Hwang Sok-yong - Princess Bari

It wasn’t much, just a railroad flat the size of a small studio divided into two rooms. The front room had a double sink and a beat-up table with rickety legs and four chairs, and the back room had a bed pushed up against the wall. I don’t know where he’d found it, but a metal chest of drawers, like something you’d see in an office, stood at the foot of the bed. I started to ask Ali why he didn’t just live with his grandfather, but held back. Most young people probably wouldn’t feel comfortable living with someone so much older.

That day Ali and I got to know each other a little better. I told him how I’d wound up in London, including how my family got split up, how I crossed the Tumen River and what had happened in China. Ali said he’d heard similar stories from his father and grandfather. Because he was born in Britain, he’d never seen where they were from. He had trouble pronouncing the name of their hometown.

“Srinagar. Have you heard of it?”

“No, never. Have you heard of Chongjin?”

“Chee-ung …?”

We spent the day in his room, and that evening Ali dropped me off at the flat while he went to work. When I walked in, Grandfather Abdul told me that a man and woman from the UK Border Agency had come by. They didn’t search every flat, but they did ask him question after question about each of the residents. He showed them the tenant list and gave them everyone’s name and occupation. Regarding the young Filipino man, he told them he was a previous tenant who had since moved. He said he didn’t know where he was now. As for my flat, he told them Luna lived alone. In fact, Luna had rented the flat first; all she and I did was split the rent after I moved in. There was never any reason for my name to be added to the tenant list. They said they were going to inspect the Nigerian couple’s flat, but Grandfather Abdul got up the nerve to stop them.

“I told them I could not unlock the door without the tenants’ permission. I said if there were charges against them, then they could come back with a court warrant. As it is, they might still come back. It’ll take a few more days to settle this.”

Grandfather Abdul offered me some chapatti and lamb. I tried to turn it down, but then offered instead to come back early the next evening and fix him a tasty dinner in exchange.

“So,” he said, as he sat down across from me. “Is Ali taking good care of you?”

“Yes. But I don’t understand why he lives alone.”

Grandfather Abdul laughed out loud.

“Neither do I! When I was his age, we all lived with extended family. After moving here, it took me several years to get used to living alone. It was very hard on me when Ali’s father married and got a job in Leeds. I was working in London, so I couldn’t move there with them.”

Grandfather Abdul had worked in a hotel before he retired. He lived in the building for free in exchange for looking after Mr Azad’s rental property. He told me the landlord worked in a bank and owned five such buildings.

“Poor Ali,” Grandfather Abdul said. “He grew up sharing a room with several others. That’s probably why he wants to live alone for now.” (Ali had told me bashfully that he had six brothers and sisters, so I understood at once what Grandfather Abdul meant.)

I spent the next three days hanging out in Ali’s flat. I was following Grandfather Abdul’s advice to lay low until the weekend. Luna relayed Uncle Tan’s messages to me. Nothing had gone wrong at the salon, but I would need to keep my distance until the weekend. Then it would be okay for me to come back to work the following Tuesday. Luna also told me that Auntie Sarah had called several times: Lady Emily was looking for me.

*

Back then, whenever I felt lonely and whenever times were tough, I thought of my grandmother. I would mumble the old stories we used to recite to each other, first speaking in my voice and then switching to hers. I would hear Luna’s light snores, and toss and turn in bed for a while before sending my spirit afloat. The more often I did this, the more clearly I was able to see my body lying below.

I would float up a little and look down at my body, curled on its side. I could see Luna’s body too, and everything in the room. I would float higher as darkness closed around me and the white path appeared. It was always the same up to that point:

I take a few steps down the path, and Chilsung’s white fur appears. As always, he is wagging his tail.

Chilsung- ah ! I need to talk to Grandmother.

Okay, Bari. She’s waiting for you.

Chilsung turns around and leads the way, glancing back at me now and then. I float behind him, along the dazzlingly white path. At the top of a hill shrouded in smoke-like wisps of fog, or maybe clouds, stands a tall, octagonal pavilion supported by stone steps. Wide, round pillars hold the heavy roof aloft. Grandmother waves at me from inside the pavilion.

Our little Bari! You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?

No, I’m okay.

It’s a wonder you’ve made it this far. But there’s still a long way to go. Look down there.

Grandmother stands at the railing and points. The white cloud-like things part, and just visible below are fields and mountains and rivers and a city.

Where is that?

That’s where you live. You must have met people from all over the world by now.

Yes, all kinds of people.

Bari, have you figured it out yet? I tried to warn you when I was telling you those old stories. I told you the path you’re on would bring you to a great many people who would ask for your help. And they’ll keep asking why they must suffer.

Yes, and you told me that Princess Bari travelled to the otherworld to find out.

That’s right, which means you need to be ready with an answer.

I won’t know that until I’ve been to the otherworld.

Once you’ve been there, you’ll be able to help all of them.

Even though we speak different languages and look different and come from different places?

Grandmother smiles, her wrinkles squeezing together.

Of course. The world and every person in it — we’re all the same. We’re all lacking and sick and stupid and greedy.

I feel for them , I say.

Bari, I’m so proud of you! It’s when you learn to empathize that the answer comes to you.

Grandmother waves her hand again, and the cloud-like things blanket the pavilion in white.

Now you’ll marry the jangseung . You’ll have to search for the life-giving water while you’re living with him.

Grandma, do other people have ancestral spirits like me?

Of course. They’re everywhere. All souls are washed from muddy to clean. I have to go now. It’s time for you to go, too.

I fly out of the pavilion like a puff of smoke on the breeze. The clouds or fog surround me, and there is Chilsung again, wagging his tail on the path that I came down earlier. No sooner am I back, floating near the ceiling of my bedroom and looking down at myself, than my spirit returns to my body and my eyes open. The dark branches of trees are visible through the window.

*

I think it was the afternoon of my third day at Ali’s flat. We were sitting at the table when he suddenly leaned over and kissed me. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, and he laughed and copied me. He wouldn’t stop snickering. I didn’t know what was so funny about it.

“What’re you laughing at?” I asked.

“What a baby you are,” he said and laughed again.

“Don’t copy me.”

Then suddenly he swept me up in his arms and lay me down on the bed. Huh, I thought, he probably assumed I’d put up a fight . I lay there like a doll, my arms and legs limp. When Ali lay down next to me, the bed felt like it was caving in. He tried to touch my breast, but I brushed his hand away. I was embarrassed because it reminded me of how that fat woman, the pimp at the Chinatown brothel I’d been taken to when I first arrived, had examined my body and laughed at my flat chest. But then I realized what Ali wanted. He pulled his shirt off and tried to unbuckle my belt. I put my hands on his chest and pushed him back, and then I undid my own belt and slid out of my trousers. He did the same. When he took off my underwear, I lay still. I was naked. His chest, arms and legs — nearly his entire body — were covered with dark hair. I wondered, stupidly: Does eating all that lamb make people grow wool?