New Tales of the Gobi Desert
Glenealy School, Brian Lee, Fiction: Group 2
P
lanted in a seat at the airport was James Brown, a fairly tall man in his mid-thirties. He
was going to board a Mongolian flight from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad. James’ plan
was to go to the Gobi desert, a place he had read about all of his life but never went to.
Finally, his chance had come. James idly checked his watch. A look of horror appeared
on his face. It was 6:30, twenty minutes until the boarding gates closed. In a haste, James shoved
his Smartphone into his pocket and dashed to his boarding gate. Little did he know, someone was
watching him from afar...
In Mongolia, James’ plan was to immediately go to the Gobi desert. James got in a jeep to
get there. The ride went smoothly until the jeep suddenly started to shudder. “What’s going on?”
James questioned the driver. “I think there might be something wrong with the engine but I just
checked it this morning”, replied the driver. Just then, without warning the jeep stopped. The
two men gulped and got out of the jeep. The driver immediately opened the bonnet and checked
the motor. There seemed to be a hole in the bonnet and there was water leaking out of the motor.
James remembered what he read about using a water jet to cut through metal. Suddenly, James
started to wonder if the problem was only a defective radiator...
In the desert, they found someone with a camel. The owner of the camel was willing to offer
his camel in exchange for James’ small backpack which he had bought at the airport. However,
it was only enough for one of them. “You go ahead”, James told the driver. “Don’t you want to
go first?” asked the driver. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine”, James told him. The Driver thanked James
and rode away on his camel. James sighed. In truth, James wasn’t okay. He had no food or
supplies whatsoever and had no place to go. James started walking deeper in the Gobi desert but
he soon realized his mistake. He had lost his sense of direction. James was about to lose hope
when he found a few white tents in the distance. He quickly realized that it was a ger camp,
the home of a dozen or so nomads. James knew that the nomad’s custom was that if you come
across a ger camp, then you walk right in! When he walked into the tent, James met a friendly
host called Yekeoyugun. Yekeoyugun explained that his name meant great wisdom, Yeke(great)
Oyugun(wisdom). Yekeoyugun gave James some soup and salty tea. When James had thanked him
and stood up to leave, Yekeoyugun gave him a dinosaur bone. James was confused. Why would
he need a dinosaur bone? Yekeoyugun explained that the dinosaur bone was a parting gift, but
he also told James to look after it carefully. “I trust you to keep it safe”, Yekeoyugun told James.
James thanked him again and asked for the way out of the Gobi desert. Yekeoyugun told James to
go left for two hundred and forty-five paces and to go right for the rest of the way. James left the
ger camp with a light sack loaded with some food.
After walking two hundred and forty-five paces, James was about to turn right when he
stopped. The weight on his shoulders from his sack was gone. James spun around and saw...
nothing. “What are you looking at? I’m behind you!” giggled a voice. James wheeled around
and saw a strange man with crooked teeth and an even more crooked grin holding his sack. The
strange man announced that his name was secret and that if James could guess the man’s name
he would give him back his sack. “Okay, but why do you want my sack”, asked James. “I will
tell you when you guess my name.”, said the man. The two men patiently waited and looked at
