boiled reeds to their core and rhizome of grasses. Didn’t she save you from death? And when she got to her family and friends, wasn’t she trembling with fear that you, especially you, were being hunted by the enemies who killed your father? How can you disparagingly call such a woman a katyn – a baba? Borte, as if feeling satisfaction that her words made Genghis Khan think, succumbing to the urge to cross along the floor, begins pacing back and forth and straightening the rumpled hem of her white dress. Throwing the braids that have fallen on her chest over her shoulders, she removes the borik hat with owl feathers from her head, revealing a moon-shaped miniature decoration on her forehead before putting the hat back on. Genghis Khan, as if only now, notices her beautiful posture. She is a beauty that has not faded over the years. He surreptitiously looks at her, admiring her and restraining a smile. GENGHIS KHAN: Seeing your vigorous movements and gestures, you do not look like a woman who has experienced oppression and suffering. On the contrary, you have bloomed. What is your secret for an appearance of such elegance? (Laughs lightly) BORTE (Looking serious) Laughter is unusual for the Khan. GENGHIS KHAN: Your tongue, though, is my main enemy. How many times do I have to warn you? BORTE: A woman’s skull is just a dish from which the Khan drinks kumis or wine. Why are you targeting my head? Why should I be discouraged just by being fenced off from the palace? After all, the rabble is in the corral and the Khan is on the throne. Your name and glory, both on Earth and under the heavens, blaze like a fire that engulfed thickets of reeds. All four of my sons are safe and sound, and all, as you asked God, have become mighty tigers. They didn’t complain that their father had alienated their mother from the palace, and enquiring as to my health, all four of them take turns to visit me. These sons are four pillars, four walls of mine. Knowing this perfectly well, why should I walk like a repentant sinner, like a drowned woman? GENGHIS KHAN: (To himself) This woman… this woman does not say such words for no reason. There is a terrible meaning behind them. If I
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