grandson of
Genghis Khan, wishing to please his grandfather by his daring,
approached so near the wall that he was reached by an arrow shot by
one of the archers, and killed. Genghis Khan was deeply affected by
this event, and he showed by the bitterness of his grief that, though
he was so utterly heartless and cruel in inflicting these woes upon
others, he could feel for himself very acutely when it came to his
turn to suffer. As for the mother of the child, she was rendered
perfectly furious by his death. She thought of nothing but revenge,
and she only waited for the town to be taken in order that she might
enjoy it. When, at last, a practicable breach was made, and the
soldiers began to pour into the city, she went in with the rest, and
insisted that every man, woman, and child should be put to death. Her
special rage was directed against the children, whom she seemed to
take special pleasure in destroying, in vengeance for the death of her
own child. The hatred and rage which she manifested against children
extended even to babes unborn, and these feelings she evinced by
atrocities too shocking to be described.

The opinions which Genghis Khan entertained on religious subjects
appear from a conversation which he held at one time during the course
of his campaigns in Western Asia with some learned Mohammedan doctors
at Bokhara, which was the great seat at that time of science and
philosophy. He asked the doctors what were the principles of their
religion. They replied that these principles consisted of five
fundamental points:

1. In believing in one God, the creator of all things, and
the supreme ruler and governor of the universe.

2. In giving one fortieth part of their yearly income or
gains to the poor.

3. In praying to God five times every day.

4. In setting apart one month in each year for fasting.

5. In making a pilgrimage to the temple in Mecca, there to
worship God.

Genghis Khan told them that he believed himself in the first of these
articles, and he approved of the three succeeding ones. It was very
well, he said, to give one fortieth of one's income to the poor, and
to pray to God five times a day, and to set apart a month in the year
for a fast. But as to the last article, he could not but dissent from
it entirely, for the whole world was God's house, and it was
ridiculous, he said, to imagine that one place could really be any
more fitting than an