--- title: "Alan Qo’a and the Five Arrows" story_id: "36e1422b-74a5-449b-a847-a3c1ec44067f" text_id: "b6568985-8b19-4afb-9f1c-a5b46319721d" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/alan-qoa-and-the-five-arrows" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/alan-qoa-and-the-five-arrows" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # Alan Qo’a and the Five Arrows > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/alan-qoa-and-the-five-arrows) Version: Modernized In this legend from Mongolia, preserved in The Secret History of the Mongols, Alan Qo’a raises five sons. The two eldest wonder about the birth of their younger brothers. Their mother gathers them around a few arrows to teach them the strength of unity. While she was a widow, Alan Goa gave birth to three sons; the eldest was Buga Hatagi, the second Tusalchi, the third Boduanchar. The two sons whose father was Doben said once to each other: “Our mother has no husband, no brother of our father has ever been in this yurt, our round tent, still she has three sons. There is only one man in the house, he has lived with us always; is he not their father?” ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/7e605276-0edb-456c-b614-ffe73e393bb6) Alan Goa learned that the two elder brothers were wondering about the other three, so one day she called in her five sons. She seated them together, gave each one an arrow and told him to break it. Each broke his arrow. She then bound five arrows firmly together and ordered her sons to break them—not one of the brothers could break the five arrows when tied in a bundle. “You are in doubt,” said she then to her eldest and second sons, “as to who is the father of my third, fourth and fifth sons. You wonder, and with reason, for you do not know that a golden-hued man makes his way to this yurt. He enters through the door by which light comes, he enters through the smoke hole in the roof like sunshine. The brightness which comes from him fills me when I look at him. Going off on the rays of the sun or the moon he runs like a swift yellow dog till he vanishes. Stop talking carelessly. Your three youngest brothers are children of Heaven, and no one may compare them to ordinary men. When they are khans, great rulers, you will know this.” Alan Goa instructed her sons then, and said to them: “You all are my children, you are all sons of mine. If you stand apart like those five broken arrows it will be very easy to break you, but if you keep one mind and one spirit no man on earth will be able to injure you, you will be like those five arrows in the bundle.” Alan Goa died soon after this talk with her children. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text The Mongols: A History, 1908, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston - author: Jeremiah Curtin ## Illustration [Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/7e605276-0edb-456c-b614-ffe73e393bb6) — Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, ≈ 1430, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Herat ## Reading music AbūʿAtā — Darāmad Pouya Khoshravesh (kamancheh) KUG Dastgāhi Corpus, Institute of Ethnomusicology, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (source) [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) ## Quiz ### What is used to make the felt covering of a traditional Mongolian yurt? - Sheep’s wool (Correct answer) - Crushed glass - Fish scales Sheep’s wool is worked into felt. The yurt, called a ger in Mongolia, has a wooden frame and covers made of felt and canvas. [UNESCO — Traditional craftsmanship of the Mongol Ger](https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/traditional-craftsmanship-of-the-mongol-ger-and-its-associated-customs-00872) ### Which animal traditionally decorates the top of the Mongolian morin khuur? - An eagle - A horse (Correct answer) - A tortoise This two-stringed fiddle has a horse’s head at the top of its neck. Horses play an important part in Mongolian nomadic culture. [UNESCO — Traditional music of the Morin Khuur](https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/traditional-music-of-the-morin-khuur-00068) ### In which direction are the letters of traditional Mongolian script joined to form a word? - In a spiral - In a circle - Vertically (Correct answer) The letters are connected by continuous strokes from top to bottom. This script is used in an art of calligraphy passed on by skilled teachers. [UNESCO — Mongolian calligraphy](https://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/mongolian-calligraphy-00873) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/alan-qoa-and-the-five-arrows?format=markdown) - [简体中文](https://www.openclassics.org/zh/stories/alan-qoa-and-the-five-arrows?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)