BORTE: What is reprehensible in this? GENGHIS KHAN: You brought all the children together with girls of your kind. Are there really no other worthy brides from any of the other tribes? BORTE: There are plenty. I don’t know whether you remember or not, but in the old days our Yesugei-ata, having come to my father and finished with matchmaking said, ‘Our Kiyat family might have a good grip when it comes to business, but we’re rather weak with words. If you and I seal our kinship, then both of our wings will flourish, won’t they?’ And then my father replied, ‘The sabre cannot be controlled by the conquered people; their language must be ruled.’ The results of the control of language are obvious – my father’s daughter’s grandchildren, Jochi and Chagatai, brought the entire forest people under the shade of your power without ever firing a shot or hurling a spear. They did it with their consent. GENGHIS KHAN: Do you think if I did not take you as a wife and if all my children did not marry your sisters then we would turn into a tribe of half-breeds unable to either lead or rule the people? That if it was not for your tribe, I could not be called a great Kagan and extend my power to China? When will you stop passing off all my achievements as the successes of your relatives? BORTE: We can forget the truth, but the truth does not forget us, domineering Khan. To be more precise, the blood of my relatives is also raging in your veins. Is it worth boiling so much about it? GENGHIS KHAN: I don’t know, but your every word boils and boils my raging blood, which you know well. BORTE: If you have forgotten, then I will remind you of something else. After you were elected the Khan of all Mongolia, in your first Great Khan Decree you wrote the following words, ‘If a girl is born in the Khongirad family, then she will undoubtedly be called a Khansha from generation to generation; if a boy from the same generation, he is obliged to marry and give his offspring to the Khansha. This Decree applies to everyone in the initial month of each of the four seasons and must be read from generation to generation, continuously.’ Do you remember
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