There is the story of the Ukranian ruler, who was an intelligent and thoughtful scholar as well as a leader. One day, the ruler said a very insulting thing, which I will not repeat, about the Mongolian leader, Temujin. On hearing of this insult, Temujin turned from his looting and raiding in Turkmenistan, and marched his enormous, deadly army to Ukraine, where he kicked the Ukrainian ruler’s ass, then went home.
A few months later, the same Ukranian ruler did the same thing. He made terribly insulting remarks about the Mongol ruler Temujin, and made sure word got around that he had said these tings. Temujin, now busy raiding Uzbekistan, turned his attention back east, marched his giant, awful, smelly army to Ukraine, and kicked the Ukranian leader’s ass.
The same Ukranian leader, a few months later, mostly healed from the last attack, called his court together and began to issue yet another insult against the dangerous Temujin.
“But why are you doing this?” the head scribe asked, “when you know Temujin will hear of the insult, march back to Ukraine, and kick your ass again!”
“Because,” the Ukranian ruler said, in the voice of the intelligent and thoughtful scholar that he was, “Every time I insult this guy, he marches his deadly, awful, smelly army across Russia. Twice.”
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