Wine, Women and Sword
PRELUDE TO BATTLE--Manfred Gottfried--John Day ($2.50).
The Story. Offspring of a Mogul prince, Temugin is born clutching in his royal fistlet a clot of congealed blood. Astrologers and soothsayers thereupon agree that by the blood of his enemies the child is destined to bring many peoples under his rule.
Astrology being what it is, the child, growing apace, shows little inclination or aptitude for warfare, and indifferently watches his warrior father fare forth to battle, return victorious; fare forth again, return defeated; fare forth a third time to fetch Princess Guzisur, Temugin's 14-year-old affianced bride. On the journey the old man dies. The sworn marriage contract is broken, for of what use is fatherless Temugin as an ally? Ignoring the insult, an old minister of state tricks halfhearted vassal princes into allegiance to Temugin, and year after year the youth leads them into desultory warfare with faint glory and inconsiderable plunder.
Meanwhile he takes Princess Purta Coujeen as first wife, to bear him heirs, and to rule over his women, already numerous. Flaunted at the lavish wedding festivities are jewels, brocades, gold-chased armor, games, races, wines, meats. Only the beautiful princess holds herself aloof, unmoved, even when her bridegroom accepts two charming virgins as a wedding present. Though she refuses to put herself out to please her new master, she proves an able mistress of his women's quarters. Her favorite punishment is to overturn a large jar of beans in a culprit's presence and then require the miserable wretch to pick them up bean by scattered bean. This proves so effective that she rarely has to resort to flogging. On the eve of a great military campaign, Purta, bored, jealous, at last makes herself attractive to Temugin, and accompanies him next day in the best mule litter, the one with springs.
But he, exhausted by interminable footless fighting, harried by powerful enemies and treacherous vassals, resolves to sacrifice his questionable independence for peace and pleasure in the palace of some mightier overlord. He chooses Ung Khan as his most likely protector, agrees to surrender two thirds of his revenue, and to live at the court of Caracorom with 2,000 fighting men ready for emergencies. In return he is guaranteed his safety, and the integrity of his kingdom.
Thus, Temugin settles down to a new life. And greatly does he relish the pleasure of hunt and feast and woman. For the sake of variety he conducts an occasional military expedition, and Ung is so well satisfied with his ward's masterly strategy that he gives him his daughter as second wife. At this point, Temugin orders a census of his family. A eunuch (fad newly imported from Turkey) reviews 18 years of hearty domesticity, reports 84 women including the two wives, 178 children, of whom 65 have died, leaving a net increment of 113.
Grey-haired, lethargic, Temugin is the easy victim of an adroit harem intrigue, and of a backbiter who convinces overlord Ung that his satellite is a traitorous rival deserving death. Temugin, warned in time, collects an army of outcasts. His men ride to battle, exulting in the good omen of Temugin's flying hair, turned white overnight. Armor clanks, arrows fly, stallions shriek, Heaven is obliged to shut its ear, while 40,000 men are slaughtered. Victorious Temugin takes possession of the mighty kingdom of Caracorom. But no longer content with pleasurable peace, he rouses his war-worn men to the conquest of Ung's allies, and their allies, and their allies' allies' allies and all other peoples of Asia. And thus it is that posterity has known Temugin as Genghis Khan, The Great Khan, First Emperor of the Ancient Moguls and Tartars, from Peking to Samarcand.
The Significance. The fire-and-sword career of Genghis Khan has thrilled many a warrior, and many a martial layman. Just how this career should have got under way is the interesting question to which Prelude to Battle gives an entertaining answer, legendary except in the bare facts of names and alliances. No sentimental tale of a boyhood dream nurtured through manhood to glorious fulfillment, this account reports the progress of pleasure into boredom, and then the progress of necessity into fame. Cause and effect of boredom is the sophisticated theme which Author Gottfried handles with leisurely wit, and very little boredom. By ironic tales of man's intrigue and woman's rivalry he rescues the continual clash of arms from dangerous monotony. Indeed, it is in the harem that Author Gottfried is at his satiric best.
The Author. Manfred Gottfried was born in Chicago, and educated at Yale where he came across Petis de la Croix' History of Genghizcan the Great. For three years he was an Associate Editor of TIME. He then withdrew to the Italian Riviera to mull over the legend of Genghis Khan's youth, while his wife, Ruth A. Jeremiah Gottfried, compiled recipes for dishes of all nations, which were published as The Questing Cook (TIME, Dec. 12).