LITMIR.BIZ

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it will not bend when struck.

      Its inner core is so wide

      That it will not budge when battered.

      It is the Earth with eight rims and six rings,

      Discordant and discontented,

      With the sun rising

      And setting behind the trees,

      With the water drying up,

      And the wealth vanishing gradually.

      Full of torments and disasters,

      Hopeless and desperate,

      The Middle World was created,

      They say…

      An olonkhosut¹⁷

      Sat down, crossed his legs, and started

      Singing his song

      To the valiant toyon¹⁸

      Of whom the underlings were afraid,

      To the masters with daggers

      Of whom the servants were afraid,

      About how the evil tribe had followed them,

      How the Abaahy¹⁹ tribe had chased them,

      How three kins of Sakha²⁰

      From the Upper and Under Worlds

      Were born and grew in number.

      I will recite as Timofey the Fat, and²¹

      Though you may not like my recitation,

      I will try and imitate, even if badly,

      The old man Kuokhaian;

      I will narrate the story of the grey-haired

      Urung-Aar Toyon,²²

      With the high fur hat

      Made of three sable furs,

      With feathers on the top,

      Who dwelt at the lower part of the edge

      Of the eight-layered yellow and white sky.

      In the upper part of the three-layered

      Inaccessible high sky,

      Where the air was light and blue,

      The sunny midday land was there,

      The creamy, milky lake was there.

      Each step he took brought him an ilgeh blessing.

      His breath was hot,

      He had a plentiful supply of food,

      He lived surrounded by abundance,²³

      They say…

      A famous woman, Adjynga-Sier,

      Was his wife and friend

      Who shared his bed.

      Her face was luminous

      Like the rays of the rising sun,

      Her face was radiant

      Like the glow of the setting sun,

      Her cheeks were crimson,

      She was his khotun,²⁴ they say…

      They became a forefather and a foremother

      To the long-awaited people

      With the reins on their backs,

      With a strap on their necks,

      Who had visionary shamans,

      Kindly Aiyy²⁵ udagans;²⁶

      They became their ancestors,

      They say…

      I was determined enough

      To find out about other tribes

      Who were perverse enough

      To belong to different families.

      In the remote past, thirty-nine tribes lived,

      Behind the edge of the vast sky,

      In the wide, secure dwelling-place,

      Whose blood relative was Beki Sorun²⁷

      With the gluttonous throat

      As wide as the string of a fur cap,

      Whose blood relative was Suor Toyon²⁸

      With the big throat

      As wide as the string of a waistcloth.

      On the opposite side

      Of the furious southern sky,

      At the bottom of the violent hell,

      There was the insidious blue sky

      Under which a vast alaas²⁹ could be found,

      Where eight demons guarded the dark hell.

      There was a land which was a source of treachery,

      Whose whirlwinds

      Turned everything upside down.

      And if ninety-nine great shamans

      Were dragged out of that abyss

      Using the noose of a black rope

      With ninety-nine loops,

      And were thrown right before her –

      Such an evil shrew with sooty face –

      She would not be tamed,

      Her appetite would never be satisfied,

      She would not get her fill.

      That was Khotun Kokhtuya,

      Cunning and insolent;³⁰

      She ruled there

      Sitting on her bloody-mucus ocean,

      She had a pantry at the bottom,

      She had a fence on the shady side,

      She had a shed on the left side.

      I want to tell you

      As skilfully as Akim did,³¹

      I want to speak

      As expressively as Kylachisap did,³²

      I want to paint the story in bright colours,

      As to who was the friend of that smart old woman,

      Who was good enough to share her bed,

      To roll playfully on the bedding,

      Who was the male

      Destined to fertilize her womb?

      It was Ulutuyar Uluu Sorun Toyon.³³

      In the hollow of his chest

      As large as a small sitting baby

      There were two birthmarks

      Looking like raw meat.

      A fiery, revolving force whirled down

      From his bleeding wound,

      Which was right in the middle of his throat.

      His spear, thirsting for fresh scarlet blood,

      Glittered and reflected his young teeth and lips,

      If it were driven into his hip socket

      He would awake in a rage

      Slapping his hips,

      Crying out threateningly,

      He

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