The Successors of Genghis Khan - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian ...

THE SUCCESSORS OF GENGHIS KHAN
*Biirilgitei62 Noyan with an army consisting of 10 lumens of valorous
Turks to the frontiers of Ulugh-Taq,63 *Qanghai,64 and *Qum-
Sengir,65 which lies between Besh-Baliiq and Qara-Qprum, so that
from thence his nerge66 might join the nerge of Qpnquran67 Oghul,
who was in the region of Qayaliq, and whose nerge stretched to the
confines of Otrar. And he sent Moge Noyan68 to the frontier of the
Qiirqiz and the Kem-Kemchi'ut6' with 2 lumens of troops. And to
Oghul-Qaimish and Khwaja, who had not yet arrived, he sent Shilemun
Bitikchi with the following message: "If you had no share with these
men in this conspiracy it is essential for your happiness that you hasten
to Court." When Shilemun had delivered his message, Khwaja
Oghul was about to commit an abominable act upon him. But one of
his wives, lower in rank than the rest but superior in wisdom and
intelligence, prevented his intention and said: "It is the messenger's
duty to deliver his message, and in no age have men molested the
messengers [even] of rebels. How then can one make an attack upon an
ambassador who has come from Mongke Qa'an? And by the killing
of one person what harm can be done to his kingdom, especially as
many evils will spring therefrom ? A sea of unrest and commotion will
rage; the peaceful world will be set in confusion; the flame of calamity
will flare up; and then repentance will be of no avail. Mongke Qa'an
is the aqa and in the position of a father. We must go to him and obey
his command." Khwaja listened to her loving advice with the ear of
consent and showed honor and respect to Shilemun. He set out for
Court accompanied by his wife, and by his good fortune in hearkening
to advice he did not fall into the whirlpool of endless troubles but
alighted in the courtyard of security.
62 The Pu-lin-chi-tai of the Yuan skih. See HWC, p. 246, note 9.
63 The " Great Mountain," in the region of the present-day Kobdo.
64 The Khangai mountain range. See HWC, p. 585, note 107 and p. 609, note 9.
65 See above, Section 2, p. 121, note 95.
66 On nerge, a variant form ofjerge, see Doerfer, I, p. 293.
67 This is the spelling of the name in Juvaini. Qpnqiran was the fourth son of
Orda. See HWC, p. 585 and note 109; also above, p. 105.
68 Juvaim (HWC, p. 585) has Yeke Noyan.
69 The country (strictly speaking, the people) between the Kern (the Upper Yenisei)
and its left-bank affluent, the Kemchik. This was the region then inhabited by the
Qirqiz (Kirghiz) Turks. See HWC, p. 585, note no, Campagnes, p. 317, Khetagurov,
pp. 150-51, andHambis 1956.
214