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
- Taking these thousand people let me race with you up to your yurt. - The old man's son said: - How did you get into this frightening snake['s] mouth? - He said well, and they 5'' 2 started to race. That boy arrived at the yurt along with [the old man's son]. After sending them [= the thousand people] home, the old man's son stayed at [the old man's] yurt and they lived there peacefully in THIRD TALE (Bálint 3. Utu tüli) 56 4 [42] Once there lived 5" 5 a khan who got lost in the fog. 5"" Once that khan went to hunt and as it was foggy he got lost. While going he arrived at two 5" yurts. Upon reaching those two yurts, he unsaddled his horse and sat down outside one of the yurts. Thereafter one daughter-in-law cooked tea for the khan. 56 8 Thereafter they 56 9 said: - Young man, please come in and sleep in [our] yurt! - Thereupon the khan said: - No, I will sleep outside looking after my horse. - At night a creature 5 " coming from the south ran into 57 1 the southern yurt. Thereafter the khan, seeing it, went [to that yurt] and said: - Who is this? Come out! - Thereafter that man 3 2 said: - I am the fate spirit 5 7 ' of this old man's 57 4 son. This old man's son will die 57 5 on the night of his wedding. 57 6 - Thereafter the khan said to the fate spirit: - Who will marry my daughter? - Thereupon that fate spirit said: - An old woman sitting on a cart will arrive from the direction of the rising Sun and her son in her belly will marry your daughter. - Thereafter in the morning the khan was about to go home, when the old man, the owner of that yurt said: - Young man, what is your name? - Thereupon the khan said: -1 am the ruling 57 7 khan. - Thereupon the khan added: - Old man, send your son to me when he is going to marry! - Thereafter the khan arrived home and lived his life. While living [so at home, once] a lad arrived. [43] The khan asked that lad: - What a lad are you? - The lad said: - I am the son of that old woman and old man whose yurt the khan visited and where he spent a night not long ago; the khan told me to come, and I have arrived [here], - Thereafter the khan followed 56 2 Bálint N'e säin ged. cf. Kalm. n 'é. n é "Gut!, nun und dann" (R. 275), nä 2. "soglasen, ladno" (Mun. 370). 56 3 On the closing formulae of tales cf. Gorjajeva: Sjuzetnyj sostav i hudozestvenno-stilevaja struktura kalmyckoj volsebnoj skazki. p. 97. 54, 4 Manuscript pp. 42^45. The tale starts with the usual formula; the verbal component is: bäidak sänji bolna Bálint budundu töridek (töirdek) xän, Kalm budnd tördgxän is an attribute and not a name refering probably to a type of hero who usually got lost in fog - in the plot of other tales. 56 7 Bálint nége xoyur, if the lexeme nége precedes a numeral, it indicates "certain, some". "' 8 On the receiving and entertaining the guests among the Kalmyks, cf. DuSan pp 121-122. The young people of the visited yurt should help the guest to unsaddle, to hobble his/her horse and then invite him/her into the tent, where tea and pipe are offered to them. 3 6' ) Bálint leden i. e. "people in the yurt, the family". 371 1 Bálint nége yumun lit. "one thing". 57 1 A strange creature in human, animal (frequently a cat, a fox or a mouse) or in a theriomorphic (monster) form that runs into the yurt, is in the most cases the sign of bad-luck. It is seen only by particular persons (but not only shamans are able to see them). In the Mongolian folk genre, the xüc yariya "reminiscence-narration, saying" a common motif is that "it happened to me" i. e. to the narrator who witnessed the intruding being, running in or climbing into the yurt. 3 2 Bálint kiin lit. "man, person" no other expression indicating some kind of spirit is used here 57 3 Bálint zayäci, Kalm. zayáé"fate spirit" in detail cf. Birtalan: Die Mythologie, pp. 1001-1002, 1070. 37 4 I e. "the yurt's owner's son". 3 3 Bálint ükiikü, Kalm itkx. the informant did not use any taboo-expression for dying; cf. BordZanova. T. G.: Obrjadovaja poezija kalmykov (sistema zanrov. poétika). Elista, Kalmyckoje kniZnoje izdatel'stvo 2007. p. 262. 3 7" Bálint gerän abaksan södän. 57 7 Bálint oro ezeleksen xän, Kalm. orn/or ezlsnxän. or ezlekőixän "der Kaiser, Herr des Reiches" (R. 129). 89
