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
Sokhor Khar Hero took and hit him. He broke his thigh bone and knocked him [into the ground] a span [deep]. - Have you [other] tricks?- Said [Sokhor Khar]. - Catch me firmly! There are still three good rounds. - Go on with the [next] round. - Said [the other]. He threw him down so many times as there are stars in the sky, But he was still in good condition and did not lose his balance. He threw him down so many times as there are blades of grass on the ground, But he was still in good condition and did not lose his energy. He threw him down so many times as there are fish young in the waters, He did not lose his consciousness. Then [129] fighting [Sokhor Khar Hero knocked Ketsüii Berkh into the ground] four spans [deep]. - Well, now have you [other] tricks? - Thereupon Ketsüü Berk said: - Let us become [sworn] brothers. - [Why] become [sworn] brothers, when I knocked you [into the ground] four spans [deep]? - The queen learnt [what had happened] and sent quickly their black dog with thexabal muzzle and said: - Well, someone is going to kill your master. - That dog seeing their silhouette ran there, but its leg went into a hole on a hill, it fell down through it, 92 0 broke its [leg], tore up its aorta 92 1 and perished. Thereafter Sokhor Khar Hero killed the khan and when he was upon to get up, he lost his [...]. 92 2 He [was sleeping] for three years as if he had lost his consciousness. After doing so, he woke up as a man (?). 92 3 Thereafter he thought: "What did I do here? Alas! I didn't kill here Ketsüü Berkh. Did I?" he looked for his horse and found it. Then he rode his horse as fast as possible, arrived and cut off the straps of [Ketsüü Berkh's ] yurts: - Move quickly [from here]! - He said and went away. Thereafter the queen thought: "How could 1 leave the yellow spotted [yurt]palace with empty base?" and putting a red stone of oxen size on her liver, she forced the khan's five-month-old son to be born. "How could I leave the platform of the golden well empty?" 92 4 - She said and putting a red stone of oxen size on the liver of the mottled ambler mare, the foremost [horse] of the khan, she forced the five-month-old foal to be born. As she was crossing a hill, [she heard] the child crying. She returned and gave the breast to him. [130] As she was crossing two hills, [she heard] the child crying. She returned and gave the breast to him then put him to sleep. Doing as before 92 5 she crossed eight hills, and was upon to cross the ninth hill, when she [heard] the child crying. "Now I have no means. The khan's order is hard." she said and left. Thereafter the boy lived there and grew up. He made arrows from ribs, string from pea shrub, 92 6 he shot the sparrows living in that land and fed himself [this way]. He threw a hook into the water and caught fish. He shot the ducks living in the water and fed himself [this way]. One night he was laying turning 92 7 when something uttered his father's name on 92 8 the felt-cover of the yurt: - Ketsüü Berkh defeated the people of five countries when he was five years old, destroyed the brass [palace?] of Tangsal khan and tried a fall with Erlig the ruler of the Hell. - And [the caller] left. The boy jumped up. He looked around, but there was nothing. The next day the boy was sitting 91 9 Bálint dolän toloya yadaca, Kalm. dolän tolyä yac, cf. above. 92 0 Bálint alas abci unäd. cf. Kalm.D. als "quer über" (R. 8), "Cerez" (Mun. 36). 92 1 Bálint yol n 7 tasräd, cf. yol sudsn, sudcn "Aorta". 92 2 Bálint üriigän aldaji orkoba. cf. Kalm. ürg (?) "Bürde. Last (auf dem Rücken)" (R. 461). An expression with the connotation referring to losing one's consciousness would be reasonable at this point of the story. 92 1 Bálint sereksen kiln kebtä serebe , lit. "woke up in a woken man's form". 92 4 Bálint kerdek "the stand, the platform of the well", cf. About how the Kalmyks pasture their livestock. 92 3 I. e. she returned home after crossing a hill (all together eight times). 92 6 Bálint, xaryan, Kalm. xaryn Lat. Caragana cf. R. 169. 92 7 Bálint erek-diirek geji kepteteln 'i: is an iconic hendiadys expression, cf. Kalm. ergixe "sich drehen, wenden" (R. 124), ergxe "kruzit'sja, vraäat'sja, krutit'sja" (Mun. 702). 92 8 Bálint deregiirn 7, probably dégürn 7 "above". 130
