MULAN-BATYR
THE TRUE STORY
This happened long-long time in the Tuoba Wei Khanate of the Great Eurasian Steppe. The people of this khanate had a tribal name of Tabgachi, which means “people who braid their hair”, because both Tabgachi men and women had this traditional nomadic hairstyle.
Among the Tabgachi, there was one honorable tribe called Bulan. The named Bulan means “deer”, because the ancestors of the Bulan people were deer-breeding nomads of the Altai Region. Their insignia called Tamga was a beautiful deer with long antlers.
All men from the Bulan Tribe served in the Tabgachi Khans’ cavalry for many generations. They helped to defend the Tuoba Wei country from the northern nomads and this service was the considered the highest honor.
One old man of the Bulan Tribe had a sixteen year old daughter. Her name was Mulan, and everybody called her Mulan the Bulan. She had an older sister who was a famous local beauty and a little brother.
Mulan’s family lived in the plains north of the Yellow River. Further down north across the plains stood the Yan Mountains, beyond which began the endless plains of the Great Steppe. The nomadic ancestors of the Bulan Tribe were from beyond these mountains too. Back then they lived in mobile yurts and didn’t know anything about living in stationary houses.
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