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

J 19] 1. 5 On the island of bowl size Cfi £ There are ten black ducks. 2 E— Tracing their traces There is a fast black duck. What is it? (to write) 2. The ankle bone that is in the chest, No one knows which side [it falls] on its ale-side.

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5 What is it? (the foetus in the [mother's] womb)

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6 3. On the leafy tree A golden saddle is mounted. What is it? (the hand with a ring) 4. There are three things in the world that are white. What are they? (smiling the teeth are white, getting old the hair is white in death the bones are white) 5. Going upon the felt cover of the yurt's smoke hole It calls its companions. What is it? (the gopher) 6. Upon becoming red, it becomes vertical. What is it? (fire rake)

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7 7. From the mountain A thread is hanging. What is it? (the rope attached to the nose peg of the camel) 19

5 Kalm. ale „eine Seite des Spielknochens sayä

; die entgegengesetzte Seite ist tä, die konvexe ist bök, die konkave cox

' (R. 8), "alca (boleje rovnaja storona aléika)" (Mun. 28), the meaning differs to some extent from Pozdnejev: alca "nerovnaja storona alCika" (Pozd. 8). In other riddles ale and tä figure together (cf. below in demonstrating the parallel materials). The names of different sides of the astragal in various Mongolian languages and dialects, cf. Birtalan, Agnes: A csigacsont szakrális szerepe és a csigacsontjátékok. In: Mongol játékok és versenyek. Ed Birtalan, Ágnes. (Körösi Csorna Kiskönyvtár 27.). Budapest. Akadémiai Kiadó 2006 pp 24-73 [The sacral role of the astragal and the astragal games In: Mongol games and competitions], for the Kalmyk terminology and games cf. NeboTsin pp. 140-141, Ziteckij p. 39. Ernjänä pp. 146-152, 158, Erdnijev p. 248. Omakajeva, E. U.: Narodnyje igry. In: Kalmyki. (Serija Narody i Kul'tury). Ed. Bakajeva, E. P. - Zukovskaja, N. L. Moskva, Nauka 2010. pp. 364-374, on pp. 365-370. 19

6 This explanation is incomplete, in the parallel texts the solution usually indicates that the gender of the foetus is not known (cf. below). 19

7 Bálint silábir. Kalm. siléwr "Feuerschürer, Schüreisen" (R. 357), siläwr "koéerga" (Mun. 672), Pürbän p. 123. 40