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
prayer[texts] 89 7 of [the load of] three camels. She burnt those prayer[text]s of [the load of] three camels three times in the morning and in the evening. She was upon to burn them one morning, when the prayer[texts] slipped out of her hands and fell down three times. Thereafter the khan asked his queen: - Why did these prayer[texts] fall down? - Thereupon the queen said: - The Sokhor Khar Hero having a blunt black sword 89 8 is going to kill you and move off your dependants. - He had got a black dog that has a clawing 89 9 mouth. If that black dog with the clawing mouth gets angry with somebody, that man becomes faint for three years, ifit bites somebody, he will suffer 90 0 for twenty years and then die. Thereafter the khan said: - Bring and saddle my fast mottled 90 1 horse! - Thereafter the khan left. [127] He went up the Grey Hill of the encounters 90 2 and stopped there. While doing so, a thin red dust [cloud] was nearing from the direction of the rising sun, from the side of faraway Namjil-land. 9 0' Sokhor Khar Hero, having a blunt black sword arrived and said: - You, knave to whose [... ] dried a [... ] , 904 In whose palm it caught fire, Who became a lost bull, Who became a whistling arrow 90 5 that missed its target, From where to where are you going? - Thereupon the khan said: -You are the one to whose [...] dried a [...], You are the one in whose palm it caught a fire, You are the one who became a lost bull. You are the one who became a whistling arrow that missed its target, From where to where are you going? - Thereupon that [Sokhor Khar] said: - Are you the one who sets his camp in the uninhabited Artemisia-white land 90 6 or are you the one who sets his camp where daughters-in-law and girls play? - I am the one who sets his camp in the uninhabited Artemisia-white land. - He said and they went away [to fight]. They pulled at each other from the saddle strongly 90 7 until the hooves of their horses got entangled, 9" 8 they pulled at their princely 90 9 silk belts the value of a two-years-old camel until it 89 6 Bálint, Kalm. Namjil Ulän, Namjil Ulan "Victorious red", from Tib. mam rgyal "victorious, complete victory". 89 7 Bálint yurbttn temän jodobuta , Kalm. yurwn temän jodwtä; the expression refers to the quantity of written prayer texts. Kalm. Jodw, dorji Jodow "n. eines Gebetbuches" (R. 114), from Tib. rjod pa "say, recite, pronounce, utter, announce, promulgate, enumerate, set forth, treat a subject in writing", http://www.nitartha.org/dictionary_search04.html. 89 8 Bálint muxur xara üldütä Soxor Xara Bätur, Kalm. muxr xar üldtä Soxr Xar Bätr "Blind Black Hero having a blunt black sword". 8" Bálint xabal. cf. Kalm. xawl- 2. "festnehmen, ergreifen, erraffen (mit dem Munde und Händen)" (R. 174). 90 0 Bálint dineräd, lit. Kalm. dinrxe "verblüff verdutzt, betäubt werden; nicht mehr denken od. sagen können" (R. 92). 90 1 Bálint xaltar , Kalm. xaltr "braun mit hellem Maul od. weißer Mähne" (R. 163), Khal. xaltar "brown with lighter markings" (Bawden 422). 90 2 Bálint BorzatTn boro üla, Kalm.D borzai = bolzäte : borzättn boro towxan "der graue Kampfhügel wo die Kämpfenden sich begegnen" (R. 52), bolzäte "verabredet, bestimmt, gegenseitig versprochen" (R. 51), cf. Khal. Boljötin bor tolgoi. Ramstedt noted that this expression would be a typical Dörböt expression therefore this tale might be recorded from a Dörböt informant. The "grey hill of encounters" is atypical motif-element in Mongolian epic tradition. 90 1 Bálint Namjil ködä, Kalm. Namjil ködä. Namjil from Tibetan rnam rgyal . see a note above. 90 4 Bálint älädän älä xataksan remains a quite obscure expression for me as long as no parallel text is found. As this "salutation" is a series of humiliating personifications - which is usual in Mongolian and also Kalmyk folk tales, cf. here the Ninth tale - the first syntagm without doubt carries a similar connotation. I tried to explain it from Kalm. äl'än "Müsssieggänger, Spitzbube, scherzend, spielend" (R. 22) or on the basis of al "männliche Geschlechtsteile, männliches Glied" (R 6). however, none of them is decisive. 90 5 Bálint tosokson yodoli, Kalm. tosxa "gleiten, rutschen; (lautlos) traben, laufen (das Kamel)" (R. 403.), by Munijev a fürther meaning is added: tosx "uhodif neizvestno kuda (napr. o byke proizvodetle" (Mun. 511). This last meaning might be applied to the whistling arrow, too. 9"" Bálint ejigü Erem cayän ködä , Kalm. ejigé Erm cayän ködä, the "uninhabited Artemisia-white land" is a typical place in Kalmyk folk tales. 90 7 Bálint tongxo (cangyar), Kalm. tonggä "nach unten, köpflings, im Bogen nach unten; t. tatxa (vom Sattel herabziehen)" Ramstedt quotes a fragment from the Jangyr epics: " ölkédeksn xoyr kiilgin nämn turii söl'wldn tongyä tatldäd odw (DZ. 151, 13) indem die achte Hufe ihrer sich bäumenden Pferde sieh zwischen einander einschoben suchten sie (die Reiterl der eine den anderen aus dem Sattel zu werfen" (R. 400). Bálint's interpolation in brackets indicates that he understood it as "firmly". 911 8 Bálint sol 'iboldatala, Kalm. sol 'wldxa "durcheinander sein, sich verwickeln, verwickelt sein" (R 331 ). 128
