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Great Tureen?

I am here to serve you.

I need you not.

Hear me, chapandaz.

By order of the king himself...

...there is to be held in the city of Kabul...

...the greatest Buzkashi in the memory of living men.

My master and yours, the most excellent Osman Bey...

...has commanded me to appoint six chapandaz...

...who will wear his colours in the great event to come.

The first name is Salih.

He will ride Mizan. Second is Yalavach.

He will ride Gomali.

Third is Budi. He will ride Gordilov.

Fourth is Mangou.

He will ride Babour.

The fifth is Uzouk.

He will ride Abdur.

I have finished.

Great Tureen.

We have not seen Uraz, your son.

Is he not to go to Kabul?

He is to go.

Welcome, master.

Peace be upon thee, Mukhi.

He is truly a beauty, master.

Aye.

He is the fifth generation of his bloodline that I have...

...trained with my own hands. He has been my life.

I shall not have time to train a sixth.

Not in 10 generations, or even in 20, will there be another like him.

Aye.

Do you remember when I brought him to you? You, a boy...

-...and he, a colt. - I remember.

You've done well...

...both of you.

You shall have my final orders this evening.

As will you, my beauty.

- Great Uraz, I-- - Keep away.

Ghulam would talk with you in the coolness of his shop.

- I stay for this fight. - With him is a governor...

...and an official from Kabul. With them is Osman Bey--

Be gone!

Who was that who pushed the boy?

- The one in the cap of a chapandaz? - The same.

My lips are sealed.

Unseal them.

He is Uraz...

...son of Tureen.

Like his father before him, the greatest chapandaz...

...in the three provinces of Meymaneh...

...Mazar-e Sharif and Qataghan.

If I bet against him...

...will I win?

If you wager him for glory, you will lose.

- If for money, you will win. - Good.

If you're wrong, I'll bite your tongue off.

Peace be upon thee.

And upon thee, whoever you are.

Do you favour one of these ugly beasts enough to wager on him?

- I do. - For how much?

As much as you wish.

Which one do you favour?

The choice is yours.

The brown, of course.

Five hundred afghanis.

Five hundred on the black.

- A thousand apologies, great Uraz-- - I have given my answer.

- I come when the fight is ended. - It's the great Tureen who asks for you.

Your winnings, stranger.

There can be no winnings until the fight is ended.

The carotid artery of the black is punctured.

The brown will win.

Listen well...

...for I shall be brief.

I have a new stallion ready for the Buzkashi.

He is called Jahil.

The one I speak of is the last of his blood...

...and the finest.

I have decided that Uraz, my son, shall ride him...

...under the colours of Osman Bey...

...in the Royal Buzkashi...

...in Kabul, the city of the king.

Those of you who stand around me...

...and those of you who will presently spread my word abroad...

...if my horse...

...the last of the Jahils, wins the Buzkashi of the king...

...from that day forward, he shall belong to Uraz...

...my son.

I thank you, my father.

If you cannot win on Jahil...

...you cannot win on any horse.

You were the greatest chapandaz in the three provinces...

...but the Royal Buzkashi from all the provinces of Afghanistan...

...is a different and somewhat larger matter.

Even so...

...your horse will win.

For today's first Royal Buzkashi on the field of Bagrami...

...here in the capital city of Kabul...

...by order of His Majesty the King...

...whichever chapandaz among you shall carry the headless calf...

...around the blue flag and deposit it back here...

...in the circle of justice shall receive the king's pennant...

...thus signifying that he is the master chapandaz...

...of all of Afghanistan.

Uraz.

It's Mukhi who calls. Your syce.

What have they put on my leg?

A box to hold it straight.

It was broken.

The Buzkashi. Who won?

We. Meymaneh.

- Meymaneh. - Yes.

- Who carried the goat? - Salih.

That could not be. His horse was half-dead.

Allah inspired him. He saw that Jahil had no rider...

...leaped on his back, seized the goat and planted it in the circle of justice.

Someone put a spell on me.

How else could I be so cursed this day?

You're not cursed. You're blessed. You have Jahil.

Uraz, remember...

...your father swore the horse would be yours if he won, and he did. He won.

Salih and the other Meymaneh men beg your pardon for not coming.

They're at the feast in the king's palace. They'll see you tomorrow.

No.

Here, I shall see no one.

You come to my window with Jahil and my clothes in the middle of the night.

There are guards at the gate.

There's money in the pocket of my chapan.

More than enough to buy them.

If they will not take it, jump the wall, then get me out of here.

You're big enough. You're strong enough.

I understand your heart.

Mukhi!

We must get this evil box off from my leg. Go find a stone.

They said it would make it well.

How will the air get to my skin? How will the sun make the bones knit?

In a box like this, the leg will rot, and I will die.

Take it off.

Rip it! Tear it!

They've bound it like a corpse.

Unbind it.

These sacred words of Mohammed have healed more broken bones...

...than all the foreign doctors of Kabul.

Bind it tight.

Get me some food.

- The bacha, at once, I'll call him. - No.

No one but you. No one.

Yes. Yes.

Naturally, being the first of its kind...

...yesterday's Royal Buzkashi was, of course, a very great event.

But I've seen greater.

Yes. Much, much greater.

It was in the province of Meymaneh long, long time ago.

Will you pass me the cakes, please?

But it could not have been a greater Buzkashi than yesterday's in Kabul.

Now, be patient. It was in the province of Meymaneh...

...under the auspices of my old, old friend Osman Bey.

A very great lord of the North.

It was there...

...that I saw the greatest chapandaz who ever lived.

- Tell us about it, man of wealth. - With pleasure.

You must remember that in those days...

...the Buzkashi was run in the open countryside.

Sometimes for hours, sometimes for a full day.

A full day?

And sometimes into the night.

It was a different time, you must remember.

A time which produced a different breed of men.

The chapandaz of that time, yesterday's Royal Buzkashi...

...would have been a mere preliminary exercise...

...for a larger and much more hazardous event to come.

What can I do for you, Father?

- Father, what can I do for you? - Clear a path for me, boy!

Clear a path!

His name...

...was Tureen.

The great Tureen.

The bravest chapandaz who ever lived.

And the noblest.

Mukhi...

-...we must go. - But you need sleep.

- I have slept. - And food.

Saddle Jahil. Call the proprietor here immediately.

We have no time to lose.

Come quickly.

Your fee.

Which is the shortest way to the province of Meymaneh?

The best route is the road by which you arrived from Kabul.

I asked for the shortest.

Often it is not the shortest route which leads quickest to the goal.

The shortest road is impossible for a man with a crippled leg.

Allow me to decide who is crippled and what is possible.

The shortest road...

...about which I know nothing but evil legends...

...is the old Bamian Road.

The road of long ago.

There, the days are scorched by the heat of 1000 suns.

And the nights are cold with freezing ice.

How do I find this ancient road?

Beyond the village...

...you must take the first path on the left.

There, you will see a steeply mounting track.

Thank you.

With your leg the way it is...

-...why not take the road that is easy? - Easy?

Yes, but what for?

To travel this road in total safety...

...and be overtaken at every chaikhana by people riding from Kabul in lorries...

...and hear the tale of the Royal Buzkashi time and time again.

And at the end of it all, to find Tureen there before me.

It shall not be so.

It shall not be so.

- Where have you been? - I fed Jahil.

What else?

I asked about the road ahead.

And found it dangerous?

It is always dangerous, and in autumn, it is worse.

It is a road for dead men.

Have you no desire to travel a dead man's road and still live?

- You're afraid? - Yes, I'm afraid.

You'll never reach the far end of the mountains alive.

I don't want to carry your corpse, dead by my fault.

How will I ever face Tureen after that?

How could I?

I cannot follow you.

Truly, I will not follow you. You will die.

I will die.

- Jahil will die with me. - Jahil?

How can he live, lost and without a master in the stones of an empty land?

- Allah will prevent it. - Aye. I, too, believe that.

Tell me something, Mukhi.

Do you truly love Jahil?

I raised him. How can I fail to love him?

Then remember...

...he will need a new master to care for him when I die.

Who deserves him more than the man who loves him most?

- Me? His master? - You'll see.

Take off my boot.

If you die, who will believe that a horse as Jahil belongs to a syce?

They'll call me a thief.

Bandage the wound and bind it tight.

Then go and find a scribe...

...and bring him to me.

I, Uraz, son of Tureen...

...do declare and take oath...

...as follows:

If I should die...

...in the course of our forthcoming journey...

...I give my stallion, Jahil...

...to my faithful friend and syce...

...Mukhi of Meymaneh...

...in acknowledgement of his devotion.

Please write that.

I should like to tell you how I chanced upon this dark condition.

Years ago, I held the honourable position of scribe...

...to a great lord in Kabul.

On the day my master departed for the great pilgrimage to Mecca...

...he placed me in charge of his treasure chest...

...which contained 11 sacks of gold coins.

During his absence...

...my wife fell ill of a wasting disease.

To pay for the charms and prayers...

...on which her life depended...

...I replaced one sack of gold with counterfeit coins.

My treachery was discovered...

...and my eyes were blinded with boiling water.

Cruel punishment.

Without bitterness of any kind...

...I have come to the conclusion...

...that the master who placed so great a temptation...

...in the hands of so poor a man as I...

...committed a greater sin...

...than that for which I lost my eyes.

Am I to give it to the young man...

...or to you?

To me.

I would slit your throat like a sheep's to gain such a horse.

When will you slit mine?

When we rode together out of the mountains onto the great road...

...I loved Jahil, but I loved you more.

And now?

I love Jahil still.

You, I but serve.

Who are you?

I am Zareh.

I carried your food and blankets to this place.

- I don't remember. - You were sick.

I came to help.

I need nothing.

I have my syce.

Where is he?

Mukhi.

Mukhi.

Mukhi! Mukhi!

He's at the old woman's tent. He went to pay her.

Where's Jahil? My horse.

Jahil!

What's your name?

I am Zareh, as I told you.

Zareh?

Zareh.

Your neck is soft.

Is your skin soft all over you?

Put the boot in his pack. It will not be needed for a long while.

Why was this on the wound?

It has magic words from the Koran. It's our faith. He needs it.

Its magic is no good.

See how the sickness has spread all over?

- Are you awake? - Aye.

Are you better?

Aye.

Who are you?

I am Zareh.

You're untouchable.

- I am what I was when I came to you. - Keep your hands to yourself.

You're unclean. Your touch defiles.

Did my touch defile your leg? It healed you.

Allah forgives what cannot be prevented.

Be gone. Get away from here.

Was it not by Allah's command that I helped you?

Go. You'll be paid for your trouble, but go.

- You will not insult me! - Get out of my sight.

- Neither will I take your money! - Leave me alone.

Zareh?

For one of such high blood as Uraz, you are truly untouchable.

But for me...

...to touch you...

...it would be an honour.

Where do you sleep, tall syce? I am cold.

- She was your first woman? - The first.

She did it for what she could get.

She asked nothing. I have nothing.

What's free is worthless.

What's paid for is also worthless. It's all--

Take me with you, O lord.

- Take me on your journey. - You're mad.

Never shall you have so humble and silent and faithful a servant.

Do not let me go back to the people of my tent.

The men take me as they choose. The women beat me without mercy.

Let me follow you. I will be your slave without pay.

A handful of rice, a blanket, no more.

She's your whore if you want to keep her.

Peace upon you, master of the stables. I bring the news from Kabul.

Uraz, son of Tureen, broke a leg in the Royal Buzkashi.

But he has been taken to the most splendid hospital in all Kabul.

Silence!

And Jahil, the horse?

What of him?

Salih jumped up on Jahil when Uraz fell...

...and won the Buzkashi for my mother.

It is a great honour for us all.

You may go.

He is too fat.

How long has he been without exercise?

Nineteen days.

Nineteen?

Uraz ordered that no man should ride the horse but himself.

Let my racing saddle be put upon him.

For you, master?

Has my saddle ever been used by another man?

You must have the horse, Mukhi.

You must have it, and you shall.

Not unless he dies.

The death in his wound will spread to his belly. He will die.

But why should we wait?

Each night, he will sleep more deeply than the night before.

We can take the horse and be hours away before he wakes.

But when he does wake, he'll know me for a thief.

You'll never see him again.

It's not the seeing. It's the knowing.

Besides, if we're caught without the paper that says he's ours...

...we'll be hanged.

I will steal the paper when we take the horse.

I will guide you to the land of the Hazarajat.

Each year, the people gather for a great fair, and they race their horses.

Fortunes are bet on each race...

...and you will have the strongest, fastest horse of them all.

Thirteen thousand.

- How much did he bet this time? - All that he had.

Thirteen thousand afghanis.

- On which one? - The white one.

The one they call "Thunderbolt."

I declare and command that from this day forth...

...Flail shall by one and all...

...be called the Prince Ram of the Bamian Valley.

Is there any rival to dispute the title?

If so, let him come forward.

Since no man takes up the challenge, I therefore declare--

One moment!

If Your Lordship allows.

One moment.

I come.

What do you desire, stranger?

To match an animal of my own against the new Prince of the Bamian Valley.

Show him to us.

What demon has urged you to mock these good people...

...with that piece of dog bait?

Is it mockery to back my challenge with a stake such as this?

- What's your name? - I am Hayatal...

...from the high passes of the East...

...where men know how to forge fine weapons and use them well.

Do you accept the challenge on behalf of Flail...

...and match the stranger's stakes with your own?

Then go, both of you, and take your places in the arena.

Wait for my signal.

Having won with Flail, decency and fairness compel me to stay with him.

Would you care to wager some small sum on the one-horned beast?

For all I know, he may be a dragon in disguise.

I have no more money.

A man with a horse such as yours is never without money.

Bring the horse.

Uraz! Uraz, by the prophet, I beg you.

By Allah the Omnipotent, do not bet Jahil.

It is not your horse yet.

How much will you lend me for him?

For such a charger, there is no price.

However, I stand willing to lend 100,000 afghanis against him.

I accept.

I stand to all bets.

The horseman is willing to bet on the white ram.

He is now accepting all bets.

Farewell, Uraz.

What a one-horned ram can do, a one-legged chapandaz can do better.

We shall meet again.

Mukhi!

Stay where you are! I want you above!

- Let me help Zareh. - No!

- Only for a moment. - I said, no!

One step more, and they go.

Every one of them!

One hundred thousand afghanis!

Submit!

Surrender!

What's this?

Where am I?

Twice you've asked that question, and twice I've answered it.

It is the fever.

I am Mizrar, chief shepherd of the flocks of Behram Khan.

This is my son Quadir.

He will be your bacha...

...as long as you remain with us.

I thank you for your kindness.

As you see...

...I have been...

My horse? Was I riding my horse?

Don't worry. Your stallion is safe.

He brought you to us.

Your syce and woman servant followed him somewhat later.

I thank you.

Do you remember our talk about your leg?

Aye. It rots.

It must come off, son of Tureen.

If you want to live, you must be rid of it this very night.

Off?

Who will do it?

Well, there is only me.

I have succeeded with many animals.

I can do it for a man.

Without telling anyone.

Not my syce.

Not the nomad woman. No one.

Only my son will know, and I am his warrant.

Will you do it now?

First...

...we must tie you down.

We must if I am to do it.

Here is your horse, master.

Let him in.

Come, Jahil.

Now go to Mukhi and Zareh.

Tell them I wish to see them.

Go to your father, tell him I shall be in his tent within the hour...

...to take my leave.

I leave for Meymaneh tonight.

Move one step, and she dies!

Drop the knife.

Come close to me.

Hold out your hands.

Tie him up.

The horse wasn't enough for you, was it?

You had to have my afghanis too.

Take them.

All of them!

- Burn them! - No!

Burn them!

Master! Master! There is something. There is someone. You must hurry!

Uraz?

My son.

Drink.

My son.

What I do not understand is Mukhi.

He awaits judgment and must be judged fairly.

- What happened? - I told you what happened.

You told me that he wanted you dead. You did not tell me why.

Because I dictated a paper that willed Jahil to him if I died on the road.

And did you give that paper to Mukhi?

I kept it under my shirt.

And Mukhi knew that?

Yes.

And the instant he knew that, he began trying to kill you?

No.

He was urged on by the untouchable woman.

- The one you picked up on the road? - Yes.

And did you need her to serve you?

Mukhi wanted her.

It was Mukhi who wanted her?

Who else?

Say no more.

I know what I need to know.

No, Father...

...you know nothing.

You think not?

I know that Mukhi was your loyal and devoted servant.

I know that instead of commanding him to continue the journey...

...you chose to bribe him with the horse...

...which means with your life.

I know that you tempted him to kill you...

...to increase the already terrible dangers which you hoped to conquer.

You still say I know nothing?

You know nothing.

Enlighten me, then.

Why...

...with your leg broken and your life at stake...

...did you choose the perils of the ancient road...

...instead of the easy one that lay open?

If you cannot answer that question yourself...

...there is no way that I can answer it for you.

Do you think I do not know the answer?

Do you think the darkness in your heart...

...does not come from the darkness in mine?

We are men of a different breed.

We are men...

...conceived in the loneliness of desolation.

Born with the smell of paradise in our nostrils.

Bred to pursue death as lesser men pursue women.

Infatuated all our lives with dreams of the tomb.

To understand why you chose that mad, impossible road...

...one must understand the rage...

...the beauty...

...the terrible craving to make death our whore...

...which even the smallest defeat can bring to men such as you...

...and I.

Very well.

There is your answer.

Deny it.

You have travelled that ancient road.

Have you not?

I have never been to Kabul.

And so as you know, I have not travelled that road.

There's danger there.

Danger of a kind which you will never know.

I knew something worse than danger.

I knew pain...

...and remorse.

My blood, whipped.

My son, lost through my fault.

And I howled in the night like a wild beast in my grief.

And the son...

The son.

Like a foolish, criminal child, ill-raised and eaten up with vanity...

...the son thought nothing but the foolish obliteration of a small defeat...

...in a faraway town before a king whom I have never seen.

- Yes, master? - Let them be brought in.

Yes, master.

We come now to the judgment of Mukhi...

...and the nomad woman for whom he lusted.

You shall make that judgment.

You are the head of our clan, not I.

You are the judge.

As head of our clan, I lay that task upon you...

...because you're the only one who knows the full truth of what happened.

Move!

To be the judge of Mukhi and the nomad woman, I give Uraz...

...my only son, the right of head of the clan.

His law shall be my law. Your judgment is at hand.

Raise your head.

I declare you...

...exonerated from all your crimes.

You are free.

And Zareh? What of Zareh?

Do you place this nomad whore above the freedom I have given you?

Yes.

Let the nomad woman also be freed.

Hold!

Hear me.

Since you did not ride Jahil to victory, he belongs not to you but to me.

I give him now...

...to Mukhi.

Take them away.

Let no trace of her be found after tomorrow.

In two weeks' time...

...Osman Bey will give a feast to honour Salih...

...and his victory in the Royal Buzkashi.

Salih will sit at Osman Bey's right hand.

And I expect you to sit at mine.

With my stick?

With my limp?

It will be all the better.

Your leg.

What have they done to your leg?

You will never speak of this leg again...

...to me nor to anyone else.

Let go. You hurt.

Syce!

Syce! Where are you, syce?

I come, master! I come.

Tell Aqqul to saddle a horse and bring him here to me.

- At once, master. At once. - Run.

Stop.

You will tear my dress.

What are you laughing at?

I was thinking of my first sweetheart.

Of the first time we made love together.

Are you an animal?

Don't you feel anything?

I am what you've called me many times...

...untouchable...

...which means that you have not touched me and never can.

You should have known.

Instead of setting you free...

...I should have hanged you for the criminal that you are!

In the tent of Mizrar and his son, you, too, were a criminal.

For defending my life?

No. You were a criminal for making me burn all your afghanis.

To burn the king's money is to break his law.

But your greater crime...

...was to throw away what I'd kill for...

...to destroy in a minute what I work for...

...until the day I die and not get!

It's Aqqul.

He'll take you north and set you by the road.

Have you money?

No.

Come.

Stay right behind him.

Well?

Do you know, great prince, what brought me to you that first night?

I was delirious. How could I?

It was the horse.

What took you, then, to Mukhi?

The horse.

What brought you here today?

I had no money. I knew you'd give me some.

I gave you nothing that you didn't earn.

Take her to the well of Qal`eh-ye Mir...

...on the Dowlatabad Road and leave her there.

The nomad is under a vow of silence.

If she utters one word to you or anyone else...

...cut her throat and throw her carcass to the vultures.

Are you clear?

- Yes, master. - Go.

- You can't go in. - Stop clinging to my caftan, bacha.

Don't go in. No one may go, even you.

Move away, or I'll kill you!

Allah, be merciful.

It's not my fault. He hit me.

How can you dare to look upon your father in his nakedness?

Forgive me.

I had to come.

I had to speak to you before you leave for the stables.

Well, I am here.

And you are speaking.

Last night...

...I rode on Jahil.

We went out on the steppes...

...and there were stars...

...and a wind...

...and Jahil.

Jahil was swifter than the wind.

And I, on his back, was as swift as he.

And my soul fled out from my body.

And Jahil and I became one.

I have known...

...such a moment.

I must have him back.

I will not let him go.

I will humble myself. I'll do anything, but I must have Jahil.

I must have him.

I have given him to Mukhi...

...whether in a moment of passion or wisdom is beside the point.

But I cannot take back what I have...

...disposed of.

Mukhi woke me in the middle of the night to put a price on Jahil.

If I don't meet it...

...he'll be sold at the bazaar today.

And the price?

A hundred and twenty thousand afghanis.

I will arrange it.

May I give Mukhi my word for it?

- You may. - May I leave you now to do it?

- You may. - Peace be upon you.

Forgive me for seeing your nakedness.

Look you upon mine.

And Uraz, great Tureen?

He is sick?

He is well.

And his leg?

Do the bones knit decently?

The leg improves. It heals rapidly.

I've been told that he's seen every morning...

...on the steppe, just before dawn...

...learning to ride again.

I am not on the steppe before dawn.

It will come back to him in time.

I'm mentioning his name with great favour in my speech.

I had hoped he would be present.

Uraz! Uraz! Uraz!

Uraz!

No. No, my son!

Remember...

...the one-horned ram.

Hayatal is with thee!

Uraz! Uraz!

Uraz?

- Uraz? - I'm here.

I was going to your house to say farewell.

Where do you go, my son?

With Hayatal.

He's commissioned me to form a team of chapandaz...

...under Pathan colours in his province of Ur-Makistan.

I will send my salary to you until Jahil is paid for.

There is no Buzkashi in Ur-Makistan.

We will play wherever we can.

During the hot month...

...we will go from bazaar to bazaar and from ram fight to ram fight.

In the autumn, we will ride in Pathan colours before the king...

...in the Royal Buzkashi at Kabul.

But you'll have no home.

These people are not your people.

His is a nomad's life, and lonely.

Aye.

The journey is from nowhere to nowhere. It suits me.

Farewell, my father.

And peace be upon you.

Farewell, my son.

May Allah sustain thee.

May he give you peace.

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