over his shoulders and putting a sable hat on his head. Opposite him on the carpet with their legs tucked up are three people – Temujin, Hasar and Belgutei. Jamukha stands next to Toghrul. TOGHRUL: Oh Temujin, didn’t I tell you last year: Your shattered people, I will miraculously tether, Your scattered people, I will bring them together? It looks like your selfishness and arrogance prevented you from asking for help? TEMUJIN: Yes, I remember your kind words, Ong Khan. I know that with great difficulty, you painstakingly collect fragments of clans and tribes. I did not want to burden you. You begin to bring some together as others disintegrate, and just as you bring others in, the latter disperse again. I was late in getting married because of these endless efforts to unite the people. TOGHRUL: One time, your father, Yesugei helped to rally my own tribe, mired in strife, where everyone imagined themselves as rulers. These clouds are now gathering over you. Without asking advice from me, your father’s replacement, you fell into a swamp of ignorance. I’m here to receive you; it was not by chance I came out here, wearing a sable hat and a fur coat. These expensive things were sewn on a special order from Dai Setsen and were originally intended for the matchmaker, Yesugei Khan, but they were destined to be received by me. In the year of your wedding, Borte, the clever daughter-in-law said: ‘You have replaced Temujin’s father, so the sable coat and hat rightfully belong to you.’ So she gave them to me. Now that sweet girl named Borte was taken like cattle by the Merkits. TEMUJIN: That is what has happened, Ong Khan. HASAR: Yes, the villains came at night. What could we do? BELGUTEI: We were awakened by the old woman, Keikuat and daughter-in-law Borte. They warned us when they heard the stomping and whinnying of horses, and thus saved us from impending doom. TOGHRUL: Then I must repeat what I said a year ago. Your shattered people, I will miraculously tether, Your scattered people, I will bring them together. Merkits are rootless, Having stuffed their eye sockets with sand, Let’s chop them all down, and plunge them into sorrow. Borte, honoured as a Khansha, (honourable first wife of a Khan), We will return her to you, believe me. My warrior brother Jamukha, what
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