Oral Legends of the Mongols about the Rulers of the Ming Dynasty
In the oral traditions of Mongols there are a lot of legends and stories not only about Genghis Khan and the period of Mongolian Yuan dynasty, but also about the first emperor of the succeeding Ming dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang (1368-1398). These stories, first of all, tell that Zhu Yuanzhang was not of the noble origin, he was the son of a common man and became the king by good fortune. Secondly, they state that the Ming dynasty emperors were Mongols by their origin. Thirdly, all these stories and legends in their form and content are typical for Mongolian folklore. The goal of this article is to introduce the plot and themes of the Mongolian historic legends and stories about the Ming 140 dynasty emperors. Most of the texts of legends and stories were recorded by the author from Agvanchoidor (they were included into the book “The Oral History of Mongolian-Tibetan Buddhism”) and also from other informants during expeditions.