A Paradise Lost

Martial Arts

“What is your secret to have a successful empire?”

The emperor laughed.

“We don’t have any miraculous secret when it comes to our defense. But I’m proud to present to you the secret of our military defense.”

Emperor Tao opened the gate at the back of his palace. Queen Raya and the rest of his warriors were amazed to see a group of men arranged in an even formation performing martial arts. What’s more amazing was that their movements were also synchronized to the beating of the drum. They also uttered a short shout whenever they perform an attacking move.

“This is so amazing! Can you teach martial arts to my warriors?”

“Of course, my queen.”

“Thank you!”

“I will include your warriors to our martial arts training. We will teach them the basic martial arts first. How long do you intend to stay with us?”

“We will only stay in your country for three months. We've been away from our country for more than a year now. We already miss our friends and family. We need to come back to our country immediately after our visit in your country.”

“That’s unfortunate. It will take years before you will get a black belt. We would like you to stay in our country as much as possible until you will get a black belt so that we can teach you everything we know about martial arts.”

“We appreciate your hospitality. However, we could no longer stay more than three months. We already missed our family and friends.”

“I definitely understand you, my queen. Don’t worry we will teach you as much as we can in three months.”

“Thank you. We appreciate it. I wanted to start our martial arts training tomorrow morning. I would like to have our training from sunrise until sundown without any rest day for three months.”

“Not a problem. You will have your training at the back of my palace. I will transfer my Martial Arts trainees to another location. I would like to invite you for a dinner.”

“That’s very lovely of you. Sure!”

Queen Raya and her warriors were having a hard time eating Chinese food. It was the first that they used chopsticks. The Chinese didn’t use spoon and fork in eating. They were ashamed to ask if they have any spoon and fork. They couldn’t use their bare hands to pick the steaming hot noodles into their mouths unlike rice. They tried so hard to eat as much noodles as they could using chopsticks but they could only eat a little. The noodles kept on slipping from their chopsticks until they gave up. They picked the bowl and sip the noodles. The noodles surprisingly tasted so good. They were finally full. They thanked the emperor for the sumptuous meal.