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
away. Thereafter the old man pursued it riding his fast piebald 5' 2 horse. Chasing the snake, he caught up with it and put it down, hitting it ten times ten million times from behind and ten times ten million times from the front. Thereafter the snake flung itself up into the air and fled into a big hill there. 553 The old man continued chasing it, caught up with it and beat it with his staff. [But] the old man did not beat the snake; he beat and broke his horse's leg. The snake escaped; thereafter the old man arrived home. The snake took the boy into its hole. Thereafter the female snake said: 55 4 - Please, hang this boy behind [in the hole], let us eat another man! - Thereupon the male snake said: - Although he is small, he has tortured me. [So] we eat him now. - Thereafter the male and the female snakes went to the boy and sucked [his blood]. 55 5 While [his blood] was being sucked the boy cried: - God has not created me to have this fate! What shall I do? 55 6 - And the snakes on either side of him fell off [from him]. Thereafter the boy came out and put two pieces of stone the size of two oxen' at the mouth of the hole and went away. [40] While running [home] a [cloud] of dust was coming behind him. The boy went into a hole and lay down. The two snakes passed by him. They went [ahead for a while] and then returned back to their home. 55 7 As soon as they had left, the boy [came out of the hole] and started to run. 55 8 While running he arrived at a friend of his father. Arriving at the yurt of [his father's] friend, [the boy] put on a nice dress and made a feast for seven days. Thereafter a man was sent to the boy's father. - Go as well and tell him that his son has arrived. - And [the man] was sent. That young man went to the old man and said: - Your 5 5'' son has arrived. - The old man said: - From where could my son come?! - and stayed [at home]. Another messenger was sent [to him]: - Go and tell [him that his son has arrived]. — Thereafter the old man arrived [at his friend]. When the old man glanced at his son, he fainted. 56 0 Someone poured water on him and he was set on his feet again. Thereafter the old man made there a seven times seven, forty-nine days' feast. At the end of the feast the old man's son told the friend's son: - Let us go and kill those two snakes! - Thereafter they both left. Our boy left riding his father's fast piebald horse. 56 1 Thereafter the friend's son said: - I am scared. - And returned [home] after halfway. [41] The old man's son went on alone. On his way he arrived at the two snakes' place. The boy hobbled tightly his horse and ran into [the hole]. Upon entering [the hole, he realized that] the male and female snakes were in their hole. The boy killed immediately the two snakes and let out all the people who were in the hole. Those people having been counted, they were one thousand and one. From among those thousand [sic!] people one boy said: 55 2 Bálint alik, Kalm. without palatalisation aly "bunt (schwarz, braun od. a. Farben mit weiss" (R. 6), alg "pjostryj, polosatyj; belokuryj; pegij (o masti)" (Mun. 33). 55 3 Bálint nege ike toloyä käd; this expression needs further explanation. 33 4 Bálint keleji bäidak bolna, Kalm. kelj bädg boln; such verb-complexes emphasise the narrative character of the tales. 33 5 Bálint irädsimibe. Kalm. irädsimw lit. "came and sucked". 33 1' Bálint Tengger namäigi eigeji zayaxär zayal iigä bäixü yayana; zayaxär read zayäxär. Lit. "this way has not destined [me]" i. e. 1 was not destined to this. Gorjajeva's translation "Tengri luCäe by mne ne daval Zizn", Cent predopredeljat" takuju sud'bu' ". To the lexeme yayna "how to do. how to act" the personal pronoun [bi\ "I" should probably be added. The expression needs further investigation. 3 3 Bálint gerädän appears parallel with gerlän in Bálint's texts According to Gorjajeva and Bordzanova gerädän is a Torgut dialectal form. On the linguistic features of Bálint's corpus a separate study will follow in the future. 33 8 Bálint gügäd yarba. 5 3'' Bálint köbünten, Kalm. köwüntn "your son" is expressed in a very polite form. 3"" Bálint xaryaca xaryäd odba , cf. Kalm. xaryaeä xaryád odw "fiel in Ohnmacht", xaryacxa "in Ohnmacht fallen, schwindlig werden", xaryacäd unäd odw, x. kiséd odw "fiel ohnmächtig zur Erde", xaryäcä, xaryaca gern "Schlag, Apoplexie, Schwindel, Ohnmacht" (R. 169), xarycx 2. "podat' v obmorok. terjaf soznanije; xarycad unx upast', poterjat' soznanije" xaryclyn "1. obmorok; 2. pristup epilepsii, epilcptiCeskij pripadok" (Mun. 579). 56 1 Bálint xurdn alikgedek mörigi, Kalm xurdn alggedg mörig. lit. "the horse called fast mottled". 88
