Skip to content
Laarimbu and Qiimunso, a MythSource painting
Central and Eastern Asian

Laarimbu and Qiimunso

01Identity

Laarimbu and Qiimunso in Central and Eastern Asian tradition

In the Mongghul song “Laarimbu and Qiimunso,” Qiimunso herds oxen on the plain while Laarimbu tends sheep in the mountains. Their herds mingle, and the two young herders fall in love. Her wealthy family opposes her attachment to a poor servant, and her elder brother moves to keep them apart.

The song follows their reunion, Laarimbu’s murder at her brother’s hand, and Qiimunso’s grief. When Laarimbu’s body is placed on a funeral pyre, she joins him in the flames. Their ashes are buried on opposite banks of a river, but two mimosa trees grow there and reach towards one another. Her brother cuts the trees and burns the wood; a pair of mandarin ducks then flies from his chimney, blinds him, and escapes together. The song gives Qiimunso and Laarimbu shared central roles, and its closing image gives their union a return beyond death.

SourceLong Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet: Texts in Mongghul, Chinese, and English: 3. Laarimbu and Qiimunso, printed pp. 151-194 (song text begins p. 152)

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Laarimbu and Qiimunso

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Laarimbu and Qiimunso

On the mountain and plain, Laarimbu herds sheep and Qiimunso drives oxen. When their animals mix, the two meet and fall in love. Qiimunso’s elder brother disapproves of the poor servant and wants a wealthier match for his sister. The lovers keep finding one another, singing together and promising not to part. Their herds come down from the mountain, and the pair make a home, but the brother’s anger grows when he learns of their bond.

One night he disguises himself in women’s clothes, enters Laarimbu’s tent, and stabs him. Qiimunso reaches the dying man and tends him, but his wound is fatal. At the funeral she throws herself onto his pyre. The brother has their ashes buried on opposite sides of a river; two mimosa trees rise from the banks and intertwine over the water. He cuts them down and burns the wood. A pair of mandarin ducks flies from the chimney, attacks the brother and blinds him, then takes to the sky together. The song closes with the lovers free in flight, reunited after their deaths.

Laarimbu and Qiimunso, a MythSource painting of the scene