Golden Bow
Aahh.. This bow you see, has a lot of story behind it.
Bows are one of the oldest of all projectile weapons and there is a great variety of bows. But the Golden Bow, is one of a kind, its one of the known as 'self bows'. Self bows are made of a stave of wood which thickens in the middle, the handle; and a string.
The Golden Bow is a bow made of a special material, the stave of wood, is a combination of a rare wood and gold; the string is a golden silk cord which has magical attributes. At the Golden Bow's belly, immediatly above the grip on one side, there is a narrow strip of leather which protects the bow from the rub of the arrow as it passes by.
The type of arrows the Golden Bow can use is governed by the bow itself. You cannot use any type of arrows with any bow, some bows require some specific arrows; and some arrows require specific bows. The Golden Bow can use heavy sharpened foreshaft featherless arrows and broadhead arrows. The arrows used with the Golden Bow are made of a special rare wood from pine trees that can only be found north of the Arctic circle. This is the best wood for arrows.
There are many techniques for drawing and loosing the string. Some use the arrow to draw the string, others use the arrow and their fingers, others use their hands and feet; but for the Golden Bow, I use the thumb ring technique. The thumb ring method consists in wearing a protecting ring of jade upon my thumb, to protect it against injury from the great pressure of the string, hooking the thumb about the latter and locking the thumb with my first finger. Then the string is loosed by disengaging the finger and thumb. This method gives the most range and accuracy you can get with this type of bow.
When I was young, after I became a rogue, I went to a carnage and saw a tall person shooting arrows with his bow. Amazed I asked someone what weapon that was. After that I went back to my village and asked my old mother if I could get a bow, and smiling she said "Sure, why not.. Visit the blacksmith that lives near the mountain where the Tiger Palace is located and ask him to make you a very special bow".
So I went to the Tiger Palace and searched for the blacksmith. Once I found the blacksmith he told me to gather wood from which gold grew and the leaves from this same tree, that this tree could be found in the Arctic lands. I went north of the blacksmith's little village to the Arctic lands and found the tree. I could not believe it, gold was growing from the tree's trunk. I took out an axe and took one of the big branches of the tree along with its leaves.
When I got back to the blacksmith's house, he smiled to me saying that he was glad I had found the tree, and that I had come back safe, for there are many polar bears in that area and usually people get attacked by them. To my surprise, he threw the branch of the tree in a very hot place, trying to melt it; while I was thinking he's going to burn the wood just to get the gold out of it! I had fallen asleep nearby, waiting for him to finish the bow I wanted so much. Moments later he woke me up and showed me a very shiny stave of wood. He told me to get the leaves and start tearing them, that this tree's leaves were used to make a special golden silk. He taught me how to make the silk out of the leaves and after some hours I had a golden string cord for my bow. Once the golden string was braced to the bow; my bow was ready, but I had no arrows.
The blacksmith told me of a legendary carpenter who could make very good arrows, and that he lived in the wilderness. He gave me a bag full of arrow heads, broadheads and heavy sharpened heads. He also attached a narrow strip of leather above the grip.
Times passed and I could not find the legendary carpenter, I was lost in the wild; hungry and tired I fainted. When I woke up, first thing I saw was a wolf sleeping beside me. As I stood up, the wolf woke up and tried to play with me. Later the wolf tried to tell me to follow it somewhere, so I did. We walked for about an hour, then I saw a small hut with logs outside of it. Immediatly I thought, this must be the legendary carpenter's place! I ran to the door and knocked, a strong voice answered "Who is it?". The door opened and the man saw the wolf and told me to come in. I explained him about the bow and the arrows I needed, and he gladly told me to get him wood logs from pine north of the Arctic circle and to come back.
Once again, at the Arctic, heading north to find these pine trees I saw a few polar bears laying on the ground as the wolf was still following me and staring at the polar bears as they were laying on the ground. I found a group of pine trees and cut one down, the wolf helped me carry it back to the carpenter's hut. When we arrived, the carpenter asked me if I wanted loose arrow heads or not; and ignorantly I asked what was a loose arrow head. He replied its a type of arrow that once it hits the target, the head of the arrow stays in the victim and it does not come out causing severe pain and damage. I told him I wanted the broadhead arrows with the loose heads and the heavy sharpened foreshaft arrows the other way.
People have asked me several times, "if the Golden Bow is your favorite weapon, why don't you wear it all the time?". The answer is simple, when the bow is not in use, it is unbraced keeping it from the strain except when in actual use. In other words, wearing a bow just to show it off is the same as harming your bow or trying to break it.
Winner of First place - Silla Story Contest - Favorite Weapon
Baekho Diahann