Thursday, August 27, 2015

First Paragraph

Born into the royal Borjigin family in 1162, Temujin, heir apparent to the Mongol clan's chieftaincy, found himself, at age nine, scorned by his people, cast out of the communal fold, and reduced to hunting for rodents and roots to survive. A tribe of Tatars had poisoned his father, erstwhile ruler of the Borjigin, and his subjects, refusing to invest a scion so young, usurped power and consigned Temujin to debasing destitution. The usurpers would have done well to note one circumstance, whether as augury or omen: Temujin was born clutching a clot of blood. 

- From Murderers in Mausoleums: Riding the Back Roads of Empire between Moscow and Beijing by Jeffrey Tayler

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