Page:Zakhar Berkut(1944).djvu/112

 long for the old order of things when there were no kings and no rulers, when each community administered its own government and the people cooperated against a common enemy, electing and deposing their leaders whenever there was need. Within one of these communities, in the quiet solitude of his mountain valley, lives an ancient fellow whom they call a sage. He has been largely responsible for the continuance of the rebellious attitude among the people against the change from the old order of things. The people look upon the boyars as if they were wolves. If they knew that a boyar openly sided with the great Jinghis Khan, they would stone him to death. When at your advance, the boyars surrender themselves by allowing you to take their forts, the people will scatter like chaff before the wind.”

Peta listened to the boyar’s recitation attentively and a contemptuous smile played upon his thin lips. “What an extraordinary system you have here! The king rebels against his servants, the servants against the king, the king and his servants against the people and the people against all rule! Extraordinary state of affairs! In our country, when the various petty chieftains once planned to rebel against the great Jinghis Khan, he called them all together to his village and surrounding it with his true followers commanded them to fill eighty giant kettles with water and to set them on to heat at huge campfires. When the water began to boil, he ordered two petty chieftains, without making distinction between the guilty and the innocent, thrown into each kettle and boiled until the flesh fell away from their bones. Then he required them to be taken out and sent back to their subject peoples so that they might learn by this example what happens to leaders who fail to obey and respect the great Jinghis Khan. That is exactly the sort of lesson you need here. And we will teach it to your people. Give thanks to your gods that they have sent us to your lands because if it were not for us, you would devour each other