forgetting about their regalia – one khan, another ruler of Urgench – jumps up like arrows fired from a bow.
* * *
The same picture. Genghis Khan is alone. He is like a tiger in a cage, walking up and down in extreme anxiety. Then he stops and in a fit of remorse hits the palm of his other hand with his fist and again begins to pace the room. Having passed to the middle, he becomes rooted to the spot. GENGHIS KHAN: Did I issue an order too harsh? In the heat of anger, did I rush? Why did I doom him to such a cruel punishment? For what? Why did I so easily believe the crackling, scattered rumour – ‘Having recruited an army from the Kipchaks, he is preparing a strike against his father at a convenient moment?’ To check the veracity of this, I spoke with him personally, but I did not notice any hint of latent enmity or rivalry for the throne. First, I fulfilled Borte’s wish: While healthy, divide the lands among the children indicating the share for each son, and for Jochi, leave my native lands – the Kipchak steppes’. Then, at the choice of Jochi himself, I gave him all the vast space from the Volga to the Almaly Mountains, where there are many rivers and lakes. Didn’t he frankly admit, ‘I don’t need anything other than this steppe. If I die, your second grandson, Batu will own this land’? And when I asked, ‘Why did you evade military operations before the capture of Bukhara and Samarkand? Don’t you know that your troops, looking like sheep in a fence under the sultry southern sun, will lose their combat capability?’ But he gave the following justification: ‘Since Jalaladdin and other rulers, who had heard about your glorious victories and power, were not able to resist and, leaving the people, fled, I did not want to waste the blood of ordinary people. They themselves were ready to surrender.’ I was wrong. In a state of passion, I passed a hasty verdict. What should I do now? Should I try to change it? Yes, the punishment must be changed. My son, my firstborn… and as soon as his little hand went up! Will they not call me a bloodsucker Khan
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