Synaptic

I liked Kseniya’s work because it revealed a lot about the culture of the Mongolian Empire and even had a reference to Skywalker which as we know is used in Star Wars. I liked that her bibliography used older and newer references. I liked the set up of a grandmother talking to her grandson. This monologue reads well too.

-Cathy Haustein

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Sleep my little man. Good warriors need a good sleep. Your legs need to be strong to ride the fastest horse for days and nights. Your arms need to be strong to keep a bow and kill your enemies in one shot. Your spirit needs to be strong enough to ride day and night without food. Your guts need to be strong enough to capture new lands and raise the power of our tribe.

Close your eyes, my little beauty, and sleep. Your grandma will be with you. Your crib is warm. Your blanket is made from wool. Do not be afraid, I can protect you. My arrows are fast and my eyes are sharp. I will kill hundreds of wolves if they are so stupid to interrupt your dreams. I will chase any evil spirits that live in the white Frozen Lands if they dare to see you. I am not afraid of these very powerful spirits that penetrate under people’s clothes to turn people into white icy trees. Do not worry, I have a loud voice. I will call the greatest shaman. He will hear me and he will come. He will speak with the Sky, he will beat his drum, he will dance the sacred dance, and all evil spirits will be terrified. They will run as fast as they can to the white Frozen Land and they will never presume to scare you.

Sleep, my brave warrior. When you start to walk I will take you to the Great Mountain. We will ride as many days, as teeth you have. We will climb at the top of the Mountain so you can see the greatest God of the Blue Sky. We will take off our hats, we will look up and we will call him. He will answer you, the greatest great- grandson of Genghis Khan. Tengri, the God of the Blue Sky will answer half-god Mongke, the future Khan of Khans (Hartog, p.7). But we need to be careful. When the Sun falls asleep, Sky-walker starts his hunting (Lamb, p.41). He is a very crafty hunter. He can look different to foolish careless horsemen. Sometimes Sky-walker is as round as a wolf’s eye, sometimes he looks like wolf’s fang. He has a big lasso to capture stupid people who look at him too long. Only the sun can fight him and chase him from the sky. But do not worry, we are not fools. We will speak with Tengri after the sun wins over Sky-walker. We will be safe.

Oh, I will show you lots of sacred places where powerful rivers slow down to show their power and beauty. These are the holy places and even the most powerful people are not permitted to foul it. Rivers have the highest power and will punish people who disrespect them. I know, it is very hard to believe, but at the other end of the world the very stupid people live.

Anybody can reach them if he rides many days and nights in the different direction from the Frozen Lands. These people believe that they are more powerful than rivers. They foul rivers. They take off their dresses and put them into the rivers. And after the dirt is left in rivers they dry their dresses and wear it again. It is true! I saw it by myself. Why do they do it? Only to show that they are not afraid of rivers’ power. Stupid, stupid people. They also like to wash dirt from their bodies and they make the powerful rivers accept the dirt. Why would anybody do that? They do not respect rivers and the rivers gave us a power to fight them, to kill their men, and to capture their livestock. The stupid people will give us their gold until the sun looks at us and until we respect the rivers.

But the stupid people do not understand that. I remember how your half-god great-grandfather, our ruler Genghis Khan told them: “If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you” (Masselos, p.25). Yes, this is the truth. Their God is probably a very powerful God. He lives on the sky and speaks with them from long stone towers. But their shamans are useless. They know how to read spells, but they do not even have drums. How can even the most powerful shaman intimidate evil spirits without drums? I do not know why these people do not tie each shaman to the tails of two horses that run into different directions. They need to use our shamans with good loud drums.

Yes, my little warrior, these people are weird. They even do not eat normal food. They have sheep and hunt for deer and rabbits to eat them. But everybody knows that a wolf, or a dog, or a groundhog is as good as a horse or as a cow. Can you believe that they prefer to starve but do not eat a rat? Instead of that, they eat some weird orange and red balls that they find on trees or even on the ground. They argued that it is sweet and very tasty, but I was not so stupid to eat something that no normal people would eat. Do not worry, my little man, you will eat only high quality food. Tomorrow, your grandma will chew meat from the ribs of the young fox for you. We have a leftover from our supper. I put it in a small leather bag and you will enjoy it. Your brother just milked a black mare. The sour milk is especially good when it is made from her milk. You will enjoy your lunch tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and each day that will come after it.

Sleep, my little warrior, you will grow up big and strong. You will eat more than anybody else. You will drink until you can stand, and you will drink when you could stay, as do all honored men. You will have lots of wives and even more concubines, as it is appropriate for a good warrior. I will not be with you, at that time. I will sleep forever, but our family will help you choose the right wife for you. She will be from a powerful and rich clan. She will bring you even more wealth and respect. She will be a strong woman to give you healthy children. She will be a good hunter to help you in your military companies or to protect your belongings and your children while you will hunt.

Can you imagine, my little man, that there are women that cannot protect themselves? Women from faraway lands cannot use bows. I know it is hard to believe, but it is truth. I saw it. After my second husband kidnapped me from my first husband, I accompanied him in his military company. Oh, I was a good warrior. You can be proud of me. Four other wives and I rode among our men. Our horses were as fast as our men’s horses. Our arrows were as sharp as our men’s arrows. We killed as many enemies as our men killed. We took as much gold as our men took.

I was a good warrior, I was strong and I was as brave as any man. It is not a surprise that men liked me. I was kidnapped four times and I was a good wife for all my men. I gave sons for all of them.

But women from other lands are so useless. Can you imagine, my little man, they do not even know how to use a lance or a hatchet? They wear dresses that are different from what men wear. They believe that it can make them more attractive. They connected long pieces of fabrics and wear it. How, I ask you, how can they ride horses if their dresses do not allow them to even sit on horses? They wear lots of useful stuff on their hands, necks, and in ears. Usually it is made from gold and gems. I saw one woman that wore so many gold hoops that all her hands were covered from her thumbs to her elbows. She wore enough gold to buy as many calves or foals as you can see. But she did not buy livestock; she wore all the gold to make her more attractive to men. Stupid woman! What kind of man would like a woman who cannot ride a horse? Why would a man want a wife that cannot protect her children from wolves?

I remember when my father and my uncles decided that it was time for me to get married. They gave a sable cloak and horses to make me an attractive bride. They presented me red and orange boots. My oldest brother made them for me from soft sheepskin. He did the same boots for himself but painted them in gold and orange. I still wear those boots. My other brother gave me his coat. It was so big that I could wrap it around me two times and I was never cold.

At that time the head of our clan was dead and his first wife was in charge. She was really old, some people told me that she saw the beginning of the summer as many times as you, I, and your mother have on both hands. Yes, she was really old, but she was very clever and lucky. Can you imagine that she never broke any of her bonds? My duties were to serve her and despite the fact that I did not have a son, she treated me with respect. She taught me how to survive in the steppes if I need to enter it alone. She taught me how to resist shamans’ spells if one of them decided to put a love spell on me. When I bind up my hairs, shaved it cross my forehead, and wore a gold diadem, she gave me to my first husband (Lamb, 49). 10 He was Genghis Khan’s son. His mother was the superior wife longer than any other wives. My family made a good choice for me and I was a good wife. I hunted with him and I guarded his belongings if he hunted without me. I respected his clan. I give him two sons and another son, from probably another man. He was a good warrior. He died as a man of honor during the battle in faraway lands. Sleep, my little man. You will never marry a stupid woman from faraway countries. These women are so useless that their men do not even ask that they advance. I always gave good advice to all my husbands. I helped my first husband choose his third wife. She was from a respected and rich clan. She brought us many horses, as you can see. You ride for two days. She brought us two sons from her previous marriage and she gave birth to two more sons. They all were good warriors.

I saved my second husband when warriors in white dresses and with covered faces attacked us. It was only he and I but it was as many enemies as fingers on your hand. They unexpectedly jumped out from a pile of big stones. I did not hesitate; I beat my horse and rode as fast as lighting. I waved my latch and killed one of them. He was very surprised when he died. Other men looked at me and did not move for a couple moments. It gave me a chance to kill another one and my husband fought the rest. He was a good warrior and I was upset when a young Mongol warrior killed him. This warrior was strong and healthy and he made me be his wife.

He was young but clever. He wanted to be married to an experienced woman who knew lots about love and battles. I meet these requirements. When my third husband wanted to use a new weapon that three men from faraway lands gave him, I told him: “Kill them!” They swore that their village accepted him as a ruler. They swore that they loved him as a father. They swore that they were ready to follow him. But I noticed that their eyes were cold and motionless as a snake’s eyes. And I told my husband: “Kill them!” He was a good warrior and he did it. He respected me, but when I became weak he left me in the steppes to die. He found another wife.

Sleep, my little man. Nothing will interrupt your dreams. Nothing will bother you. Your eyes are closed. Your cheeks are pink. Your lips smile. A small drop of milk glitters on your chin. Your tiny fists keep a toy hatchet. You will be a good warrior. You will be a ruthless man.

Works Cited

Lamb, Harold. The March of the Barbarians. Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc., New York, 1940. Print.

Masselos, Jim, eds. The Great Empires of Asia. University of California Press, Berkeley Los Angeles, 2010, Print.

De Hartog, Leo. Genghis Khan Conqueror of the World. I.B. Tauris, New York, 1989. Print.

Phillips, E.D. The Mongols. Frederick A. Praeger, New York, Washington, 1969. Print.