“The Prickly Fruits of Huntuu Huduumi”

Once, in the land called Huntuu Huduumi, there was a Great Battle between two Great Armies. The Battle was to be fought on the Great Valley and in the center of the Great Valley stood the Great Tree. This tree was older than the mountains and taller than all of the trees in the forest stood on top of one another.

The night before the Great Battle, an Old Prophet visited the General of one of the armies in his tent. The Prophet told the General what he must do- the General must chop down the Great Tree, his soldiers must eat the fruit from the highest branches of the tree and they must throw the fruits at the advancing enemy.

The next morning, as the trumpets and the drums of the two Great Armies began to announce their charge, the General sent two of his most trusted warriors ahead into the Valley to chop down the Great Tree with axes made of stone.

The Great Tree let out a deep bellow as it fell to the ground with the force of an earthquake, and both the armies stood still. The General instructed his soldiers to take the fruit from the highest branches and eat them, but when the soldiers grabbed the fruits they found they were prickly and hurt their hands and made them bleed. The General told them to eat the fruit anyway, and they did and it hurt their mouths and made them bleed. The General told them to take some of the fruits and throw them across the plain to the advancing army, and they did. 

When the prickly fruits hit the enemy soldiers, they stuck in the soldiers’ armour. Some of the enemy soldiers ate the fruit, too, and when they did all of the soldiers of both armies fell to the ground and became as children. They threw down their weapons and slid out of their armour and ran across the valley towards one another laughing as children. The soldiers of both armies forgot about the Great Battle and spent the rest of the day as children, playing and laughing under the canopy of the fallen tree. 

As twilight filled the sky and the first stars appeared above the horizon, the Generals of both armies embraced each other like brothers, and the Prophet, smiling, looked on from the mountain.