Epic of King Gesar

This chapter tells the story of Yuman, born in 1957 in the grasslands of northern Tibet, a nomad whose father sang the centuries-old Epic of King Gesar. This epic is a collective creation of the Tibetan people that has been passed from father to son, from master to disciple, for centuries by generations of folk artists. Yuman was never taught this skill, but the year her father died, she had a vision, fell ill and was suddenly able to sing the epic, an unusual occupation for a female. She describes singing the story of King Gesar and his four generals as being guided by the spirit of the story and based on images that appear before her. She admits to being barely literate in Tibetan, but as a traditional storyteller, she has been employed by the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences to record many episodes of the Gesar.