One of Ghengis Khan’s descendants wouldn’t marry a man unless he could beat her in a wrestling match.
This famous Mongolian princess’ name was
Khutulun. She was born in the 1260s and had 14 brothers. Surprisingly, she was
favored out of all the children. The reason for this was because of her
military skill. With so many brothers, you can imagine how much testosterone
was in the house that made her so good at combat. She was considered one of the
best female warriors at the time.
When she got older, just like Disney’s
Merida, she claimed that she would only marry her suitor if he bested her.
But unlike Merida, she wanted to wrestle,
not shoot bows and arrow. If he won, he would get to marry her. If she won, she
would get a horse.
Once, a man bet 1000 horses, and she was
told to lose on purpose since he was good guy. She decided to leave 1000 horses
richer. I suppose that toughness runs in the family.
Khutulun was undefeated despite her
physical disadvantage. Even Marco Polo reported so. By the end of her life, she
had 10,000 horses. While this statistic was most likely hyperbole, she still
had many. She did eventually get married since that was the norm, but she
didn’t wrestle him because she didn’t want him to lose.
Netflix’s Marco Polo even
features her because of her unusual, inspiring traits. Khutulun is an
interesting example of female strength and tested the boundaries of society
even a long time ago.
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