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
- Well, return [home]! 1 will bless you with a son. That son will go into the water and die. After him I will bless you with another son that will die under the legs of horses. After him I will bless you with another son, but that son will die in the war. - Thereafter the old man returned home. The son, who was destined to die in the water, was born. That old woman and that old man kept him away from water. While they were protecting [their son from water], once the old woman and the old man were preparing and drinking milk brandy exactly at noon 74 4 and without pouring out the water for the milk brandy they fell asleep. While they were lying, their son crawled and fell into the water of the milk brandy and died. Thereafter the son, who was destined to die under the legs of horses, was born. That old man and the old woman went to a place where there were no horses. That son was walking holding on to the yurt's wall. While he was walking this way, a stallion came [to the yurt] and trod the boy that was walking grasping the yurt's wall dead from outside [the tent's wall]. [83] Thereafter the son, who was destined to die in the war, was born. Thereafter the old man put his son into a nine elbow [deep] pit dug under the goods on the honoured place; 74 5 and scattered besides him a lot of fruits and fed him [there]. Thereafter the boy was there until he reached the age of seventy years. Earlier The Oirats' rich khan and Erlg, the khan of the Holy Teaching 74 6 were once discussing [the following]: - If a good lad is born from among your dependants and if a good lad is born from my dependants, let us make them fight. - For this reason Erlg, the khan of the Holy Teaching sent a letter to the Oirats' rich khan: "A good lad was born from among my dependants. If there is a good son born from among your dependants, send him to me!". 74 7 Thereafter the Oirats' rich khan opened his yellow book 74 8 that does not fail [the truth] 7 1'' and looked at it. In the book there was the following: "The man who will fight with Ulaadaa hero, 7 5" having a yellow spotted horse the size of a mountain, 75 1 is the seventy-yearold [son] 75 2 of the Oirats' Richnian. Thereafter the khan sent five warriors and ordered them to bring the Oirats' Richman's son. The five warriors arrived and said: - The khan ordered to give your son to him! - Thereupon the Oirats' Richman said: - What a son could I have? - The five warriors returned to the khan and said: - He said that he had no son. - Thereupon the khan said: - If the man can be unreliable, a book can be unreliable, too. - And opened the book to look at it again. [84] It was in that book: "The man who will fight with Ulaadaa hero having a yellow spotted horse the size of a mountain is the seventy-year-old [son] of the Oirats' Richman. That boy is in a nine elbow [deep] pit dug under the goods on the honoured place." - Thereafter the khan sent twenty-five warriors and ordered them: - Turn his yurt upside down and bring [the boy] here! - The twenty-five warriors arrived, and rummaged the honoured place. The Oirats' Richman said: - Instead of taking my son, take from my goods. - The twenty-five warriors went to the goods [of the Oirats' Richman] to take some of them instead of taking the boy. Thereafter the Oirats' Richman's son said [to his father?]: 74 4 Bálint ike fidlä read kalm. ik iidlä. i e. around 12 o'clock. Cf. Kalm yal üd " gerade um 12 Uhr" (R. 455), nam üd "polden' " (Mun. 545), Khal .fin üd. ix üűf "high noon" (Bawden 398). 74 5 Bálint baranan 7 doro. Kalm. baränä n ' dör, it is a usual motif in the Kalmyk tales: the honoured place is the hiding place of heroes, cf. 4 l h tale. 74 6 Bálint Erlek nomTn xän, Kalm. Erlg nomTn xän, Mong Erlig nom-un qan, Khal. Erleg nomln xän is the ambivalent ruler of the underworld or in the Buddhicised mythology of the hells. In details cf. Birtalan: Die Mythologie, pp 981-983. 74 7 Bálint naran read näran. 74 8 Bálint bicik, Kalm. bieg lit. "writing". 74 9 Bálint sam gesegig, is an incomprehensible expression, the correct interpretation needs further investigation. In the square brackets a logical interpretation complementing the sentence has been given. 75 0 Bálint Ulada bätur, read Kalm Ulädä bätr, cf. Khal (Jlädai (?). Cf. BordZanova. T. G.: Antroponimija kalmyckih narodnyh skazok. In: Onomastika Kalmykii Ed. Bardajev, E. £. - Monrajev, M. U. - Oéir-Garjajev, B. E. Elista, Kalmyckij NauinoIssledovatel'skij Institut Istorii, Filologii i Ekonomiki 1983. pp. 96-100. 7, 1 Bálint ulän düngä read Kalm. ülán diinggä. 75 2 There is a gap in the original text. 109
