After the people of the Village began to worship Heaven with all the due rites, as Tengir taught them, so I saw, the course of sky and storm became predictable. The rain fell and the sun shined at just the right season, causing crops to grow to surplus. On top of that, there were no natural disasters or plagues to speak of, and the assaults of beasts, demons, angry ghosts and wayward spirits ceased. Tengir designed for channels to be cut in the ground to distribute water in an efficient way, while also constructing new storehouses to keep the excess grain on hand. Finally, he built a stone wall around the Village and its fertile fields. The people never went hungry, and their numbers multiplied by several fold.
When Child-of-Earth saw that this was going on, he was overjoyed and redoubled his gratitude for Tengir. Desiring that Tengir might become a member of his tribe for all time to come, he had a mind to give him the hand of his daughter, who was called Divine-Stream-Princess.
When Tengir met the Princess in person, he found that she was beautiful by nature. Her manners and the way she bore herself reminded anyone who saw her of a goddess or a fairy. Her eyes were dark and wistful, but when Tengir gazed into them, he saw what could become a fount of boundless life. Her skin was the picture of health; no disease or imperfection of any kind was present on or in her body, and she appeared to be suspended in an eternal bloom of energy and youth. She possessed strength, poise and elegance in perfect proportion, but her face was round and whole and white as the moon, her hair so black that when Tengir saw her he was reminded of looking up on a cloudless fullmooned night. Of a sturdy and voluptuous frame, she was a sight to behold. But quick on her feet and witty, her spirit too was not ordinary. A feeling of tender desire, the likes of which he had never experienced before, took flight from Tengir's breast, and he wanted to marry her. And she, seeing as his countenance was handsome beyond any comparison, like a being made of starlight, could not oppose the union.
But Tengir noticed that she had a peculiar article of jewelry tied round her neck: it was a silver necklace with an emerald fastened to the bottom. Since her people had been ignorant of gemstones and metalworking for the past several centuries, it had to be incredibly ancient. And when she stepped into the shade it seemed to glow as though it contained an invisible flame. Curious, he asked her: "That green stone--whence did it come?" To which Divine-Stream-Princess replied: "It was given me by my mother, Divine-Lake-Princess, who received it from her mother, and so on from time immemorial. I have been told that it was a gift to the ancestors from the Earth Goddess herself and that it has the potential for unending life and beauty. But I also heard it is part of a set, and the other piece has been lost." Her sweet voice moved Tengir's heart. He said thus: "Truly our meeting under this sky was fated to happen so. So was spun the red thread of destiny--that is the thread that has drawn me here. It has drawn me across mists and over mountains and deserts, and it has done so that we may give life, youth, beauty and truth to this world. The King of the Day is nothing without his Queen, that ruler of Night, and when she looks upon the face of her lover, her own lights up. So too is the love of Heaven and Earth. The crops welcome the rain, the flower greets kindly the hummingbird. Even so is our love. Though you are different from me, yet we are one--and here is the proof..." He produced the wheel of blue jade which the Spirit of the Lake had given him and showed it to her. The emerald was the exact size of the niche.
Such was the occasion for the sacrament of marriage which was to follow. All the people had gathered and were there at the tree. Child-of-Earth and Divine-Lake-Princess were there, they gave the couple their blessing. And in the skies above was a great cloud of spirits and angels: the Spirit of the Lake, of the Forest, the Spirit of the Cave and of the Ocean, and the Dragon King himself, and many other great spirits besides were there. The Spirits of the Ancestors were there, too. And with all the eyes of the upper and lower worlds upon him, Tengir took the Emerald out of Divine-Stream-Princess's necklace and fixed it in the niche of the wheel of blue jade. As soon as they were united, the jade let off a deluge of light that would put all the stars to shame. A warm halo rose out of the jade and enveloped the couple. It spun round them like a wheel of fire before fading into a blue cloud of mist. When the mist faded, the couple, hand-in-hand, bowed first before Heaven, next before Earth, next before Child-of-Earth and Divine-Lake-Princess and finally before the sundry Spirits still looking on from the clouds. Divine-Lake-Princess had a lady bring a silver hairpin to the bride, and she fixed her hair up in the style of a married woman. Thereupon they were declared man and wife.
After that Tengir fixed the jade to a tall wooden staff using a silken cord, and the staff became known simply as the Great Staff. When Tengir and the Princess his Wife, her parents and all the people had finished rejoicing, they lit a bonfire and held a great feast, having every delicacy of food and wine that was known of at the time. And thanks to the superb harvest every man and woman, from the noble to the common, from the old to the young, ate and drank till their bellies were full. They thanked the gods for their blessings. The full moon was already at its zenith when the feast ended.
That night the air was pregnant with the smells of spring as soft thunder sounded from afar. A cool breeze blew in from the north and rustled the tall grasses gently. The song of that wind was a tender whisper. Divine-Stream-Princess went to the bedchamber of Tengir. Cloaked in the silence and darkness of the warm night, she united with Tengir, and loved him. So was consecrated the marriage of Tengir and Divine-Stream-Princess.