dust towered from the stampede of approaching soldiers and engulfed us. We knew Yesugei was leading them. BORTE: What happened? HOELUN: What could we do after that? I told Shiledu, ‘These people are plotting evil. You will not be left alive. Better to not perish in vain; save yourself and you will find another girl. If you miss me, then call your new wife by my name. If you miss me, then breathe in my scent, but now you need to disappear.’ I threw him my blue handkerchief, and Shiledu caught it. The soldiers were rushing towards us with might and main, so he whipped the bay horse and rushed towards the Onon River. BORTE: I feel sorry for him. After all, they caught the poor man by surprise, so how can you not sympathise with him? Why did he not take two or three companions with him? Did he not know that bloody clashes often happen there because of young warriors? Also, why didn’t he get engaged to you? HOELUN: Mongols never get engaged. All wives are acquired through kidnapping or sudden capture from each other. BORTE: And so they don’t pick out a wife? HOELUN: (Laughing). What kind of picking can there be? To these people, all men are participants in the sport of kokpara, with the girl being the torn goat. They will pick up a beauty and, throwing her on their horse’s rump, get as far away as possible. Such is the fate of a Mongolian girl, a Bortezhan. In these parts, you are the only one who got engaged and married. And despite this, did the perspicacious Dai Setsen not escort you all the way to your house with a detachment of soldiers? BORTE: Judging by your words, you still seem to remember Shiledu. HOELUN: (After a pause) Yes, you definitely noticed. It stuck in my memory. I occasionally recall… BORTE: He’s probably married already. HOELUN: For sure. Can any sane man live without women? I heard that he kidnapped another girl. BORTE: And what name did he… give her? HOELUN: He gave her my name and put my handkerchief around her. BORTE: I’m guessing when you parted with him, you were very worried? HOELUN: Yes, I was worried to put it mildly. When Yesugei lifted me from his horse, I sat on the hillock and burst into tears. Then
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241