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

Thereafter the cat, the dog and the rat left. Again the cat sat on the back of the dog, the rat slipped into the ear of the dog and they went away. They were halfway across the sea, when the dog said:

6

8' -1 am more beneficial than you. - For what reason would you be more beneficial? - Asked the cat. The dog said: -1 am taking you across the sea. - Thereupon the cat said: - No, I am more beneficial. - Thereupon the rat said: - For what reason would you be more beneficial? - Thereupon the cat said: - I snapped up [the ring] without dropping it on the ground. - Thereafter the rat said: - I am more beneficial. - For what reason are you more beneficial? - [67] Asked the dog. Thereupon the rat said: - Without me, how could you get the ring? - Thereafter they three had a mighty tiff with each other and the dog dropped the cat from its back into the water, and dropped the rat as well into the water and left. At that time the golden ring was in the rat's mouth. As soon as the rat fell into the water, it dropped the ring into the water. Thereafter the rat swam out to the sea shore and called the fishes of the water: - A dragnet is nearing behind you;

68

4 I will build a yurt"

8

5 for you. - It said and all the fish came out together. The rat looked at all of them and said: - Aren't there any other fish except you? - Thereafter all the fish said: - There is a blind black abramis,

6

8" it is not here. - Bring it here! - Said [the rat] and sent a fish for it. The blind black abramis arrived with two nice eyes. The rat asked it: - Where did you get your two eyes from? — Thereupon the abramis said: - Something beautiful fell down from above, as I caught and ate it and both my eyes grew back. Thereafter the rat took

68

7 that ring. Thereafter [the rat] brought [the ring] and gave it back to the boy. The boy became [so rich] as he was before. Thereafter the boy sent for the old woman, got her two eyes put out, got her arms cut off and buried her in the ground. Thereafter the boy lived peacefully in joy. EIGHTH TALE (Bálint 8. Utu túli Fable (long tale))

68

8 [68, Grammar 214]''

8

g Once upon a time an old man and an old wife lived. Those old couple had three sons and two daughters. They married their daughters, two daughters to two [yellow] giants

6"' After that the old wife died. After that the old man being at the point to die said to his three sons: 68

3 In other tales the cat is the mischief (Taube p. 439). 68

4 Bálint catan sügül asina: catan from cäd tan

'. Kalm. cat. cäd "der hintere oder andere" (R. 424). Kalm.D. sügül "Netz, Zugnetz" (R. 372), sügüt "nevod, set' " (Mun. 687). 68

5 The expression is used in the meaning of a "shelter". 68

1' Bálint cüba, Kalm. cüwa "Brassen" (R. 435), cüw "leäC" (Mun. 642), Lat. Abramis. 68

7 Bálint erä bäiji is an unidentified expression. 68

8 Manuscript pp. 68-74 Bálint translated this tale for the Oirat Chrestomathy of his Grammar, under the title Fable (Long tale) pp. 214-221 (Bálint's pagination: pp. 193-200). Here Bálint's translation will be introduced with some minor corrections. The two texts are almost identical, a longer passage - added below - is missing in the Manuscript. A few Kalmyk sentences of the version in the Grammar - marked at the required place - have not been translated by Bálint. Beyond the mentioned corrections some minor divergences also occur between the two texts, such as missing words in any of the variants, but they are not significant. On the motifs of the present tale, cf. Gorjajeva. Baira Basangovna: Sjuzetnyj sostav i hudozestvenno-stilevaja struktura kalmyckoj volsebnoj skazki. (Dissertacija) Elista 2006 (Manuscript) pp 115-117. '

,

8'' The numbers indicate the page numbering of the Manuscript. The brackets in the text have been inserted by Bálint, while the square brackets have been inserted in order to correct some errata appearing in the Grammar. 691

1 Bálint used both the written form mangyus and oral form müs "monster" of this lexeme in both text variants. On the phenomenon miis, cf. tale Nr. 9. 102