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Article: Two geese & a frog.(ancient mongolian literature)
- Article from:
- Calliope
- Article date:
- March 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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At the time Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan in 1206, he was fighting the people known as the Uighurs. One of his captives was a learned scribe named T'a-t'a T'ung-a, who had been seized as he searched the battlefield for his master. Genghis, who was always respectful of loyal followers, took T'a-t'a T'ung-a to his headquarters and gave him the position of personal clerk.
At the time, the Mongols had no written language, and Genghis, like most people of the time, was illiterate. He did, however, recognize the political advantages of a writing system. Aware that the Uighurs had a written alphabet, he assigned T'a-t'a T'ung-a the task of transcribing the ...