Birtalan Ágnes: Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century: Philological Studies on the Basis of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna’s Kalmyk Texts.

FOLKLORE GENRES

large group of women who were skinning up silk[like ?] sable

1'

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9 and sewing something. Among those women the boy's wife was [also] sitting. That wife was so beautiful that in her light it was possible to work and in her radiance it was possible to guard the stud.''

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0 Thereafter the boy got up and went out. The boy's black orphan calf was [grazing] with his companions, their number reaching a thousand. Thereafter the boy lived this way happily. On the southern side of the boy's [territory] there was a sea. On the southern side of that sea there lived a khan. There was no similarly rich khan to him in the sunny world. But our boy became richer than that khan. Thereafter the khan living on the southern side of the sea said: - That orphan boy has become richer than me. One should try to find out the thing that made him rich. If an old woman brings it to me, I will make her my own mother. If a boy brings it to me, 1 will make him my own son. If a young man brings it to me, I will make him [65] my own younger brother. If an old man brings it to me, I will make him my own father. - Thereafter an old woman [said]: - I am able to bring [that thing]. - She said. Thereupon the khan said: - Upon your bringing [that thing] I will make you my own mother. - Thereafter the old woman made a ship from the rind of a watermelon and made a paddle

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1 from reed and crossed over the sea. Thereafter the old woman arrived to our boy's wife and asked her: - How have you become rich? - Thereupon the wife said: - I don't know. - Thereupon the old woman said: - Ask your husband! - The wife asked her husband: - How have we become rich? - Thereupon her husband said: - We became rich due to the golden ring on your hand. - Thereafter the wife went to the old woman and said: - We became rich due to this golden ring on my hand. - Thereafter the old woman stole the ring while they were sleeping at night. She brought it to the khan. Upon getting up in the morning our boy was lying in a poor grass hut. His black orphan calf remained alone [without its companions!. The above mentioned cat, dog and rat which the boy saved when they were about to be killed were at his side. Thereafter the cat, the dog and the rat [66] said: - We will find the way. - And they went away. The cat sat on the back of the dog, the rat slipped into the dog's ear and they crossed the sea. After they had crossed the sea and arrived outside the khan's yurt. The rat said: - You dog stay outside, you cat sit on the covering felt piece of the yurt. - The rat ran into the yurt. When the rat entered, the oil lamp was burning.

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2 Thereafter the rat found out that the ring was in the old woman's mouth and dug a hole near the oil lamp. Digging [the hole] the rat dipped its tail in the ash and stuck it also into the grease of the oil lamp. After doing so, [the rat] came running at the old woman and stuck rolling [its tail] into the old woman's nose. The old woman sneezed and half of the ring came out. [The rat] stuck rolling [its tail] again [into her nose] and the ring fell down on the ground. The cat sitting on the felt cover of the yurt snapped it up without dropping it on the ground. 67

9 Bálint toryo bulaya suläd

, Kalm. kulx "sdirat' (koZicu, koru). skoblit' " (Mun. 683). cf further the possible use of Kalm. sitlax "das Tuch, den Anzug zerreißen: (von oben bis unten oder der Länge nach) zerspalten" (R 370). 681

1 Usual formula in the Mongolian and Kalmyk tales, cf. Gorjajeva, Baira Basangovna: Sjuzetnyj sostav i hudozestvennostilevaja struktura kalmyckoj volsebnoj skazki. (Dissertacija) Elista 2006 (Manuscript) p 107. "«TepjiAHb any MUIIM, rersHjiHb yY-n ßapM» («B CBeTe ee MOJKHO CTepenb TaOytt, B CHBHHH ee - pyKoaejtbHUHarb») (XT - I, c. 91) BCTpenaeTCH c HeKoropbiMH jieKCHiecKHMH BaptismusMit H nepecTattOBKaMu HacTeit, tie MeHJuoutHMii CMbiejia ((topMyjibi. HanptiMep, «TersHitHb MAN M3HM, repjiitttb YY-" ßapiu» («B CTTAMUI ee MOXCHO CTepetb CKOT, B CBeTe ee - pyKOttejibHtiHaTb») (ApxttB KHLH PAH, (|> 5, on. 2, en., xp. 80, C. 69); «TEPJUHB yyn ytiM, reraHnttb any Ntattvi caaxtt» («KpacuBaa HACTOJIBKO, HTO B CBeTe ee MOWIIO BbiuniBarb, B citatum ee - CTepetb Taöytt») (XT - II, c. 178); «TeraHjtHb yyjt 6apM, tepjiattb Man MattM» («B CHBHHM ee M04KH0 pyKonetibHitqaTb. B CBeTe ee - CTepetb CKOT») (XT - III, c. 178, 179). 68

1 Bálint xaibe, Kalm. xäwir "Ruder" (R 181), xäw "vjosla, veslo", but xäwr "poisk, rozisk" (Mun. 585), xaiba "veslo" (Pozd. 73); Ramstedt's lexeme is probably wrongly translated ''"

2 Bálint sam katalyata, Kalm sam satlyät. Kalm. satalyn "zaZiganije, obZig" (Mun. 667). 101