THT's Story Series #3
Lovingly placed by the Tropical Heritage Team
An ex-Deadhead, my 6th grade social studies teacher was an eccentric, colorful guy. Mr. Abe told tall tales that made well-worn history fun and interesting to learn. Unfortunately, most were either completely bogus or extreme exaggerations, which could be why my scores on the social sciences portion of the standardized test that year were considerably lower than usual.
Recently, I was going through old notebooks and came across my notes for his class. One story in particular caught my eye, mostly because of how outlandish it is. I will tell the story much like Mr. Abe did, the best I can from my broken, 12 year old handwriting. I will be sorely amiss if any of this makes it on Wikipedia.
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"The discord between Tibet and China is a sad and troubling tale. As I always tell you, your book lies, and I only give it to you because the school board said they’d remove my tenure if I didn’t. Listen to my story. I camped with a Tibetan monk during Europe ’79 (One of the greatest years for the Dead, as I always say), and he told me of the true history of the animosity between the Tibetans and the Chinese.
"In the early 1800s, Tibet was known far and wide for its national opera. They called themselves the “High Men Opera” (roughly translated into English), for they were comprised of men--of monks--who could sing much higher than other all-male choirs. They had the only male true-soprano, who, as it was told, could hit a high F and break glass. Their arias could rival any mixed choir, and their color and tone were ethereal.
"The emperor of China, Yizhu (Ee-zoo), caught wind of these talented Tibetans, and summoned them to his palace in Peking (now known as Beijing) in the spring of 1834. It was a long and arduous journey for the monks, but their life of asceticism conditioned them for the trip. They descended from Tibet (which is 14,000 miles above sea level) to the Chinese capital; a journey that took them a better half of a year.
"Once they arrived, they were allowed to rest in the greatest comfort and tradition afforded by the Emperor’s council for two months to regain their strength. They were to perform “Il barbarie di Siviglia” (The Barber of Seville, but said in a heavy Italian accent)--the Emperor’s favorite piece, as he was enamored with Western opera.
"Over the course of the two months, the choir practiced in secret before performing the initial offering in front of the Emperor. Not a word was spoken of the rehearsals to the Emperor, who wanted the performance to be unmarred by his expectations.
"The curtain opened, and the opera began. The tenors were rich, and the baritones were deep. Almost too deep, thought the Emperor. The famous soprano entered stage left, cleared his throat, and belched out the opening note that was to be a high F. He barely made it two octaves short. Feeling cheated, the Emperor ended the performance immediately, and banished the “High Men Opera” from his kingdom. It was five years later that his armies marched on Tibet, as retaliation for the supreme insult of the Tibetan singers. There has been animosity ever since.
"What the Emperor didn’t realize is that Beijing, at its highest, is only 200 feet above sea level. If you have been paying attention to your physical science classes, you know that air that is higher up is less dense than air closer to the ground. The air in Tibet is about 40% less dense than the air in Bejing! It’s almost like breathing helium in Tibet, which accounted for the monks’ lofty vocal range..."
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You don’t need a formidable understanding of science to find this cache, although it might certainly help. Please do not stray far from the path to find this cache and limit your presence off the trail. Please continue on the trail approximately 150’ to the west, and you will see a mature strangler fig (or two?) growing around a cabbage palm! Feel free to share your photos of your journey and your crew.
Happy hunting,
-THT
****Congratulations to MarcoIslandGirl and MarcoIslandGuy for their FTF!!!****
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