Volume One元朝秘史 卷01

In the beginning the ancestor of the people of the Yuan was a blue-grey wolf born of Heaven. He was mated with a pale white doe. Together they crossed the water named Tenggis, came to the head of the river named Onon, and settled before the mountain named Burkhan, and there they bore a man. His name was called Batachikhan.

The son Batachikhan bore was named Tamacha. The son Tamacha bore was named Khorichar Mergen. The son Khorichar Mergen bore was named Aujam Boroul. The son Aujam Boroul bore was named Sali Khachau. The son Sali Khachau bore was named Yeke Nidun. The son Yeke Nidun bore was named Semsochi. The son Semsochi bore was named Kharchu.

The son Kharchu bore was named Borjigidai Mergen. The wife of Borjigidai Mergen was named Monggoljin Goa. The son she bore was named Torokholjin Bayan. The wife of Torokholjin was named Borokchin Goa. There was one young servant in the house, named Boroldai Suyalbi. There were also two fine geldings, one the Dair horse and one the Boro horse. Torokholjin Bayan bore two sons. One was named Duwa Sokhor, and one was named Dobun Mergen.

Duwa Sokhor had only one eye, in the middle of his brow, and with it he could see things three days' journey away.

One day Duwa Sokhor went up Mount Burkhan together with his younger brother Dobun Mergen. Looking out from that mountain, Duwa Sokhor saw a company of people coming down along the bank of the river named Tunggelik.

Duwa Sokhor said, "Among those people moving this way there is a black cart, and before it there is a girl who is well favored. If she has not yet been married, let us ask for her as a wife for my younger brother Dobun Mergen." Then he sent Dobun Mergen to go and look.

Dobun Mergen went among that company of people and looked. This girl's name was Alan Goa. She was indeed well favored, and she had not yet been married.

That company of people was the household of Khorilartai Mergen. In the beginning the lord of the land of Khol Barghujin was named Barghudai Mergen. He had one daughter, named Barghujin Goa, and she was married to the official of the Khori Tumad tribe, Khorilartai Mergen, and became his wife. In the land of Arik Usun she bore this daughter named Alan Goa.

This is why Khorilartai Mergen moved. The sable and the squirrel and the other wild game of the land of Khori Tumad were forbidden within his own people, so that he could not hunt them, and he was worn down by it. Then he heard that game was plentiful on Mount Burkhan, and his whole household rose up and went over to the lord of Mount Burkhan, named Sinchi Bayan. For this reason they took Khorilar as their clan name. This is how Dobun Mergen came to take Alan Goa as his wife.

After Dobun Mergen took Alan Goa as his wife, she bore two sons. One was named Bugunutei and one was named Belgunutei.

Duwa Sokhor, the elder brother of Dobun Mergen, had four sons, and while they were living together Duwa Sokhor died. Those four children did not treat their uncle Dobun Mergen as an uncle. They left him behind, parted from him and went away, and they became the clan Dorben.

One day after this, Dobun Mergen went up the mountain named Tokhocha Undur to hunt game. In the forest he met a man of the Uriangkha tribe, who had killed a three-year-old deer and was roasting its ribs and its inner parts.

Dobun Mergen asked him for some of the meat. The Uriangkha man kept the deer's head and its hide and lungs for himself, and gave all the rest of the meat to Dobun Mergen.

Dobun Mergen loaded the deer meat he had been given and was going home. On the road he met a destitute man coming along, leading a son.

Dobun Mergen asked him, "What manner of man are you?" That man said, "I am of the Maalikh Bayaudai. I am destitute now. Give me that deer meat, and I will give you this son of mine."

Dobun Mergen gave him the meat of one hind leg of the deer, and in exchange took that man's son home with him and made him a servant.

After Dobun Mergen died, his wife Alan Goa bore three more children. One was named Bugu Khatagi, one was named Bukhatu Salji, and one was named Bodonchar.

Belgunutei and Bugunutei, the two sons born while Dobun Mergen was alive, said to each other behind her back, "Our mother has no brothers of her own family beside her and no husband, and yet she has borne these three sons. The only man in the house is the man of the Maalikh Bayaudai household. Are they not his?" While they were speaking so, their mother came to know of it.

One day in spring their mother Alan Goa boiled dried mutton, called her five sons before her, and seated them in a row. She gave each one an arrow shaft and told him to break it, and every one of them broke it. Then she bound five arrow shafts together and told them to break them. The five took their turns, and not one of them could break them.

Then their mother Alan Goa said, "Belgunutei, Bugunutei. You two sons doubt who bore these three sons. Your doubt is reasonable.

There is something you do not know. Every night a man yellow and white came in through the bright opening of the roof window and stroked my belly. When his light soaked into my belly, he crawled out along the light of the sun and the moon, like a yellow dog. Do not speak of this carelessly. Seen in this way, they are plainly sons of Heaven, and they are not to be measured against ordinary men. When in later days they become emperors, only then will you know."

Alan Goa went on and taught them, saying, "You five sons all came from this one belly of mine. You are like those five arrow shafts a moment ago. Each one alone, and anyone breaks it easily. If only you brothers are of one heart, you are like these five arrow shafts bound together, and how could another break you easily?" While they were living so, their mother Alan Goa passed away.

After their mother Alan Goa passed away, the four, Belgunutei, Bugunutei, Bugu Khatagi and Bukhatu Salji, divided the household goods of the five brothers among themselves. Saying that Bodonchar was foolish and weak, they did not treat him as a brother, and they gave him no share.

When Bodonchar saw that his elder brothers did not treat him as a brother, he said, "What is there for me to live here for? I will go away. If I die, I die. If I live, I live." So he mounted a pale white horse with a sore on its back and no tail, followed the Onon River, and came to the land named Baljuna Aral, where he built a hut of grass and lived.

While he was living so, Bodonchar saw a young yellow hawk that had caught and was holding a wild pheasant. He thought out a plan, pulled a few strands from a horse's tail and made a snare, and he caught that yellow hawk and kept it.

Having nothing to eat, Bodonchar would shoot down the game that wolves had surrounded at the foot of a cliff, and at times he picked up and ate what the wolves had left. So he kept his hawk, and in this way he passed a winter.

When spring came, the geese and the ducks all arrived. Bodonchar kept his yellow hawk hungry and then flew it, and it caught so many geese and ducks that he could not eat them all, and what he hung on the dead trees all went rotten.

Behind the mountain named Duiren, a company of people came moving along the bank of the Tunggelik River. Every day Bodonchar flew his hawk, then went to these people and asked for mare's milk to drink, and in the evening he went back to his hut of grass to sleep.

Those people asked Bodonchar for this yellow hawk, but he did not give it. Neither side asked the other's name, and they simply lived on so.

Later Bugu Khatagi, the elder brother of Bodonchar, went along the Onon River to look for him. He came to the bank of the Tunggelik River, met that company of people, and asked, "Has such and such a man, on such and such a horse, come this way?"

Those people said, "There is such a man. The horse too is like the one you ask about. He also flies a yellow hawk. By day he comes to us and drinks mare's milk, and at night we do not know where he sleeps. Only, when the northwest wind rises, the feathers of geese and ducks come blowing like snow, so he must live over that way. It is now the hour when he comes each day. Wait here a little."

After a short wait a man was seen coming, and it was indeed Bodonchar. His elder brother knew him and took him back home.

Bodonchar urged his horse on, and as he went following his elder brother he said, "A man's body is better if it has a head, and a coat is better if it has a collar." He said this, but his brother gave him no answer.

Bodonchar said the words he had said before two more times. Only then did his brother say, "You have said this two or three times, and always the same. What is your meaning in it?"

Bodonchar answered, "That company of people by the Tunggelik River just now has no head to hold them together. Great and small there are all alike, and they are easily taken. We could gather them in."

His elder brother said, "If it is so, let us go home. Let the brothers take counsel together, and then let us go and gather them in."

They came home, the brothers took counsel, and they made Bodonchar the vanguard.

Bodonchar went ahead as vanguard and came to that place. He seized a pregnant woman and asked her, "What manner of person are you?" That woman answered, "I am of the Jarchiud Adangkhan Uriangkhajin."

All the rest of the people the five brothers gathered in and brought back. In this way they came to have livestock, and they came to have people to cook for them and to serve them.

Bodonchar took that pregnant woman as his wife, and she bore a son whose name was called Jajiradai. In later days the people of the Jadaran hold him for their ancestor. The son of that Jajiradai was named Tuguudai. The son of Tuguudai was named Buri Bulchiru. The son of Buri Bulchiru was named Khara Khadaan. The son of Khara Khadaan was named Jamukha. So the clan name Jadaran came to be.

That woman bore Bodonchar another son, named Baaridai. In later days he became the ancestor of the people of the Baarin. The son of that Baaridai was named Chiduku Boko. Chiduku Boko took many wives and bore many sons. For this reason the clan name Menen Baarin came to be.

Belgunutei became the clan Belgunut. Bugunutei became the clan Bugunuud. Bugu Khatagi became the clan Khatagin. Bukhatu Salji became the clan Saljiud. Bodonchar became the clan Borjigin.

Bodonchar also took a wife of his own, and she bore a son named Barin Shiratu Khabichi. The woman who had come with Khabichi's mother when she married, Bodonchar took as a concubine, and she bore a son named Jouredai. While Bodonchar was alive he held him for a son, and at the sacrifices he sacrificed together with them.

After Bodonchar passed away, Barin Shiratu Khabichi did not treat Jouredai as a brother. He said, "A man of the Adangkha Uriangkhadai was always coming and going in the house. Is he not perhaps his son?" So he drove him out at the time of the sacrifice. In later days the clan name Joureid came to be.

The son of Khabichi was named Menen Tudun. Menen Tudun bore seven sons. One was Khachi Kuluk, one Khachin, one Khachiu, one Khachula, one Khachiun, one Kharandai, and one Nachin Baatur.

The son of Khachi Kuluk was named Khaidu. Khaidu's mother was named Namolun. The son of Khachin was named Noyagidai. Because it was his nature to like putting on the airs of an official, the clan name Noyakin came to be. The son of Khachiu was named Barulatai. Because he was big of body and ate his food fiercely, the clan name Barulas came to be. The sons of Khachula also ate fiercely, and they were called Great Barula, Little Barula, Erdetu Barula and Todoyen Barula, and these four names were taken for clan names. The sons of Kharandai quarreled over gruel and rice with no regard for elder or younger, and so the clan name Budaad came to be. The son of Khachiun was named Adardai. He was good at sowing discord among brothers, and so the clan name Adarkin came to be. Nachin Baatur bore two sons, one Uruudai and one Mangkhutai, and the two clan names Uruud and Mangkhud came to be. By a woman Nachin Baatur took himself he bore two more sons, one Shijuudai and one Dokholadai.

Khaidu bore three sons. One was Bai Singkhor Dokshin, one Charakhai Lingkhu, and one Chaujin Ortegei. Bai Singkhor Dokshin bore one son, named Tumbinai Sechen. Charakhai Lingkhu bore a son named Senggun Bilge. Senggun Bilge bore a son named Ambaghai, and the clan name Taichiud came to be. Charakhai Lingkhu took his elder brother's widow as his wife and bore another son, named Besutei, and the clan name Besud came to be. Chaujin Ortegei bore six sons. One was Oronar, one Khongkhotan, one Arulad, one Sunid, one Khaturkhas, and one Geniges, and these six clan names came to be.

Tumbinai Sechen bore two sons. One was Khabul Khan and one was Sem Sechule. The son of Sem Sechule was Bultechu Baatur. Khabul bore seven sons. One was Okin Barkhakh, one Bartan Baatur, one Khutukhtu Monggur, one Khutula Khan, one Khulan, one Khadaan, and one Todoyen Otchigin.

The son of Okin Barkhakh was named Khutukhtu Jurki. Khutukhtu Jurki bore two sons, one Seche Beki and one Taichu. They became the clan Jurkin.

Bartan Baatur bore four sons. One was Menggetu Kiyan, one Nekun Taishi, one Yesugei Baatur, and one Daritai Otchigin. Khutukhtu Monggur bore one son, named Buri Boko. It was this Buri Boko who cut and wounded the shoulder of Belgutei, the younger brother of Taizu (Grand Progenitor), at the feast on the bank of the Onon River.

Khutula Khan bore three sons. One was Jochi, one Girmau, and one Altan. The son of Khulan Baatur was Yeke Cheren. There were two servants, one named Badai and one named Kishilik. In later days, when the time of Taizu came, both were made darkhan officials. Only Khadaan and Todoyen, those two, had no sons to follow them.

Khabul the emperor had ruled the many Dadan people. Though Khabul the emperor had seven children, he entrusted it to none of them, but had Ambaghai, the child of Senggun Bilge, take charge of it.

There is Lake Buir and there is Lake Kulen, and the river between the two lakes is named Ursun. Ambaghai married his daughter to a branch of the Tatar people who lived on its bank, and as he went himself to deliver her he was seized by the Tatars and sent to the Great Jin. At that time Ambaghai sent word back by a man of the Besud clan named Balakhachi, saying, "Speak to Khutula, among the seven sons of Khabul the emperor, and to Prince Khadaan, among my ten sons. I am the lord of the many people. Because I went myself to deliver my daughter, I was seized by others. From this day take me for a warning. Though you wear your five nails away and ruin your ten fingers, avenge me."

At that time Yesugei Baatur, the father of Taizu, was flying his hawk on the Onon River. He saw a man of the Merkit, named Yeke Chiledu, coming along with the wife he had taken from the Olkhonoud house. Yesugei Baatur looked and saw that the woman was fair of face. At once he ran back home and brought his elder brother Nekun Taishi and his younger brother Daritai Otchigin.

When those brothers came, Yeke Chiledu saw them and was afraid. At once he whipped his horse, crossed one ridge and rounded one spur of the mountain, and came back to his wife's cart. His wife said, "The look of those three men is very evil. They will surely take your life. Go quickly. If your life is spared, there will be women like me again. If you think of me, then call the woman you take next by my name." So saying, she took off her shirt and gave it to him for a keepsake. Yeke Chiledu had barely taken hold of the shirt on his horse when he saw Yesugei Baatur and his two brothers coming, and at once he whipped his horse and fled up along the Onon River.

Yesugei Baatur and his two brothers chased after Yeke Chiledu. They crossed seven ridges and could not overtake him, and they came back. They wrapped the woman up and carried her off, Yesugei pulling the cart, Nekun Taishi leading the way, and Daritai walking beside the cart shaft. That woman's name was Hoelun. She wept and said, "My husband's hair was never blown by the wind, and his belly never knew hunger. Now he flees away. How hard it will be for him." The sound of her weeping shook the water of the Onon River and the woods in the valley. Daritai Otchigin said to the woman, "Your husband has crossed many ridges and forded many waters. Though you weep, he does not look back, and though you seek his tracks, they cannot be seen. Still your voice and do not weep." So they brought her back and made her the wife of Yesugei Baatur.

Because Ambaghai Khan, when he was seized, had sent word naming the two, Khadaan and Khutula, the many Dadan and Taichiud people gathered in the land of the Khorkhonak valley and raised Khutula up as emperor. They held a feast under a great tree, and the many people rejoiced and leapt about around this tree until the ground was trodden into a deep ditch.

After Khutula became emperor he went with Prince Khadaan to take vengeance on the Tatars. He fought thirteen times with the two men Khoton Barakha and Jari Bukha, and he could not take his vengeance.

In the fighting with the Tatars, Yesugei Baatur took their Temujin Uge and Khori Bukha and the others captive and brought them back. At that time the wife of Yesugei Baatur, Hoelun, was with child, and at the foot of Mount Deliun Boldakh on the bank of the Onon River she bore Taizu. When Taizu was born, he was born gripping in his right hand a clot of blood the size of a knucklebone. Because he was born when Temujin Uge was brought back captive, he was named Temujin for that.

Hoelun bore four sons. One was named Temujin, one Khasar, one Khachiun, and one Temuge, and one daughter was named Temulun. When Temujin was nine, Khasar was seven, Khachiun was five, and Temuge was three, and the daughter Temulun was still in her cradle.

When Temujin was nine, his father Yesugei took him to the Olkhonoud house, his mother's family, to seek a daughter to be Temujin's wife. Coming between the two mountains named Chekser and Chigurgu, they met Dei Sechen, a man of the Onggirad.

Dei Sechen asked, "Yesugei, my kinsman, where are you going?" Yesugei said, "I am going to seek a daughter at the Olkhonoud house, this son's mother's family." Dei Sechen said, "This son of yours has bright eyes and a shining face.

Last night I dreamed that a white falcon came flying with the sun and the moon held in its two feet and perched on my hand. I said to others that the sun and the moon were things one had only seen with the eyes, and that now this white falcon had brought the sun and the moon to my hand, so it must surely be good. Yesugei, my kinsman, it turns out that today you have brought this son and fulfilled my dream. This must surely be a good omen for your Kiyat people.

We of the Onggirad house have never from of old contended with others for lands and peoples. Only, when there is a daughter of fair face, we offer her to the house of your emperors and seat her in the place of an empress or a consort.

In making a marriage, for a boy one looks at his house, and for a girl one looks at her face. Yesugei, my kinsman, there is a daughter in my house, and she is young in years. Come with me and see her." Then he took him to his own house.

They came to his house, and when Yesugei saw his daughter she was well favored, and his heart was glad. That daughter was ten, one year older than Temujin, and her name was Borte. That day he stayed the night in that house. The next day Yesugei asked him for this daughter. Dei Sechen said, "If she is asked for many times and then given, is she not held dear, and if she is asked for only a few times and then given, is she not held lightly? In all the world there is no rule that a girl, once born, stays in the house until she is old. I will give my daughter to your son. Leave your son here and let him be a son-in-law." The two houses agreed with each other. Yesugei said, "My son is afraid of dogs. Do not let the dogs startle him." Then he left behind one of the horses he had brought as a pledge, and went away.

Yesugei was going back, and when he came to the land of Chekcher he met the Tatars holding a feast. Hungry and thirsty from the road, he got down from his horse and stopped there. But the Tatars knew him and said, "Yesugei the Kiyat has come." Calling to mind the old grudge of the day they were taken captive, they secretly mixed poison and gave it to him to eat. Yesugei got on his horse, and on the road he felt that his body was not well. He rode for three days, and when he came home he was worse.

Yesugei said, "I am ill within. Who is near me?" Munglik, the son of old Charakha, was there, and he called him and said to him, "My sons are young. On my way back from leaving Temujin as a son-in-law, I was secretly poisoned by the Tatar house. I am very ill within. Look after your younger brothers and your elder brother's wife, and know for yourself what they need. Bring my son Temujin to me quickly." He finished speaking and died.