’s world. They get tangle up in love affairs with some of General Vang Pao’s top ranked soldiers, pilots, and secret agents, discovering that to love someone during a time of war is bittersweet and a punishment from the heavens. Would Lis Noog Xi choose her youth sweet-heart on the communists’ side or a CIA-backed astute colonel instead?  Can a group of seven friends overcome the challenges befall upon them and change the lives of many individuals? ~The Magnificent Seven

Note: This story contains characters "loosely" based on real historical figures (dramatized for reading interest) so don't take the characters or events as true to their real life counterpart.  This story is categorized as a work of fiction. 

 

 

So, it was told that the folk legend unfolded like this…

Once upon a time, a young man named Nuj Txeeg was not only handsome and kind, but an equally talented qeej—bamboo reed pipe, player.  His fame and music stretched far and wide, all the way to the kingdom beyond the sky.  In that kingdom, there lived the youngest daughter of a king, but she had a disease—an enormous goiter.  And thus, she came to be infamously known as Ntxawm Mob Txia—the little goiter fairy.

Bored of her heavenly life, Ntxawm Mob Txia often peeked into Earth to observe the mortals’ lives.  One day, the heartfelt qeej music of Nuj Txeeg caught her attention and she instantly fell in love with the lad.

When the annual New Year’s celebration arrived, Ntxawm Mob Txia descended to Earth.  She singled Nuj Txeeg out at the local New Year’s festival, and would not pov pob—toss ball, with anyone else but the talented qeej player.  Her choice in tossing the ball only to Nuj Txeeg meant that she had given her heart to him, and have chosen him to be her groom. 

The young lad, however, didn’t regard Ntxawm Mob Txia in the same manner that she did him.  For one thing, her goiter appearance was not appealing and for another, Nuj Txeeg was already in love with another girl—the beautiful Nuj Saub Noog Xi.  Nuj Txeeg had courted Nuj Saub Noog Xi for a long time, and the two agreed to have their wedding after the New Year. 

Initially, Nuj Txeeg tossed ball with Ntxawm Mob Txia because he didn’t want to embarrass her for being the one to make the move of throwing him the ball.  But, her attachment to him had turned into an obsession.  Petrified by her stalking of him, Nuj Txeeg came to visit Nuj Saub Noog Xi on the second day of the New Year festival’s celebration.  He convinced Nuj Saub Noog Xi that if they truly love one another, then they should just get married immediately and need not wait until the celebration was over. 

And so that day, Ntxawm Mob Txia waited all day for Nuj Txeeg but he didn’t show up.  The villagers told her, “Ntxawm Mob Txia, you need not wait anymore for Nuj Txeeg.  Nuj Txeeg and Nuj Saub Noog Xi were flirting with one another earlier.  They are probably on their way to get married now, so don’t wait anymore.”     

Frustrated at not seeing Nuj Txeeg, Ntxawm Mob Txia returned to the heavens and descended down again on the third day of the celebration.  Again, she waited all day for Nuj Txeeg and yet, he didn’t show up.  The villagers said to her once more, “Ntxawm Mob Txia, you need not wait anymore.  Nuj Txeeg and Nuj Saub Noog Xi have gotten married the day prior, so he won’t come.  Don’t wait for him anymore.”

And so Ntxawm Mob Txia finally accepted that the news of Nuj Txeeg’s marriage was true when the last festival goer left the celebration ground, and yet, Nuj Txeeg was nowhere to be seen.  Ntxawm Mob Txia felt heartbroken and betrayed.  She then vowed to take revenge, and ascended to the sky once more.

A year passed and Nuj Txeeg forgot about Ntxawm Mob Txia.  He enjoyed a simple and happy life with his wife and child. 

One day while watching over the cows grazing on the grasses, a rain shower sprinkled upon Nuj Txeeg.  When the shower stopped, a little white dove descended from a silk thread from the sky and fell down in front of Nuj Txeeg.  When he picked the dove up, it was already dead. 

Pitying the poor bird, Nuj Txeeg decided to bury it on his farmland.  He captured two crickets to kill as cows and two grasshoppers to kill as pigs.  He then played the qeej, sending the spirit of the dove back to its ancestors.

When he returned home that afternoon, Nuj Txeeg revealed the day’s event to his wife.  He said that a rain shower appeared suddenly, and then a white dove died in front of him.  He was not going to do anything, but thought about it and felt sorry for the dove.  He gave the bird a proper funeral and burial.

Nuj Saub Noog Xi warned Nuj Txeeg to be quiet about the event, for if the qeej heard it—the qeej would break and if the drum heard it—the drum would be punctured with a hole. 

But it was too late; the smoke from the fire had eavesdropped on husband and wife’s conversation.  It then meandered its way out of the home and towards the sky where it gossiped to the king’s family.

Soon after, a pair of white butterflies fluttered down from the heavens to Earth.  They landed in front of Nuj Txeeg’s home, and turned into a pair of brothers.

“We heard that you have seen our youngest sister,” they said to him.  “Oh, please, brother, tell us where have you buried our beloved sister.”

Nuj Txeeg was about to open his mouth, but he looked to Nuj Saub Noog Xi—who flashed her eyes at him, signaling him not to reveal anything.

“I have met no one today,” he responded.

But the brothers were not satisfied, and they insisted that he tell them where he’d buried their sister.  In the end, Nuj Txeeg couldn’t hide it anymore and told the pair of brothers what he saw that day.

“I have seen and buried a white dove today in my farmland,” he finally revealed.  “But brothers, I have not seen your sister.”

“Take us to your farmland, and show us where you buried the dove,” they demanded.

So, Nuj Txeeg took the two brothers to his farmland, and pointed to the spot where he had buried the little white dove earlier. 

The brothers then called for their sister.  “Sister, your brothers are here.  Wake up and go home with us.  Mother and father are worried about you.”

After their call, the burial site suddenly began to shake and the dirt moved apart.  Nuj Txeeg stared at it disbelievingly, and instead of seeing a little white dove, a girl with a large goiter woke up from the dirt.  She was Ntxawm Mob Txia, the same girl he had met the year prior.

Her brother flew away first, and Ntxawm Mob Txia snatched Nuj Txeeg under her armpit—flying after her brothers.

Nuj Saub Noog Xi waited patiently at the front door for her husband’s return, keeping her eyes fixed on the dirt road she assumed that her husband would return on. 

When Ntxawm Mob Txia’s brothers flew near the backyard of Nuj Txeeg’s home, they cut a banana tree trunk and changed it into the body of Nuj Txeeg.  They then dropped the feigned Nuj Txeeg body in front of Nuj Saub Noog Xi’s eyes, and the gang flew to the land beyond the sky.

Nuj Saub Noog Xi ran over, and wept over the supposedly dead Nuj Txeeg.  She then offered Nuj Txeeg an honorable funeral and proper burial.

Up in the kingdom beyond the sky, Ntxawm Mob Txia was so joyous at her successful plan and that she was able to make Nuj Txeeg her husband that she slept late into the day.  Her mother came and scolded at her, forcing her to go bring water for Nuj Txeeg to wash his face. 

Ntxawm didn’t want to go, for she was afraid that while she was away, Nuj Txeeg would peek into the mortal world to look at his wife.  But Ntxawm’s mother wouldn’t accept her refusal, insisting that Nuj Txeeg was a new arrival and that he might be timid.  So, it was only proper that Ntxawm treated him with hospitality by bringing him water.  So before Ntxawm left, she warned Nuj Txeeg not to peek at Earth, and he agreed.

What she wasn’t aware of was that Nuj Txeeg had poked a hole into her bamboo pipe-water carrier, and while she took forever to fill up the bamboo pipe—Nuj Txeeg had peered into the mortal world.  He saw his beloved Nuj Saub Noog Xi carrying his child on her back, weeping everywhere for him.  Nuj Txeeg’s heart ached.

It took Ntxawm a long time to figure that the water pipe was not filling up because it had a hole.  She quickly grabbed a few leaves, and shoved them into the hole to block the flow of water.  She then returned home.

The next morning, Ntxawm didn’t want to get up again.  Yet, her mother forced her to get up, and to fetch water for Nuj Txeeg.  While she was gone and took forever to realize that the water pipe carrier once again had a hole, Nuj Txeeg took the time to look down on Earth.  He saw Nuj Saub Noog Xi carrying his child on her back, crying everywhere for him until her face became dirtied with tears.  His heart burned and ached even more.  He was determined to return to Nuj Saub Noog Xi’s embrace, and knew that the only way to do so was to fool Ntxawm Mob Txia so that he may escape.

On the third day, Nuj Txeeg asked Ntxawm to see if she wanted to listen to him play a song.  She gave him her approval.  So, Nuj Txeeg began to play his qeej into her ears, scorning Ntxawm with each verse and metaphor for kidnapping and snatching him from Nuj Saub Noog Xi’s arms.  But Ntxawm was dim-witted, and did not understand that she was being insulted. 

As Nuj Txeeg played his qeej, the music was so soothing that Ntxawm Mob Txia slowly drifted into sleep.  Realizing this effect, Nuj Txeeg gradually took a few steps backward with each musical beat until he finished playing the song and made his way back to Nuj Saub Noog Xi.

When the music drifted so far away that Ntxawm Mob Txia could no longer hear it, she then snapped out of her daydreaming only to find Nuj Txeeg gone.  She was so livid that she decided to remain in heaven.  As for Nuj Txeeg and Nuj Saub Noog Xi, they finally lived a happy life together until old age pulled them apart. 

And that was the end of the story.  It was a folktale that her father could tell by heart and one that her mother cherished and loved to listen to.  When they conceived their second daughter, the couple decided to name the girl Nuj Saub Noog Xi, after the titular heroine from the folk legend. 

So, Nuj Saub Noog Xi became her name.  It was a priceless name, one entailing strength, value, and adroitness that matched the affluence and nobility of her Lis—Lee, clan.  Like her legend counterpart, her parents had hoped that their daughter be strong, quick-witted, and faithful. 

As girls, her sisters often teased her that her future husband would be someone called Nuj Txeeg and her biggest rival would be Ntxawm Mob Txia.  She detested the comparison.  It was true that she shared the same name, but she was determined to fight so that she would not share the same fate. 

But Nuj Saub Noog Xi was a long name, a hassle to call.  So, her family often shortened it to Noog Xi, and years later she would be known as Noog only.  Despite this, her name shaped who she was and who she would become. 

Due to her familial ties, she was from the beginning, destined to have a different fate from the folktale character.  Everything good was achievable and everything bad was possible because her father was Lis Tub Yiv—district chief of Nong Het, a market town in Xiengkhouang Province located in northeastern Laos just a couple of kilometers from bordering Vietnam.  Because of her father’s political position and affiliations, a fateful day would come to pass when she would lose everything, so much more than the folktale Nuj Saub Noog Xi. 

But like every memory, details gradually faded as the days passed until only glimpse of pieces here and there could be recalled.  And like every memory, whether precious or daunting—may return to haunt anyone so very vividly in dreams.