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
Further, grow [such] a big garden'" 0 besides the [bridge] that the rising Sun could not be seen until noon! Further, turn your yurt into a yellow mottled palace! 60 1 Further, prepare a home for my daughter and my son-in-law, make a separate yellow mottled palace! 6 0 - [The khan] said. - Then I will give my daughter. - [The khan] said. Thereafter the old man went crying home. The snake asked the old man: - Father, what has happened to you? - Thereupon the old man said: - The khan ordered'' 0 , me to do so and so. - [48] Thereupon the snake said: - Well, it is nothing. 60 4 [It can be done] within a day and a night. - Thereafter when the old man and the old woman were about to get up, everything was as it had been ordered [by the khan] and they were lying inside a big soft bed. 60 5 Well, thereafter the khan gave his daughter [to the snake]. The snake came home and lay there. At night the khan's daughter arrived as well, she came up to the bed and lay down. That maid was deadly frightened. Thereupon the snake said from behind'' 0 6 the curtain: - Light this pipe! — And gave her [his pipe]. - The girl lit the pipe. While giving it back she glimpsed under the curtain. Upon looking [inside] she saw a handsome 60 7 lad with white face and black hair lying there. 60 8 Thereafter in the morning that lad made a horse from gold and took it to the khan as a present. The khan had two more daughters. Those two girls looked at that lad and both went to his home and asked their younger sister: - Tell us where is the thing that turns your husband into a snake! - Thereupon the younger sister said: - I do not know. - Those two [sisters] looked for it and found it, and finding it 60 9 they burnt it. The lad disappeared [immediately] while he was sitting at the khan's. Thereafter the khan's daughter left saying "I'll go after my husband and die.". On the way there was a white yurt close to a tree. [49] The girl entered that yurt. Upon entering [she saw that] a Lama was sitting there. Thereafter the girl told the Lama her whole story. After she had finished, the Lama said to the girl: - Your husband is a man living in the sky above. - He said. - Now, go from here. There is a meadow southwards. Go to that meadow and lie down. There is a maral deer that comes to play in that meadow. While [the deer] is playing so, [try] to touch its antler and it will let you get to the over world. - Thereafter the girl went to the meadow and lay down. Meanwhile a maral deer came and played there; it touched that girl with its antlers and she got onto the sky above close to three yurts. Thereafter the girl entered the yurt on the western side and sat down. A girl lived [there]. That mistress of that yurt asked the girl: 6 0" Bálint örün yarakson naran iidii kürtül ese üzügdedek ike bakca urya, Kalm. örün yarsn narn es üzgddg ik bagc ury, Kalm. D. bake "Garten, kleiner Garten fur Gemüse" (R. 30). 60 1 Bálint bäising, Kalm bäsing lit. "building". W 2 The building of a bridge between the dwellings with a magic garden between is a familiar motif in Kalmyk tales, cf. "Matfhdyp epyHÖ3H 36p3HHb eepun yydHSC aeH MOHa eepiiH yyÓH Kypmn ajimH ÖOJIH MO^CH maem moemanw. muuead mepytts xoitp axiap 3ep-3eMiu yphahad, Mepms xyn hapapn maeno«; udsd Uosx. lioehH xyu aMapH maeno«; udsd tioex - CUM;3H3. ÖSKSÖ JMCHJISPH 3d J! 3yH 3M3 aead up, eezHjispH SÓJI 3yH eee aead up. öuÜHb ouumpn 3dn 3yH Keey daxynotq upmn. (3aBxpa yTpoM OT ttBepen cBoero aoMa AO jtBepen Hautero ito\ia 3oaoTofi H cepeßpaHbiii MOCT coTBopn, no jtßyM CTopoHaM HX BbipacTtt (jtpyKTbi. HTOSH KOHHbin BcaaHHK cpbiBajt pyxaMH H en, neuinn PTOM cpbiBan H en, eme nptiBenn CTO CTapyx, noxoatitx HA TBOIO CTapyxy, npHBejtH CTO CTapuKOB, noxomtx Ha TBoero CTapm<a, CTO tOHomeii, noxotKux Ha Teóa npiiBettH) (XT - IV, c. 12)." Gorjajeva: Sjuzetnyj sostav i hudozestvenno-stilevaja struktura kalmvckoj volsebnoj skazki. pp. 1 19-120. 60 3 Lit. "told". ' ,0 4 Bálint Ker-ügä (kerek-ügä). Kalm. ker-ügé (R.), kerggo (Mun.) lit. "not necessary". Bálint uluba, Kalm. ulwa "Daunen, Flaum, Daunenkissen ..." (R. 449), ul\ r "tjufjak, matrac; opora" (Mun. 531), ulba "perina, tjufjak" (Pozd. 51). 60 6 Bálint doroyär, Kalm. doräyür "unten, entlang" (R. 96), dorayur "v, pod" (Mun. 207). 60 7 Bálint ulän. lit. "red", here "handsome". ""* Bálint xalxa cagän. üsütä xara. ulän zatü read xalx cagän. xar üstä, ulän zalü or xalx cagän. üs xartä. ulän zalü. There seems to be a little confusion in the grammatical markers of the expression. The supposedly correct version might b e xalx cagän. the epithet is appositional. xar üstä the epithet is prepositional, possessing a grammatical marker -rá "having something ". Another solution might be the case when both epithets are postpositional and the last one bears the grammatical marker: xalx cagän. üs xartä. 60 9 There is no further explanation what this "thing" was like. 92
