Genghis Khan, Makers of History SeriesAbbott, Jacob
History
Genghis Khan, Makers of History Series
Abbott, Jacob
Genghis Khan, 1162-1227; Mongols -- History
The name of the khan who ruled over these people was Temujin. Temujin
assembled his forces as soon as he could, and went to meet the
invaders. A great battle was fought, and Yezonkai was victorious.
Temujin was defeated and put to flight. Yezonkai encamped after the
battle on the banks of the River Amoor, near a mountain. He had all
his family with him, for it was often the custom, in these
enterprises, for the chieftain to take with him not only all his
household, but a large portion of his household goods. Yezonkai had
several wives, and almost immediately after the battle, one of them,
named Olan Ayka, gave birth to a son. Yezonkai, fresh from the battle,
determined to commemorate his victory by giving his new-born son the
name of his vanquished enemy. So he named him Temujin.[B] His birth
took place, as nearly as can now be ascertained, in the year of our
Lord 1163.
[Footnote B: The name is intended to be pronounced _Tim-oo-zhin_.]
Such were the circumstances of our hero's birth, for it was this
Temujin who afterward became renowned throughout all Asia under the
name of Genghis Khan. Through all the early part of his life, however,
he was always known by the name which his father gave him in the tent
by the river side where he was born.
Among the other grand personages in Yezonkai's train at this time,
there was a certain old astrologer named Sugujin. He was a relative of
Yezonkai, and also his principal minister of state. This man, by his
skill in astrology, which he applied to the peculiar circumstances of
the child, foretold for him at once a wonderful career. He would grow
up, the astrologer said, to be a great warrior. He would conquer all
his enemies, and extend his conquests so far that he would, in the
end, become the Khan of all Tartary. Young Temujin's parents were, of
course, greatly pleased with these predictions, and when, not long
after this time, the astrologer died, they appointed his son, whose
name was Karasher, to be the guardian and instructor of the boy. They
trusted, it seems, to the son to give the young prince such a
training in early life as should prepare him to realize the grand
destiny which the father had foretold for him.
There would be something remarkable in the fact that these predictions
were uttered at the birth of Genghis Khan, since they were afterward
so completely fulfilled, were it not that similar prognostications of
greatness and glory were almost always offered to the fathers and
mothers of young princes in those days by the astrologers and
soothsayers of their courts. Such promises were, of course, very
flattering to these parents at the time, and brought those who made
them into great favor. Then, in the end, if the result verified them,
they were remembered and recorded as something wonderful; if not, they
were forgotten.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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