not quite as realistic a tale as the one in which the sixth merchant whips out his sword when the mongol is killin the 3rd merchant and is joined by the seventh, eigth, ninth and tenth merchants who who beat the mongol up a bit until he runs away and hides. returning to the main group, the sixth merchant starts blaming the third and fourth merchants for conspiring with the mongol.

when only one of the other merchants agrees with him, the sixth merchant says he'll deal with the alleged conspirators and attacks the third merchant. while they're wrestling around in the hot sand under a blazing sun, the fourth merchant slinks back to his camel and starts feeding it unripe dates...even tho all the merchants claim to never do that because it puts the entire caravan in jeopardy.

the mongol, having rested a bit, sneaks as close as he can to the wrestling match (in which the sixth merchant is discovering he may have underestimated the third merchant) and starts siccing trained monitor lizards on the two of em.

both combatants now realize they may be stuck in this stupid wrestling match for a lot longer. they also realize theyre gettin the shit bit outta them by those nasty lizards.

by this time, the mongol is offering to buy a camel from the fourth merchant. one that's fulla unripe dates and water and ready to explode in violation of all merchant compacts.

just when it begins to appear as if the sixth merchant may possibly prevail, the mongol and the fourth merchant sneak 2 really bloated stinky camels right up to the sixth merchants tent (filled with his friends and wives) and walk quickly away before both camels explode.

those not done in by the concussion or the chemical weapons native to camel digestive systems, run thru the blinding cloud of flatulence screaming with fear and disgust.

the mongol laffs his ass off as the rest of the surviving merchants spend most of their time inventing silly anti-mongol gimmicks, assigning alert color keys and--when nobody's paying too much attention--cranking out invoices for stuff that aint really getting accomplished.

the last thing we see as the sun goes down is the sixth merchant pounding his opponents head with the flat blade of his scimitar, screaming 'goddammit you're gonna love freedom if its the last thing i do'...as the fourth merchant begins feeding raw dates and lots of water to a couple more camels.

It is the merchants who refused to do anything, just to not hurt the Mongol's feelings

who the hell--besides those determined to try and convince themselves that hussein, not bin laden, was enemy #1--has used the phrase 'hurt the terrorists' feelings'? nobody--and i do very much mean exactly nobody--gives a shit about terrorists' feelings.

Sometimes kneeling before terror, aurguing over what will happen after the Mongol is stopped, all the while another three merchants lose their heads, is not a good idea either.

long before you can argue about anything, you gotta stop the mongol. not scare him off into the mountains and then decide to take on someone else. every moment wasted tryin to be slick is another moment in which the mongol can regain his strength.

all in all, spending all your money on things other than fortifying your own borders and diverting your troops to a battle that could have been avoided until the mongol was dead isn't any more effective--if you're unable to stop the revitalized mongol from chopping your head off--than kneeling and waiting.

dammit triplicate despite my most inept efforts. pls delete this one and the one above it...thnx. i cant find this article on your blogsite or i woulda at lease let all the words outta both of em. sorry.