Minshee was fifteen years old. She lived in a village at the top of a very high mountain. The name of the village was Chumly.

The village of Chumly was built around a lake that filled a crater at the top of the mountain. The water in the lake was always warm.
At one end of the lake the water spilled over to make a river that flowed down the side of the mountain.

There were about two-hundred people in the village, adults, and children. Life was peaceful and comfortable and happy.

The village had never been involved in any of the many wars that were fought among people far away from the mountains in the many cities of the country. There always seemed to be a war going on somewhere in the country. The villagers heard the news from travellers who visited the village from time to time.

Unfortunately, eventually a war came to the village.

Two mighty creatures fell out of the sky one day from the stars, fighting each other. Both creatures had bodies that were human. One had the head of a donkey. The other the head of a monkey.

Nobody knew why they were fighting each other, nor whence they came. They had superhuman strength and speed. They fought everywhere over the whole country. Some people said those two creatures took their fighting all over the world. They didn't care what or who they destroyed while they were fighting each other. When those creatures were fighting, people ran for cover.

What was worse than their fighting was that every time they grabbed something to throw at each other that thing would turn into an ugly monster. If the creature at whom the monster was thrown grabbed the monster the monster would explode into dust. Sometimes the monster would escape both creatures. Then people would have to be on guard against the monster.

After days and days of the fighting between the two creatures lots of stones and trees and animals and people had been turned into monsters that escaped. There were so many monsters around that the people became more scared of the monsters than of the two fighting creatures.

People in Minshee's village of Chumly became extra careful. The children were not allowed to play out of sight of the adults in the village.

Minshee loved to play at fighting a monster with her toy wood-sword her Dad had made for her. Her Dad had made the sword for her long before the two creatures fell fighting out of the sky.

Out of canvas cloth he had made a belt and scabbard for her so that she could wear her sword at her side. Her Dad had made another sword, too, so that Minshee could play sword-fighting with her Dad and Mom and some of the other children in the village.

Minshee did not have siblings. Minshee became very adept at swinging the sword, in attack, and at blocking, in defence.

One day when she was playing at sword-fighting all by herself, the two creatures suddenly appeared. As usual, they were battling each other. The monkey-head one was kicked ferociously by the donkey-head one.

Monkey-head crashed against a boulder near Minshee. Minshee tried to get out of the way. She wasn't fast enough. Monkey-head grabbed her to throw at Donkey-head. As he lifted Minshee above his head to fling her at donkey-head, Minshee swung her toy sword and jabbed it twice. Once in each eye.

Monkey-head howled in pain. Minshee fell to the ground as it put its hands to its eyes. For a few seconds monkey-head couldn't see anything. That was all the time donkey-head needed.

Donkey-head jumped on monkey-head and stomped it to death. Donkey-head then flopped down and leaned its back against a boulder. It was so tired. It panted vigorously as it sat. It saw Minshee.

She was still lying on the ground where she had fallen when monkey-head let her go. She lay still, playing dead. She was very, very frightened, hoping that donkey-head would not notice her. She still had her toy wood-sword in her hand its tip stained with the blood of monkey-head's eyes on it.

Donkey-head looked at her and snapped his fingers at her. Minshee had no control over her movements. She found herself standing up and looking at donkey-head, her eyes stuck wide-open in terror. She clutched her sword.

Donkey-head made a short wave of its hand for her to come sit next to it. Minshee did not want to do it. She was too scared to trust a donkey-head creature.

She found herself helplessly floating through the air towards it, her feet off the ground. It was using supernatural powers to bring her to its side, against her will.

When she was sitting next to donkey-head, it smiled and looked at her toy sword.

"Hmh," it grunted. "So, that's the magic weapon that helped me defeat my enemy, huh?"

"It's not a magic weapon," Minshee said softly and tremblingly. She didn’t want to make donkey-head angry. So she spoke the truth.

"It's just a toy wood-sword my Dad made for me," she said. "A toy, huh?" smiled donkey-head. "Uh-huh" said Minshee, her trembling voice barely audible through her fear. "Not anymore," said Donkey-head.

It pointed to the sword. A stream of blue fire shot out from its finger and enveloped the sword. Minshee tried to throw the sword out of her hand. She didn't want to get burned. The sword stuck to her hand. The fire did not burn her. She did not feel any pain.

The fire extinguished itself completely just as instantly as it had ignited. The sword looked just as it did before. Nothing special at all.

Donkey-head said to Minshee, "As long as that sword touches any part of you it will be indestructible. As long as it is in touch with any part of you it will warn you when you're in danger. Whenever you use that sword to defend yourself and anyone you care for, whatever and whoever it touches will explode into dust. What you have to be careful about, little girl, is that the dust does not blow into your face. The dust will affect you in the same way that ordinary dust does. For a few seconds you won't be in control like my enemy here was not in control when you poked it in the eyes."

"But," said Minshee, "I'm not an adult yet. I don't have the strength to use this sword in a real fight."

"Don't worry," said donkey-head. "The sword will do all the fighting for you. All you have to do is hold onto it. The sword will deflect and reduce to dust anything that anyone throws or shoots at you."

"There's going to be a lot of dust," said Minshee softly to herself.

"Uh-huh," said donkey-head. "Sorry about that, little girl."

"What if someone else holds my sword?" asked Minshee.

Donkey-head looked at her and smiled. "Clever girl. Excellent question. In the hands of anyone else it will be only a toy wood-sword. No powers at all."

Donkey-head stood. It picked up the corpse of monkey-head, and slung it over its shoulder.

"Now," it said, "I have to go home."

"Where do you live?" asked Minshee before she could stop the question coming out of her mouth.

"Up there," it said. "Among the stars. The war is still going on up there. Monkey-head here and I were fighting each other so furiously we got lost. We fell onto your world. Thank you for your help, little one," it said. "You're welcome," said Minshee.

"I have a daughter the same age as you." "What's her name? My name is Minshee." "Bowzhong," it said, and added "Minshee is an unusual and pretty name."

It flew up and away so fast it disappeared from Minshee's sight even though she stared hard after it flying away with dead monkey-head on its shoulder.

Minshee thought to herself "So is Bowzhong. An unusual and pretty name. I think I will name this sword of mine Bowzhong." She did, repeatedly as she walked home practising swings and jabs and blockings with her Bowzhong.