earlier, the girl now has an inventory of memories, and each object tells a different story.
After weeks of travelling along the Gobi Desert, she understands the blessing of her
grandmother and the wisdom of mother earth. One day, she stumbles upon a group of explorers
who are on a mission to find dinosaur fossils in the desert. The explorers explain their motive
for coming to this area, and they ask the girl to help them look for signs of fossil remains, in
exchange for food and water. She accepts this offer, and puts down the items she had been
carrying in her shawl on the desert floor. In seconds, the explorers gasp in awe, as the strange-
looking stones were actually the fossilized bones of the dinosaurs and by luck, the girl had added
them to her inventory. Without a moment’s hesitation, the explorers bring the girl back with them
on the Silk Road, in order to show the bones to their King. On the journey, one of the explorers
asks the girl about her life story and questions what she was doing out in the desert all by herself.
Proudly, the girl pulls out the last wild onion of the cluster and says, “My name is Kushi
Oyunbileg*. I have lived in the Gobi Desert for five months, and here is my story.”
*Kushi Oyunbileg – (Mongolian, meaning living happily/ the gift of wisdom)
* * *
