Gyayo gathered together 1,000 of their finest archers, but the State of Ling only appointed a single contestant. It was Dainma, dressed in a suit of white armor covered by a yellow satin robe and tied with a blue belt, wearing a pair of black satin boots, and holding a white sword in his hand.
Dainma fitted the arrow to the bowstring and then released it. As myriad golden rays shone, the magic gate was smashed. All evildoers at once disappeared.
After the contest of skill in martial arts, Gyayo King Garlha Kengung was still not prepared to accept his failure. He proposed to rival the State of Ling in beauty. Gesar laughed inwardly. Now he knew his horsecloth made of volcanic glass and chamois leather and the traces made also of volcanic glass could be turned to account.
Woyi Pancho, dressed the horse in the horsecloth, which was decorated with golden leaves on the upper part, sea conches in the middle, and volcanic glass hanging down. With mane gleaming, the horse wore upon its head a ram’s horn made of the volcanic glass.
Woyi Pancho mounted this horse and rode around the square, with the bridle made of volcanic glass hanging loose. The people in Gyayo had never before seen such fanciful accountrements. Men gasped in admiration while women felt shy and dared not raise their eyes.
Gyayo King Garlha Kengung was full of wonder. “Are this fantastic man and horse of flesh and blood,” he mused, “or the products of a wizard’s magic? Am I dreaming or is it true?”
And at this moment, he became confused and disoriented.
As Garlha Kengung felt his senses slipping away, Gesar separated himself into his avatar and his true body. His avatar accompanied Garlha Kengung, but his true body changed into a roc with golden wings, and carried Chin’en and Mychon to the Palace of Garlha Kengung. There they found Queen Nyima Trichi’s demon corpse. Gesar said:
“Place her demon corpse into the iron box. Do not open it until their state is destroyed.”
Taking firm hold of the box, they flew out of the palace to the place where the water and the sky blend together. There they hid the box, and burnt the corpse in a pyre constructed of sandalwood.
That evening, when King Gyayo went back to his palace, he entered the gloomy chamber and, coming beside the bed, found his wife’s corpse disappeared. Garlha Kengung was astonished.
“Oh, my god! We were cheated! My Empress’s body has been stolen. We must punish those responsible most severely according to our national law.” Garlha Kengung then asked Hashang Chinpa to regain the corpse from Gesar.
Hashang Chinpa found Gesar and asked if he knew that the queen’s body had been stolen. Gesar replied that the demon corpse would bring calamities to the people of Gyayo and Ling. In order to avoid these, he had already burnt the body.
Hashang Chinpa went back and told everything to King Garlha Kengung, who sighed deeply and assumed an expression of great sorrow. After a while, the king sent Hashang back to meet Gesar again. The Gyayo minister told Gesar that if he could recover the queen’s body, the king would not punish him. Gesar answered that the body had already been burnt and could not be recovered. When the king of the State of Gyayo heard this, he was furious and ordered Hashang Chinpa to capture Gesar. He hung Gesar on a pole for seven days and seven nights.
After seven days, The king of Gyayo ordered that Gesar be thrown into the Scorpion Cave. However, instead of hurting him, the scorpions prostrated themselves before Gesar in worship. Garlha Kengung had no choice but to remove the prisoner from the cave, instead ordering his knights to throw him over a steep cliff. But a condor swooped down and lifted Gesar to safety again.
Gyayo’s king became angrier and angrier at his inability to kill Gesar. In a last desperate act of rage, he ordered him thrown into the sea. At this moment, Dainma and Mychon broke their silence.
“My dear king,” they said, “we can not bear any more of this. You should fight back, and let them know how strong you are.”
Gesar shook his head, and replied: “No. The king of the State of Gyayo is not a commoner. If we do not accept his punishment, there will be no advantage to the people in Gyayo and Ling. We should try instead to make him come around and feel ashamed of his disrespect.”
Gesar was cast into the sea. Dianma and Mychon sprinkled something like dust but not dust that they had obtained from Raksasa over the waves. Suddenly, the sea became a stretch of green grass, dotted with trees and flowers, with butterflies fluttering over it.
Hashang Chinpa told Gyayo king immediately that they could not punish Gesar, and persuaded the king to apologize. Now Garlha Kengung truly believed that it was the Lion King who had arrived at his state, and decided to reconcile with him.
The next day, Gyayo King Garlha Kengung led his generals to welcome Lion King Gesar to his palace and Gesar took his place upon Garlha Kengung’s golden throne. With this, the king offered jewelry, gold, silver, silk cloth, and many other precious gifts. He said:
“I still cannot quite believe you are the true Gesar. Grant me until tomorrow to know for sure.”
The seven sisters of Gyayo sang and danced for the monarch and ministers of the State of Ling. The knights performed various feats of arms for the assembled guests. Garlha Kengung spoke to Gesar again,
“My respected King, the State of Gyayo is beautiful and affluent, and yet I have no son, only a little princess as an heir. However, she is too young to take charge of the state. We hope you can remain here as our king.”
Gesar was moved by these words, but only replied:
“My king, I can not live here long. In the remote Tibetan-inhabited areas, there are many demons and ghosts, some possessed of bodies, others at one with the air. I cannot rest until they are conquered. If you really think affectionately of me, and don’t want us to part, then you can fashion a golden figure of me. If so, we can meet each other every day.”
