I had a husband, called Shiledu, Ruffling his unshaven forelock, On a frosty day, you took me from him, You broke his heart without remorse. You’re disgusting rabble, sick, broken, He wandered away, driven out by you. The mountains and rocks swayed, and the forests rustled, echoing, then Daridai the Archer came and offered me words of consolation: ‘Your beloved has wandered off In flight, but not out of grief. Your protector and supporter, He renounced his relatives and hid. His roar was like a camel; He will not see you, Though they search the forest, He will scatter his tracks. You start to watch – only the darkness will tighten, Scream and your voice will fade, So don’t cry in the night, Don’t cry in vain.’ How much more I have cried and yearned, but the day came when I said to myself, ‘God decided on this, and I must submit.’ And so I became the wife of Yesugei. All the relatives and friends of Yesugei, just as they rejoiced yesterday having defeated the Merkits, had fun, celebrated the wedding and danced in such a way that, in the old words of the Mongols, ‘Their ribs were swollen and their knees buckled,’ that is, to say they danced to the point of dropping. A wide plain between mountain slopes. The murmur of water in the Tula River is heard in this beautiful corner of nature, decorated with pines and firs. Temujin and Jamukha admire the landscape. JAMUKHA: I did not think there were such beautiful places in Altai, Temujin. Just look what rich colours are here. TEMUJIN: Yes, Jamukha, I share your delight. What have we seen? All we saw were orphans, children and people in fear for their lives. These poor souls survived, fell into captivity, survived, fell into captivity again, and continued with their tormented lives. There are no friends except for your own shadow; there is no support except for the Almighty, and when you cannot look for it, you have no time to admire nature. It seems that eternal battles with an inveterate enemy and struggles and showdowns with envious relatives are the only things that have occupied my mind for years. JAMUKHA: Now all that is left behind, Temujin. After all, our main opponents, the Merkits

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