Chapter Three

[104] When they had finished talking, all three of them Temüjin, Qasar, and Belgütei—went to To’oril, the Ong Qan of the Kereyits, who was staying in the Qara Forest beside the Tu’ula River. They said: ‘While we were [still] inexperienced ²¹⁰ [in such things,] the Three Merkits came and robbed me of my wife and of [my unborn] son. ²¹¹ We have come to ask you, Qan my father, whether you can restore my wife and son to me.’ To’oril Qan replied: ‘Did I not say [as much] to you last year? When you brought the sable jacket to me you said that, in your father’s time, I and your father swore brotherhood together, and that I am therefore as a father to you. When you placed the coat on me, I spoke these words:

In return for the black sable jacket

I will bring together

the people who abandoned you.

In return for the sable jacket,

I will unite your scattered people.