Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Altani's grip saved Tolui
The Knife
Hoelun had given the man food, as she did for everyone, and he realized whose mother she was and whose child Tolui was. He snatched the boy in one hand, pulled out a knife with the other, and ran out. Altani raced after him and held his arm down.
The Reward
Behind the ger, Jebe and Jelme were slaughtering an ox with an ax, which Mongols do in the shade and never in the light. They ran out with the ax and killed the man. When Genghis Khan handed out rewards, the two expected one for saving Tolui, but he told them they had only killed the Tatar. Altani had saved the boy's life by holding the knife hand until they arrived, so she was the one he would reward.
A Ruling Daughter
The next line of the Mongol chronicle called the Secret History breaks off after a few words, and most translators fill it in as marrying off the daughters. Genghis Khan's own wedding speeches to his daughters point the other way. He told them they had three husbands: their honor, their nation, and the man he gave them, and that man went to war with his soldiers while she stayed to rule the people. Altani ruled the Ongud people, and Chinese visitors to her court found that she could read and write, served as supreme judge, and allowed no death sentence without her permission.
Why did Genghis Khan marry daughters to other rulers?
Marriage alliances tied neighboring peoples to the Mongols. The Ongud, who lived near the Great Wall, were allied through his daughter's marriage. The Uyghur ruler Barchuk was made a son-in-law and was said to be treated as a fifth son. The husband went off with his army, as Genghis Khan put it, while the daughter administered the home territory.
How did Jebe become one of Genghis Khan's generals?
Jebe began as an enemy archer named Jirqo'adai, who shot Temujin's horse in battle. When Temujin asked who had fired the shot, he admitted it and offered to serve. Temujin pardoned him and gave him the name Jebe, which means arrowhead. He later campaigned with Subutai through the Caucasus and into Russia, where they defeated Russian princes at the Kalka River in 1223.
More from Lex Fridman Podcast
