This one is for you fans of the Khans. I remember reading somewhere about one of the Khans receiving a threat from a European leader. The threat read something like "If we come into your lands, we will destroy you etc..." The Khan's response was simply "If." I'm wondering what the exact quotes are, and what the story is behind this.
Thanks!
I think this story actually relates to Sparta, not one of the Khanates.
And when Philip wrote thus to the Spartans: If once I enter into your territories, I will destroy ye all, never to rise again; they answered him with the single word, If.
That is taken from Plutarch's De garrulitate.
The "Philip" in question is King Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. Philip II effectively established Macedonian hegemony over Greece, though he never did enter Sparta. Sparta by that point in time was too weak to really rival Macedon, but their reply (if true), does show that the tradition of "Laconic wit" (named after Lacedaemon, another name for Sparta) was still alive and well in Sparta.
There might be a similar story regarding one of the various Khans throughout history, but I haven't heard of it.