Little Genghis －小さなチンギス－

There was a festival of Mongolian culture held in a large park close to where I live last week.  So my wife and I took our six year old son along to see it. 

There were demonstrations of Mongolian sumo, archery and dancing.  My wife noticed that children aged between five and seven years old could take part in the sumo.  So I encouraged my son to sign up for it. 

I said, “We often practice Japanese sumo together.  So you will be good at Mongolian sumo too.  You should try it.  Everyone will be impressed by how strong you are!” 

My son was not convinced.  “But Daddy, I might lose to everyone.” 

“Yes,” I said.  “You might lose to everyone.  But they will still be amazed.  Because it is your first time to try Mongolian sumo, nobody will expect you to be good at it.  But they will be impressed if you try hard!” 

Then my wife joked, “You could always lie about your age.  We will say that you are five years old instead of six, and you will be a real underdog!” 

I remember doing something similar when I was a child.  I used to draw pictures when I was still in elementary school.  I would sign my name at the bottom of the picture.  I would write “By William Lang, aged six,” even though I was actually eight. 

I liked to imagine people years later finding the pictures and saying, “My God!  William was this good as an artist when he was just six years old!”  I didn’t tell that story to my son.  Instead, I told him not to lie about his age. 

So we got to the registration desk for the Mongolian sumo. 

“What’s your age?” asked the lady behind the desk, looking at my son. 

There was a long pause as my son wrestled with a moral dilemma.  At last he said, “Six.” 

But now he was in a bad mood, and was getting nervous about the sumo.  I tried to reassure him by practicing on the grass, and his mood picked up. 

Then we saw a group of Mongolian children, practicing for the sumo event.  They were dressed in traditional costumes.  They were kicking and grabbing at each other’s legs, trying to knock their opponents to the grass.  It seemed a bit more vigorous than the Japanese style sumo my son and I play, in which we try to push each other off the cork mat in our living room.  These wrestlers were like a little army of Genghis Khans.  My son’s bad mood and nerves returned.  We decided to give our son a chance to back out. 

“Would you like to withdraw from the Mongolian sumo event?” I asked. 

“Umm, maybe I could take part in the dancing instead?” he said. 

I am not sure that Genghis would have been proud of his fighting spirit.  But we did enjoy watching the sumo, and the dancing, and eating some kebabs.

 

Vocabulary:

an underdog – in a competition such as a sporting event, the competitor which looks weaker and is expected to lose. (eg. The boxing champion will fight a challenger, who has never beaten him before.  The challenger is a real underdog.)

to wrestle with a moral dilemma – to struggle very hard in making a moral decision, or a decision about right or wrong (eg., When I found out that my family member had committed a crime, I had to wrestle with a moral dilemma: should I tell the police?)

to back out – of a planned action, to change one’s mind and withdraw from or cancel the planned action (eg., He promised to join us on the camping trip, but he backed out when he heard about the cost.)