NOTE 1. - The name of the lady is in Pauthier's MSS. Agiaint, Agyanie; in
the Bern, Agyanic; in the MS. of the G.T., distinctly Aigiaruc,
though printed in the edition of 1824 as Aigiarm. It is Oriental
Turkish, AI-YARUK, signifying precisely Lucent Lune, as Marco explains
it. For this elucidation I am indebted to the kindness of Professor
Vambery, who adds that the name is in actual use among the Uzbek women.
Kaidu had many sons, but only one daughter, whom Rashiduddin (who seems to
be Hammer's authority here) calls Kutulun. Her father loved her above
all his sons; she used to accompany him to the field, and aid in state
affairs. Letters were exchanged between her and Ghazan Khan, in which she
assured him she would marry no one else; but her father refused her hand
to all suitors. After Kaidu's death, this ambitious lady made some attempt
to claim the succession. (Hammer's Ilkhans, II. 143-144.)
The story has some resemblance to what Ibn Batuta relates of another
warlike Princess, Urduja, whom he professes to have visited in the
questionable kingdom of Tawalisi on his way to China: "I heard ... that
various sons of kings had sought Urduja's hand, but she always answered,
'I will marry no one but him who shall fight and conquer me'; so they all
avoided the trail, for fear of the shame of being beaten by her." (I.B.
IV. 253-254.) I have given reasons (Cathay, p. 520) for suspecting that
this lady with a Turkish name in the Indian Archipelago is a bit of
fiction. Possibly Ibn Batuta had heard the legend of King Kaidu's
daughter.
The story of Kaidu's daughter, and still more the parallel one from Ibn
Batuta, recall what Herodotus tells of the Sauromatae, who had married the
Amazons; that no girl was permitted to marry till she had killed an enemy
(IV. 117). They recall still more closely Brunhild, in the Nibelungen: -
- "a royal maiden who reigned beyond the sea:
From sunrise to the sundown no paragon had she.
All boundless as her beauty was her strength was peerless too,
And evil plight hung o'er the knight who dared her love to woo.
For he must try three bouts with her; the whirling spear to fling;
To pitch the massive stone; and then to follow with a spring;
And should he beat in every feat his wooing well has sped,
But he who fails must lose his love, and likewise lose his head."
CHAPTER V.
HOW ABAGA SENT HIS SON ARGON IN COMMAND AGAINST KING CAIDU.
Abaga the Lord of the Levant had many districts and provinces bordering on
King Caidu's territories. These lay in the direction of the Arbre
Sol, which the Book of Alexander calls the Arbre Sec, about
which I have told you before. And Abaga, to watch against forays by
Caidu's people sent his son Argon with a great force of horsemen, to keep
the marches between the Arbre Sec and the River Jon. So there tarried
Argon with all his host.[NOTE 1]
Now it came to pass that King Caidu assembled a great army and made
captain thereof a brother of his called Barac, a brave and prudent man,
and sent his host under his brother to fight with Argon.[NOTE 2]
<+> (Barac and his army cross the Jon or Oxus and are totally routed by
Argon, to whose history the traveller now turns.)
NOTE 1. - The Government of this frontier, from Kazwin or Rei to the banks
of the Oxus, was usually, under the Mongol sovereigns of Persia, confided
to the heir of the throne. Thus, under Hulaku it was held by Abaka, under
Abaka by Arghun, and under Arghun by Ghazan. (See Hammer, passim.)
We have already spoken amply of the Arbre Sol (vol. i. p. 128 seqq.).
NOTE 2. - Barac or Borrak, who has been already spoken of in ch. iii. of
the Prologue (vol. i. p. 10), was no brother of Kaidu's. He was the head
of the house of Chaghatai, and in alliance with Kaidu. The invasion of
Khorasan by Borrak took place in the early part of 1269. Arghun was only
about 15, and his father Abaka came to take the command in person. The
battle seems to have been fought somewhere near the upper waters of the
Murghab, in the territory of the Badghis (north of Herat). Borrak was not
long after driven from power, and took refuge with Kaidu. He died, it is
said from poison, in 1270.
CHAPTER VI.
HOW ARGON AFTER THE BATTLE HEARD THAT HIS FATHER WAS DEAD, AND WENT TO
ASSUME THE SOVEREIGNTY AS WAS HIS RIGHT.
After Argon had gained this battle over Caidu's brother Barac and his
host, no long time passed before he had news that his father Abaga was
dead, whereat he was sorely grieved.[NOTE 1] He made ready his army and
set out for his father's Court to assume the sovereignty as was his right;
but he had a march of 40 days to reach it.
Now it befel that an uncle of Argon's whose name was ACOMAT SOLDAN (for he
had become a Saracen), when he heard of the death of his brother Abaga,
whilst his nephew Argon was so far away, thought there was a good chance
for him to seize the government. So he raised a great force and went
straight to the Court of his late brother Abaga, and seized the
sovereignty and proclaimed himself King; and also got possession of the
treasure, which was of vast amount.
