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
He galloped for several years He galloped immeasurably [much]. Then he went on the top of a hill. He looked southwards; there were the dependants of the [defeated] 65 1 young man. [59] Thereafter the lad arrived at the khan's yurt, 65 2 dismounted there and was about to enter the yurt. The yurt's [felt] door-keeper did not let him enter, so he took and threw the door-keeper away and entered [there]. There was A brass and silver throne It was impossible for people to approach it (?). 65 3 He went there and sat in it. The queen stood up immediately. 65 4. - Stand up quickly! I've killed your husband and come to take you and drive away your dependants. - He said. The queen answered: - Let me tell you a word. - Tell me! There is no man in the sunny world who could overcome me. - Said [the lad]. Meanwhile a boy entered the yurt. He did not have any pants on; he was naked and stepped into the ground up to his knees; he came in and sat down. Thereafter Zul-shar Arslng asked that boy: - What a boy are you? - Thereupon the boy said: - I've heard that the sixteen-year-old hero called Zul-shar Arslng, the son of the eight thousandyear-old man Namjil-tsagaan is coming. I was quickly born from my mother's belly and cut my navel string with a red stone the size of oxen. 65 5 I've come to become sworn brothers with you. - [Zul-shar Arslng] became with him sworn brothers. 65 6 Then the queen said: - Let me tell you a word. - Tell me! What a man could overcome me in the sunny world in the four directions? - Thereupon the queen said: - The fallow bald venomous snake is taking your bride. - [60] Thereafter the younger sworn brother said: - I will ride [there], - No, I will ride [there]. - Said the elder [sworn] brother. So both of them rode away. The younger sworn brother's horse ran ahead, the elder sworn brother followed him. He reached the younger sworn brother and caught up with him. Zul-shar Arslng told his horse: It's time that the döng 6 5' red hole dug for seven years fall in, It's time that the seven-year-old snake perishes. If [the snake] doesn't drop [the girl] at the mouth of the hole I'll [cut] your back and belly and deprive you of your life. 65 8 The horse said: 65 0 The eating the enemy's horse after defeating him seems to be a frequent motif. 65 1 Bálint odäki. Kalm. odäk lit. '"the previously mentioned". The khan, i. e. the previously defeated person. 65 3 Bálint kümün kiirädügä "people do not approach to it (?)" this expression needs further investigation. 1,5 4 Bálint síneken erbegäd bosoji baidek ; cf. Kalm. erwexe "lebhaft sein, flattern, sich eifrig bewegen, schaukeln (Blätter. Schmetterlinge)" (R 127), by Munijev a different meaning is given: erwäx "popravljat'sja, vyzdaravlivat' " (Mun. 701). 65 5 For the epic motif of miraculous birth and the connection of stone and cutting the umbilical cord of the hero cf. Heissig, Walther: Felsgeburt (Petrogenese) und Bergkult. In: Fragen der mongolischen Heldendichtung II. (Asiatische Forschungen 73). Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz 1982 pp. 16-36. 65 6 On the motif of sworn brother alliance in Mongolian folklore and its historical context, as well the literature cf. Birtalan, Ágnes: A Western-Mongolian Heroic Epic: Üli] Tiw. A Story About the Sworn Brotherhood. In: CAJ 48.1 (2004) pp. 8-37; Birtalan. Ágnes: Rituals of Sworn Brotherhood (Mong. anda hol-, Oir. and, ax diiii bol-) in Mongol Historic and Epic Tradition. In: Chronica. Annual of the Institute of History. University Szeged. 7-8. (2007-2008) Szeged pp. 44-56. 65 7 Bálint döng; might be an emphatic particle but needs further investigation, Basangova (Bordzanova) explained as yal ulän "fire red". "'* Bálint Niikün "i amen dere ese aldülji ögdök bol. xon cin 7 doro cini ami cin 7 alana bi. Xon. cf. Kalm. xong "Steiß, das dicke Fleisch am Rückenende" (R. 185), Khal. xongo "the back side of the tight" (Bawden 447). 98
