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

- Don't mention eating that sheep of yours, I myself ate one of the khan's stallions and now I am afraid of the horse-keepers. - Thereupon the sparrow said: - I'll go to the horse-keepers to tell about you! - The sparrow arrived at the horse-keepers and said: - There's a wolf here, go and kill that wolf! - Thereupon the horse-keepers said: - Don't mention killing that wolf of yours, we have lost the black-brown ambler stallion the khan used to ride. Now we are afraid of the khan. - Thereafter the sparrow said: - I'll go to the khan to tell about you. - [The bird] said and left. The sparrow arrived to the khan and said: - Khan, your horse-keepers have lost your the black-brown ambler stallion you used to ride and now they are afraid of you. Go and beat them! - [37] Thereupon the khan said: - Don't mention going and beating them, I myself can't carry my own fat. - Thereafter the sparrow said: - You miscreant being unable to carry your own fat, I'll go to the rat to tell about you! - [The bird] said and left. [The sparrow] arrived at the rat and said: - There's a khan here, go and eat his fat! - Thereupon that rat said: - Don't mention going and eating your [khan's] fat, I myself am afraid of boys. - I'll go to the boys to tell about you. - [The bird] said and left. [The sparrow] arrived at the boys and said: - There's a rat here, go and kill it. - Thereupon the boys said: - Don't mention killing that rat [of yours]! We ourselves let the cows be mated and now we are afraid of our mother[s], - Thereupon the sparrow said: - You miscreants having let the cows be mated, I'll go to your mother[s] to tell about you! - [The bird] said and left. The sparrow arrived at the boys' mothers and said: - Your sons have let the cows be mated; now they are afraid of you, go and beat your sons! Thereupon the wives [sic!] said: - Don't mention going and beating them, we can't slam our own wool. - Thereupon the sparrow said: - You miscreants being unable to beat your wool, I'll go to the whirlwind to tell about you! - [The bird] said and left. The sparrow arrived at the whirlwind and said: - There are a lot of wives [sic!] who are being unable to beat their wool, go and blow their wool away! [38] Thereafter the whirlwind blew off their wool, the wives pursued their sons, the boys pursued the rat, the rat ate the khan's fat, the khan beat his horse-keepers, the horse-keepers pursued the wolf, the wolf ate the sheep, and the sheep ate the grass. Seeing them our sparrow laughed (so much) and [because of laughing] its aorta burst and [the sparrow] perished.

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8 SECOND TALE (Bálint 2. Utu tűlif

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9 [39] Once there lived

5

5" a rich old woman and an old man. That old woman and old man had neither a son nor a daughter.

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5' Later on a son was bom. At [that] night a snake came and taking the boy it ran 54

7 Bálint saraljin, Kalm. sarljn "Name verschiedener großer Steppenpflanzen" (R 350). "bur'jan" (Mun. 666), lat. Artemisia vulgaris. 54

8 There is an illegible crossed expression at the end of the tale It is uncertain ifit is the name of the informant 54

9 Manuscript pp 39-41. 551

1 Bálint Bäidek sänji bolna. " There have lived". On the starting formulae of tales cf. Gorjajeva, Baira Basangovna: Sjuzetnyj sostav i hudozestvenno-slilevaja struktura kalmyckoj volSebnoj skazki. (Dissertacija) Elista 2006 (Manuscript) pp. 92-96. 55

1 The inserted phonetical variants cf. the photocopy of the texts. 87