| 中文摘要 |
This seems to be supported by information that the Khazar envoy ended his life at the court of some caliph by turning his soul inside out and slipping it on like an inverted glove. His torn skin, tanned and bound like a big atlas, held a place of honor in the caliph's palace in Samarra. According to a second group of sources, the envoy had many a nasty moment. First, while still in Constantinople, he had to let his hand be cut off, because an influential man at the Greek court had paid in solid gold for the second large Khazar year, written on the envoy's left palm. A third group of sources. . . . He lived—The Khazar Dictionary tells us—like a living encyclopaedia of the Khazars, on money earned by standing quietly through the long nights. He would keep vigil, his gaze fixed on the Bosporus' silver treetops, which resembled puffs of smoke. While he stood, Greek and other scribes would copy the Khazar history from his back and thighs into their books. It is said that . . . the letters of the Khazar alphabet derived their names from foods, the numbers from the names of the seven types of salt the Khazars differentiated. One of his sayings has been preserved. It reads: “If the Kahzars did better in Itil they would do better in Constantinople too.” Generally speaking, he said many things that were contrary to what was written on his skin. |
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