DAI SETSEN: What do you mean ‘we turned up’? Who else has come with you? YESUGEI: My son is with me. As I said, he is almost an adult. I went out to pick a bride for him. DAI SETSEN: What are you talking about? Oh my god, where is he, your son? YESUGEI: He lacks the courage to come inside. He’s outside in the courtyard. DAI SETSEN: If Yesugei is such a valiant warrior, why is his son so timid? YESUGEI: Well, his habit is that as soon as he steps into someone else’s yard, he doesn’t even dismount from his horse as he’s afraid the dogs will bite him if he does. A strange one he is. If you were to set him face to face against a bear, he wouldn’t even flinch, but for whatever reason, he is terrified of dogs. DAI SETSEN: So, that’s how it is. Satin! Quickly, go to the yard, help the boy get off his horse and bring him into the yurt. How shameful that this zhigite (brave young man of marriageable age) has travelled from afar after a bride and we keep him in the yard for so long in the freezing wind. YESUGEI: Not to worry, it was I who did not lower him from the saddle. I thought it would be a short greeting; that I would say hello and immediately go back. DAI SETSEN: It turns out that even the all-knowing Yesugei the Warrior did not consider it necessary to remind his adult son, ‘Come in, say hello and shake this old man’s hand’. At this time, Dai Setsen’s wife Satin enters the house with an eleven-year-old boy of average height with a keen gaze. He is wearing a quilted camisole/jacket the colour of blood, a round-shaped borik hat, cloth pants made of Chinese silk and boots with thickened heels. As soon as he enters, the boy puts his hand to his chest and, looking at Dai Setsen, greets him with a low bow. YESUGEI: Here is my son that is afraid of dogs. His name is Temujin. (To his son) Say hello; this is Dai Setsen, the leader of the local clan. Come on now,
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