Post by Admin on Mar 14, 2021 13:06:21 GMT
David Alder had two passions in the world - helping boys succeed as men and climbing mountains. In support of his passions he had founded the very successful, exclusive Adler Academy for Boys, a prep school for the sons of the very rich, and had scaled the highest peaks on every continent - except for Mount Visson in Antarctica and Mt. Everest in Asia. Today, he hoped to take a big step towards the top of Mt. Everest; he had an audience with the Dalai Lama, and he hoped that the ruler of Tibet would grant him permission to return with a climbing expedition.
His 18 year old son Drew had begged out of the audience - yesterday he'd learned of Dangldan Rirgyud, a traveling gymnastics troup that would be performing today in Lhasa - and currently gymnastics was one of his major passions. Next year he hoped to make the 1932 United States Olympic team, with specialties in Indian Clubs, Rope Climbing and the Horse, and he was hoping there might be some techniques and routines demonstrated today that he might adapt as his own. Since this is Drew's story, not David's, we will note that The Dalai Lama granted David a permit to return to Tibet with his climbing expedition - and then go look in on Drew at the exhibition...
Drew was fascinated by the presentation of 'The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation'! The Dangldan Rirgyud troupe claimed that these Rites improved flexibility and helped maintain or restore youthful vigor, in people aged well into the nineties. Some of the performers did appear to be quite old - their hair was white, their faces wrinkled - and yet, they were displaying agility that rivaled anything Drew had ever seen exhibited, even among Olympic-class gymnasts! With his translator, he approached the leader of the troupe.
"Can you teach me those exercises?" he asked.
"Certainly," the troupe leader looked him over. "It only takes a few minute to learn the physical exercises. But without the proper breathing techniques and mental discipline, they are just exercises like any others. It takes several days to learn the breathing techniques and several weeks of study to learn the mental disciplines required to achieve the full benefits of these simple exercises."
It had taken almost 10 minutes of laborious translation and repetition of ideas before both men were certain Drew understood fully - they were discussing topics outside the normal conversational range the translator was used to. Drew was dashed - he'd hoped he might pick up something here today that might help him in the Olympic trials. But wait! 'The trials are almost 6 months from now!'
Some excited conversation facilitated by the translator; Yes, Drew could travel with the troupe for 3 months, and they would be pleased to train him in the Five Rites and other aspects of Tibetan gymnastics and the other arts they practiced as well. In exchange, Drew would perform all the regular duties of a member of the troupe, including performing, and in return provide instruction in some of the techniques and routines used by American gymnasts. All Drew had to do was convince his father. Who was easy!
<Drew becomes friends with Su Ga, a very large, tall, strong man from Chemdo.
Three months, more than 24 performances and a lot of hard work later, the reached the town of Lyle.
understood following your passion - and the Alder family fortune was easily able to absorb any additional expenses Drew might incur.
Dean Alder is in Tibet in 1930. He is 17 years old.
Why is he in Tibet? His rich father wants to be the first man to reach the top of Mount Everest, and he has come to Tibet to petition the Dali Lama to grant him permission for an expedition. The Dali Lama agrees after a month of discussion. During that time, Dena observes some very different gymnastics and decides he wants to train with the gymnasts; he is interested in competing in the 1932 Olympics and is already considered a leading candidate for the team, specializing in the Indian Clubs, Rope Climbing, and Vault events. When the Lama grants the permit, David Alder allows his son to stay for a year. Dean travels with the traveling gymnastics show and trains with them until they reach a small village named Lyle in the mountains. High above is the Temple of Looba. When they arrive in Lyle, they discover that a religious ceremony will be occurring shortly in the temple; Dean decides to attend. With a fellow member of the troupe, Su Ga, a giant strongman without much English, and a guide, they climb partway to the temple on a narrow ledge which winds around the mountain - after an hour or so climb, they enter a rift in the mountainside and come to a man-made wall. The guide opens a secret passage in the wall, which reveals a stairway; the climb the stairs for another hour and finally reach the temple where they are greeted by a monk named 'Brother Bright' (English translation). Bright guided them to the ceremony, where the High Lama of the temple, Looba, was being carried in a pagoda by several acolytes and followed by a procession of the more advanced monks, to the ceremony grounds where he would promote a class of students to the next rank. Dean spotted a white man about to shoot at the High Lama with a rifle, and tackled him, causing the shot to miss. (Instead, the shot hit another monk named Atar, who swore a secret oath of vengeance against Alder.)
The white man was drunk, no one knew how he'd arrived at the temple. He was put in a locked cell until he awakened and could be questioned, but his single guard freed him almost immediately and the two men disappeared. The missing guard was a new acolyte who had already shown hatred for Looba, so everyone figured the pair was in cahoots. A month later, their bodies were found by two villagers of Lyle - they had both apparently climbed to the walls of the monastery and jumped to their deaths. In secret, Atar had kidnapped the white man from a recent mountain climbing expedition, using magic to make the expedition think the man had fallen to his death, and had hypnotized both the white man and the acolyte into carrying out his orders.
In gratitude for saving him, the High Lama gave Dean his magic garment, and invited both Dean and Su Ga to live in the monastery for a while. the garment will give him great magical powers, but it must be attuned to his body and they don't really know the nature of the powers; it works differently for everyone who wears it. Dean tries it on, but doesn't notice any powers, so he packs it away and ignores it.
They both stay with the monks for a short time, and both received additional training during that time, and then Dean had to leave to reach the US in time to try out for the Olympic team. But there were unexpected travel delays and he missed making the team. He returned home and started college, while Su Ga started a martial arts academy. While Dean was in college, his father funded an expedition to climb Mt. Everest, and he never returned. When Dean graduated from college he went to work as the associate administrator of his father's Alder Academy for Boys, working for Drew Bennett, who his father left in charge of the school. This arrengement continues until they receive news that the elder Alder died on the mountain, and Bennett steps down and turns the job over to Dean.
For years, Dean doesn't believe in the magic of his costume, but in 1938 he decides he might wear it to the school Halloween Party. As he is looking himself over in the mirror he feels it pulling him. He took an involuntary step and stumbled and fell through mirror into the next room. Hilarity ensued as he discovered that he was invisible. Su Ga is in the mansion for a scheduled workout, and is the only one who can see him. He steps through another mirror in the training room in the mansion but there is no change, he turns around in anger and slaps at the back of the mirror - it is the only solid surface he can pass through, so he steps back through the back of the mirror and is now visible again. He tries it out several times - go through the front surface, invisible, while invisible, he can go through the back surface and return to visibility.
At the school costume party, attended by students, parents, faculty and staff, gang comes in with machine guns and demands ransom from everyone. Alder is able to slip out and go through a mirror, then grabs some Indian Clubs and goes back into the party room, where he knocks out the bad buys by throwing clubs at them. He leaves a note on the body - Compliments of the Mirror Man - and the legend of the Mirror Man is born!
His 18 year old son Drew had begged out of the audience - yesterday he'd learned of Dangldan Rirgyud, a traveling gymnastics troup that would be performing today in Lhasa - and currently gymnastics was one of his major passions. Next year he hoped to make the 1932 United States Olympic team, with specialties in Indian Clubs, Rope Climbing and the Horse, and he was hoping there might be some techniques and routines demonstrated today that he might adapt as his own. Since this is Drew's story, not David's, we will note that The Dalai Lama granted David a permit to return to Tibet with his climbing expedition - and then go look in on Drew at the exhibition...
Drew was fascinated by the presentation of 'The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation'! The Dangldan Rirgyud troupe claimed that these Rites improved flexibility and helped maintain or restore youthful vigor, in people aged well into the nineties. Some of the performers did appear to be quite old - their hair was white, their faces wrinkled - and yet, they were displaying agility that rivaled anything Drew had ever seen exhibited, even among Olympic-class gymnasts! With his translator, he approached the leader of the troupe.
"Can you teach me those exercises?" he asked.
"Certainly," the troupe leader looked him over. "It only takes a few minute to learn the physical exercises. But without the proper breathing techniques and mental discipline, they are just exercises like any others. It takes several days to learn the breathing techniques and several weeks of study to learn the mental disciplines required to achieve the full benefits of these simple exercises."
It had taken almost 10 minutes of laborious translation and repetition of ideas before both men were certain Drew understood fully - they were discussing topics outside the normal conversational range the translator was used to. Drew was dashed - he'd hoped he might pick up something here today that might help him in the Olympic trials. But wait! 'The trials are almost 6 months from now!'
Some excited conversation facilitated by the translator; Yes, Drew could travel with the troupe for 3 months, and they would be pleased to train him in the Five Rites and other aspects of Tibetan gymnastics and the other arts they practiced as well. In exchange, Drew would perform all the regular duties of a member of the troupe, including performing, and in return provide instruction in some of the techniques and routines used by American gymnasts. All Drew had to do was convince his father. Who was easy!
<Drew becomes friends with Su Ga, a very large, tall, strong man from Chemdo.
Three months, more than 24 performances and a lot of hard work later, the reached the town of Lyle.
understood following your passion - and the Alder family fortune was easily able to absorb any additional expenses Drew might incur.
Dean Alder is in Tibet in 1930. He is 17 years old.
Why is he in Tibet? His rich father wants to be the first man to reach the top of Mount Everest, and he has come to Tibet to petition the Dali Lama to grant him permission for an expedition. The Dali Lama agrees after a month of discussion. During that time, Dena observes some very different gymnastics and decides he wants to train with the gymnasts; he is interested in competing in the 1932 Olympics and is already considered a leading candidate for the team, specializing in the Indian Clubs, Rope Climbing, and Vault events. When the Lama grants the permit, David Alder allows his son to stay for a year. Dean travels with the traveling gymnastics show and trains with them until they reach a small village named Lyle in the mountains. High above is the Temple of Looba. When they arrive in Lyle, they discover that a religious ceremony will be occurring shortly in the temple; Dean decides to attend. With a fellow member of the troupe, Su Ga, a giant strongman without much English, and a guide, they climb partway to the temple on a narrow ledge which winds around the mountain - after an hour or so climb, they enter a rift in the mountainside and come to a man-made wall. The guide opens a secret passage in the wall, which reveals a stairway; the climb the stairs for another hour and finally reach the temple where they are greeted by a monk named 'Brother Bright' (English translation). Bright guided them to the ceremony, where the High Lama of the temple, Looba, was being carried in a pagoda by several acolytes and followed by a procession of the more advanced monks, to the ceremony grounds where he would promote a class of students to the next rank. Dean spotted a white man about to shoot at the High Lama with a rifle, and tackled him, causing the shot to miss. (Instead, the shot hit another monk named Atar, who swore a secret oath of vengeance against Alder.)
The white man was drunk, no one knew how he'd arrived at the temple. He was put in a locked cell until he awakened and could be questioned, but his single guard freed him almost immediately and the two men disappeared. The missing guard was a new acolyte who had already shown hatred for Looba, so everyone figured the pair was in cahoots. A month later, their bodies were found by two villagers of Lyle - they had both apparently climbed to the walls of the monastery and jumped to their deaths. In secret, Atar had kidnapped the white man from a recent mountain climbing expedition, using magic to make the expedition think the man had fallen to his death, and had hypnotized both the white man and the acolyte into carrying out his orders.
In gratitude for saving him, the High Lama gave Dean his magic garment, and invited both Dean and Su Ga to live in the monastery for a while. the garment will give him great magical powers, but it must be attuned to his body and they don't really know the nature of the powers; it works differently for everyone who wears it. Dean tries it on, but doesn't notice any powers, so he packs it away and ignores it.
They both stay with the monks for a short time, and both received additional training during that time, and then Dean had to leave to reach the US in time to try out for the Olympic team. But there were unexpected travel delays and he missed making the team. He returned home and started college, while Su Ga started a martial arts academy. While Dean was in college, his father funded an expedition to climb Mt. Everest, and he never returned. When Dean graduated from college he went to work as the associate administrator of his father's Alder Academy for Boys, working for Drew Bennett, who his father left in charge of the school. This arrengement continues until they receive news that the elder Alder died on the mountain, and Bennett steps down and turns the job over to Dean.
For years, Dean doesn't believe in the magic of his costume, but in 1938 he decides he might wear it to the school Halloween Party. As he is looking himself over in the mirror he feels it pulling him. He took an involuntary step and stumbled and fell through mirror into the next room. Hilarity ensued as he discovered that he was invisible. Su Ga is in the mansion for a scheduled workout, and is the only one who can see him. He steps through another mirror in the training room in the mansion but there is no change, he turns around in anger and slaps at the back of the mirror - it is the only solid surface he can pass through, so he steps back through the back of the mirror and is now visible again. He tries it out several times - go through the front surface, invisible, while invisible, he can go through the back surface and return to visibility.
At the school costume party, attended by students, parents, faculty and staff, gang comes in with machine guns and demands ransom from everyone. Alder is able to slip out and go through a mirror, then grabs some Indian Clubs and goes back into the party room, where he knocks out the bad buys by throwing clubs at them. He leaves a note on the body - Compliments of the Mirror Man - and the legend of the Mirror Man is born!