GENGHIS KHAN: That is impossible, for we are running out of time. According to my intelligence, the Tatars’ attorneys went to the Chinese for help. We must hurry. I’ll assign the command over these hostilities to Jamukha. Jamukha, what do you think about this? Jamukha is absent. He has not shown up for the council. Jamukha! I can’t hear your answer. BELGUTEI: Your Majesty, two messengers have come from him. He informs you he cannot take part in the meeting of the council. GENGHIS KHAN: (Frowning) I wonder what could have possibly happened to him that he would miss the council today. I truly wonder, what is his reason? BELGUTEI: The reason is…trivial, I am ashamed to say out loud. GENGHIS KHAN: Speak now that you’ve started. BELGUTEI: Jamukha’s men, mistaking our three-hundred horses for the cattle of the Naiman and Tatars committed barymta (cattle theft). Our soldiers caught up with them and with a shockpar (a club with a weighty knob) killed the leader of the barymtas. The deceased turned out to be a close relative of Jamukha, and therefore, fearing your wrath, he did not come to the council. More precisely, he lacked the spirit. HASAR: Tsk! How can he ‘lack spirit’ if he, out loud, accuses Temujin’s men of deliberately killing his relative? Genghis Khan stands in thought. The Khan’s palace. Genghis Khan is on the golden throne. Borte enters and bows respectfully. GENGHIS KHAN: You have been trying to see me for several days now; what do you want to say? How is our firstborn, Jochi doing? We named him ‘Jochi’ (traveller) because he was born on the road during our nomadic wandering. BORTE: According to the ancient custom of the Kazakhs, a firstborn son is not the father’s or mother’s child, but the grandfather’s and grandmother’s. Jochi is currently in his grandmother’s care. GENGHIS KHAN: It’s such a blessing to grow up in the arms of a grandfather and grandmother, to receive their wisdom. But a child raised solely by a grandmother can only mature so much. Like a plant in the shade, it can only grow to be gentle, just a grandmother’s son. In two years, take Jochi with you and make him into a real Mongolian warrior whose body will still thrash at the enemy even if you cut off his head. There are many battles ahead of us,
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