Oral Tales of Mongol Bards

Prologue: Before the bard stars singing the epic poem he sings the hymn of the čuɣur (chuur: two-stringed fiddle), which extols the virtues and powers of the čuɣur, saying that the Sky God rejoices at its melodious sound, and the protective deities praise it. The melodious sound of the čuɣur has the power to cause livestock to multiply. It eliminates disease and drives away evil spirits, letting happiness and good fortune prevail.

Pages 1-210:The beginning of the epic poem includes verses which describe the origin of the world and mankind: At the time when the top of Mount Sumeru / Was a mound / At the time when the water of the Milk Ocean / Was a pool …/ At the time when the silver blue sky / Had not yet become blue / At the time when the fertile golden earth / Was forming / At the time when there was no sun or moon / At the time when beings lived by the light of the body /And the length of their life / Was 84.000 years. The poem goes on to narrate that as soon as people began to eat all kinds of foods their wisdom vanished. As soon as they began to eat impure food the luminosity of their bodies vanished, and the world became dark. When the Buddha of this Era tells the heavenly God Qormusta that the world became dark, the God Qormusta summons the God Vajrapāṇi to him and gives him a magic vase with the order to descend to the world and to churn the bottom of the Southern Ocean with it only three times. The God Vajrapāṇi does as he is told, and a magic light radiated and supernatural light radiates with precious ambrosia emerging. Disobeying the God Qormusta’s order, the God Vajrapāṇi churns the bottom of the Ocean southwards with the magic vase once, and a black vapour arises which alarms the gods. From the black vapour a Mangas (mangɣus, a many-headed monster emerges in the north-east. Since there is no ruler in the Southern Continent and the world is in turmoil the God Qormusta, in his benevolence, sends his son Bodi-ɣalab to earth to pacify the enemies. Bodi-ɣalab builds his palace in front of Mount Sumeru, in the middle of the golden earth. It is the palace of a Mongol emperor, with walls made of precious stones, with columns of turquoise, and ridge-poles of crystal. Flames of magic power blaze in ten directions. At the western gate the Padmagaruda Bird stands guard, ready to break to pieces the obstacle-causing demons. At the northern gate a live lion with its claws stretched out stands guard, ready to seize the demon beasts. At the eastern gate Tsongkhapa stands guard, ready to pierce evil spirits with a spear. At the southern gate the Vulture God stands guard, ready to wipe out the troublesome demons.

In another continent, in the north-east, Aǰar Mangas arose. How far away is the land of Aǰar Mangas the monster? If a cloud goes there, it will reach it next year. If a falcon flies there, it will change its feathers three times before reaching it. If a man goes there, after he dies he will reborn three times before reaching it. Downstream of the Anavatapta Sea, on the border with the land of Bodi-ɣalab, beyond the Yellow Mountain Pass, is where the horned evil Aǰar Mangas with twelve heads lives. Since Bodi-ɣalab has built his own palace, Aǰar Mangas also wants to build his own. He goes to inspect the land and looks into the entrance to Eight Precipices and likes it. If the ground opens up that is where the Vaǰrapani Hell lies. If anyone sets foot in it there is no escape. Aǰar Mangas builds a palace of brass in a place filled with bad omens. White dogs howl, wolves bark, the local gods quarrel with each other and fight over food offerings. Donkey Mount brays and Camel Mount bellows, and the dead rise from their graves.

After building his palace Aǰar Mangas goes to sleep without awaking for three years. While he sleeps, a poisonous snake hibernates in his nostrils and a falcon makes a nest in his ears. Aǰar Mangas is not alone in his land. He has a daughter called Gilbang-sira (Giyalban-shar). One day, Aǰar Mangas tells his daughter about his desire to find a wife who sews the buttons of the collar of his garment when they break and cheers him up when he is in a bad mood, and asks her to go and abduct Bodi-ɣalab’s wife. He also promises her that he will marry her to the son of a Khan if she succeeds in her mission.

Gilbang-sira’s appearance is unusual. She has only one eye. She has ten hairs on the back of her forehead, and a horned chest. Now Gilbang-sira fastens her trousers with a braid and goes to the old evil monk worshipped by the Mangas to seek his protection. This is the monk who stays in a cave temple located inside a gorge and in the middle of an assembly of evil spirits. In the temple, offerings of testicles of sheep and tigers are made to deities with the hems of their robes tied around their waists. Offerings of testicles of antelopes are made to the guardian deities, a bee and a bird. The monk has his palace in the middle of a four-department school. When Gilbang-sira comes to him, the monk puts on a short leather jacket and over it he wears a vest of donkey skin inside out. He carelessly ties a monastic robe made of dog skin. He covers his head with a red straw cap and holds a rosary made of donkey dung in one hand and a rosary made of camel dung in the other. When the monk asks Gilbang-sira why she came to see him, Gilbang-sira tells him that she is going to steal Bodi-ɣalab’s wife for her father, and that she wants to know from him if there will be any obstacles on her way. The monk takes out dice made of women’s bones from his belt and throws these to divine. The third throw reveals a favourable prognostication. The monk assures Gilbang-sira that her affairs will be successful. The monk purifies Gilbang-sira’s body and clothes and reads false books and recites magic spells.

Gilbang-sira goes back and prepares to leave. She applies powder and coal to her cheeks, mouth and eye sockets. She puts a gourd over her chest and hangs a leather sack on her back. Holding a spear of steel and brass in her hand, she soars up into the air, sitting on her donkey tail. She flies over Yellow Mountain Pass, making a brightly coloured rainbow appear in the sky. When she crosses the Anavatapta Sea and comes to the land of Bodi-ɣalab Khan, fog spreads. It goes dark in broad daylight and people and animals lose their way. When Gilbang-sira sees the palace of Bodi-ɣalab her only eye beams with joy. She changes into an evil spider to enter the palace. She comes to the northern gate, and the live lion frightens her away. She turns into a bee and flies to the eastern gate, and Tsongkhapa drives her away. She changes into a small insect and into a mouse, but the deities who protect the gates prevent her from entering the palace.

A sad Gilbang-sira goes to a hollow in the mountain and wonders if she has started out on an unlucky day. While she is crying, the idea of unleashing a flood occurs to her. She rises into the air and comes to the top of Bodi-ɣalab’s palace. She removes her trousers and begins to urinate, causing malodorous rain to pour down, which makes the soldiers who stand guard at the palace gates feel faint. They fall to the ground and lie there as if they are dead. All the deities who protect the palace gates flee to Mount Sumeru. Gilbang-sira, who has entered the palace, pushes open the beautiful door of Bodi-ɣalab’s private room, where Bodi-ɣalab, his wife Emüne-gerel (Ömön-gerel), and their son, Altan-ɣalab are sleeping. She rejoices at the sight of Altan-ɣalab, only four years old, and remembers how her father told her that he would marry her to the son of a Khan. With regard to Altan-ɣalab, as soon as he came out of her mother’s womb, he asked: “Where is the horned Mangas? When I reach the age of nine I shall suppress the horned Mangas”. Now Gilbang-sira stuffs Emüne-gerel into the leather sack, and Altan-ɣalab into the gourd. When she makes her way back, she sends down a rain of blood and hail, and a foul smell fills the air. Alarmed by this, the spirit masters of the earth and the waters cause a pure rain to fall which dispels the evil smell.

A pure rain descends, wellbeing reigns again in the palace of Bodi-ɣalab, and all the deities come back to gates. Then Bodi-ɣalab begins to ask people where his wife and son might be, but nobody has seen them. They search for them in every direction and do not find them. Ministers at this point relate the events of the past ten days to Bodi-ɣalab. They tell him that the daughter of Aǰar Mangas came, how a terrible stench filled the air, and how she carried away his wife and son. Bodi-ɣalab is saddened by the news and grieves until the next morning. His ministers come to him and tell him that his sorrows will not bring back his wife and son. They advise him to think of a hero in a distant land, who could come riding his horse at full speed, without resting on the road, and who has the ability to subdue Aǰar Mangas. Bodi-ɣalab remembers his father-in law, the aged hero Arslan, whose palace is located southwards of the Southern Ocean, and on the southern slopes of Peace Mountain. The hero Arslan is so old that about ten men are needed to help him mount his horse. It is, therefore, very difficult for him to set off against Arjai Mangas, admits Bodi-ɣalab. Now Bodi-ɣalab mentions the son of the hero Arslan, the ten-year-old Γalǰaɣu (Ghaljuu), who was born as an exceptional hero. His body is as big as mountain, and his head is larger than a cairn. He has two fiery eyes, a nine-layered scalp on his head, and ten-layered bones. He has the strength of ten thousand men to subdue the Mangas. This is how Bodi-ɣalab praises the young hero Γalǰaɣu.

Just at this time, the hero Γalǰaɣu was staying peacefully in his palace when his nose itches, his ears ring, and his eyes twitch. He wonders who on the golden earth could be thinking of him. Then he says to himself that it must surely be Bodi-ɣalab and his older sister Emüne-gerel, who are calling him to go to see them. He decides to saddle his horse to visit them. The hero Γalǰaɣu enters his parents’ palace and kneels down before them, asking them to give him a horse to go to visit Bodi-ɣalab. His father, the hero Arslan, allows his son to go to visit Bodi-γalab, but he prohibits him from going to the land of the Mangas, because, he says, the twelve-headed Mangas would kill him. At these words, the hero Γalǰaɣu says to his father that he is determined to cut off the Mangas’ heads and to free living beings from this danger. When the hero Arslan insists to him that he should not go to the land of the Mangas, the hero Γalǰaɣu becomes furious. Finally, his father permits the hero Γalǰaɣu to go and agrees to give his horse to him.

The hero Arslan’s horse is no ordinary horse that one catches with a loop-pole. This horse comes through the smoke of burning incense. He comes through the wind. The hero Arslan climbs to a mountain, performs an incense offering and, waving an arrow, he calls his light bay horse. While the horse is grazing, he smells the scent of incense and hears the sound of the arrow. He turns back to look and says to himself that the hero Arslan is calling him. He tells the herd of horses that he is about to go, and gives them instructions such as “Do not lie down in a mountain hollow. You will be hit by an arrow”. Raising a column of smoke, the horse comes neighing to the door of the hero Γalǰaɣu. The hero Γalǰaɣu is delighted and fetches horse-bit, bridle and halter. Seeing this, the horse asks him what the bridle is for, and the hero Γalǰaɣu answers that the bridle is meant for him to have a rest before the journey. He ties the horse to a huge sandal tree and leaves him for ten days and nights to cool off there. After this, the hero Γalǰaɣu gives the horse rice to eat, and since the horse has never looked for water, he waters him with a decoction of raisins. The hero’s horse could gallop for nine days and nights without losing his strength. He could soar up into the air without losing his way. Now the hero Γalǰaɣu brings from his palace a saddle worth ten thousand silver ounces, and throws it onto the horse. He lays a rug of brocade onto the saddle, and fixes the stirrups of raw brass on each side of the saddle. To the back of the saddle he buckles eight rawhide straps and multi-coloured streamers that flutter in the wind. The saddle pommel shows the images of the sun and the moon, shining brightly in the front and the back.

After harnessing the horse, the hero Γalǰaɣu enters his palace and prepares himself for battle. Near the skin he dons precious silk armour. Over it he wears a chain mail, and white brocade armour over that. He puts on five-layered armour. On his head he places a helmet made of brass and iron. The tassels of many colours which he wears extend below his chest. To his robe he ties knots of good fortune. He fastens to his back a moon-shaped axe ten thousand jing heavy, the iron of which was forged by a heavenly smith. Its handle is made from the branch of the wishing-granting tree. He suspends a tinder pouch with a flint from his back. He hangs a pipe from his side. He fills a leather tobacco bag with red tobacco. Across his back he straps a quiver made of black leather and slips twelve arrows into it. Thus adorned, the hero Γalǰaɣu enters his parents’ palace and kneels down before them, offering them a cup of milk brandy. The parents say words wishing well for their son, after which people come to the hero Γalǰaɣu, leading his horse by the bridle and give the horse to him. The hero Γalǰaɣu mounts his horse and sets out, ambling skilfully.

When, on his way, he looks back and his father’s palace can no longer be seen the hero Γalǰaɣu puts the abilities of his horse to the test. He pulls the bit of the bridle, spurs the horse and whips him. The horse begins to run fast, and it is like the playing of a sky dragon. It is as if the earth is turning over and falling. Thunder roars and the wind blows, with falcons flying to and fro in confusion. The masters of the land run away at the sight of the horse. When the horse rises into the air, the hero Γalǰaɣu holds on firmly to the pommel of the saddle. Travelling along this aerial path, the horse does not lose its way to the palace of Bodi-ɣalab. Only when a high mountain appears before their eyes does the horse gather up his wings and descend to the earth. As soon as the hero Γalǰaɣu sees the palace of Bodi-ɣalab, he thinks that he has reached it successfully. He dismounts from his horse and comes to the palace gate. When the people on guard inform Bodi-ɣalab of the arrival of an awesome person, Bodi-ɣalab knows that the person is none other than the hero Γalǰaɣu.

The hero Γalǰaɣu comes into the presence of Bodi-ɣalab and bows before him and greets him. When he asks what is the cause of his suffering, Bodi-ɣalab tells him how the daughter of Aǰar Mangas took away his wife and son. This is why he mentioned him as the hero who could go to the land of Aǰar Mangas with him. On hearing this, the hero Γalǰaɣu becomes furious, and says that he has travelled a long way with the intention of going alone in search of Bodi-ɣalab’s wife and son and in order to subdue the monsters. Bodi-ɣalab will not let the hero Γalǰaɣu go alone to the land of the Mangas, insisting that they should go together. When the hero Γalǰaɣu tells Bodi-ɣalab that his horse is not suitable for travelling long distances, and that he should remain in his palace in peace, Bodi-ɣalab states that his horse is the horse of the God Qormusta, who bestowed the horse on him. It is a chestnut horse with the wings of the Garuda bird. Bodi-ɣalab orders his ministers and subjects to summon the horse. Holding loop-pole and halter, they climb to the mountain and burn incense there. While the horse is grazing among the celestial herd of horses, and while the horse is drinking the water of the Anavatapta Sea, incense is burning, and all the people wave arrows and call him. Hearing the people’s call, the horse wonders if the Mangas has stolen the Queen, or if chaos has broken out in the Khan’s palace. The horse comes to the mountain and asks Bodi-ɣalab ministers and subjects why they are burning incense, and why they are calling him from the sky. All of them bow to the horse and tell him that they are calling him because the Mangas’ daughter carried away Bodi-ɣalab’s wife and son, and that a hero came from faraway, who will set out for the land of the monsters with Bodi-ɣalab.

Bodi-ɣalab brings a saddle with a pommel of gold and jade and throws it onto the horse. He fixes in place silver stirrups. When he has harnessed the horse, Bodi-ɣalab dons a long robe made of brocade. Over this he puts on a robe decorated with nine dragons and ties it with a jewelled sash around his waist. On his head he puts a fine gold helmet. Thus dressed and with his weapon hanging from his side, Bodi-ɣalab comes out of his palace and mounts his horse. Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu set off for the land of the monsters, and ministers and subjects wish them well.

While the of two them are ambling along, the hero Γalǰaɣu asks Bodi-ɣalab when they will reach the land of the monsters if they go at such slow pace. He suggests that they put the abilities of their horses to the test to see if they can reach the land of the Mangas at the same time. They make their horses gallop at full speed, and while they are doing this, the elders of local households know that Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu are on the road and they burn incense sticks and bow to them: but enough of Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu going on their way.

Pages 210-285:The narrative returns to Gilbang-sira, who sits on her tail and flies homewards. Since the day she left her father, Aǰar Mangas has not slept or eaten. Now he sees his daughter coming and says to himself that she must have brought his wife. Suspecting that her father would seize the leather sack in which Emüne-gerel was put, Gilbang-sira does not come down to him. She flies past him, causing a rainbow to appear over him. Aǰar Mangas asks his daughter to wait for him, but she will not listen and heads to the temple gate. Aǰar Mangas catches up with her, comes to the temple gate and is furious with his daughter for ignoring him. Aǰar Mangas spreads his finger to snatch the leather sack that his daughter is holding firmly at its opening. Aǰar Mangas says to her that he only wants to peer into the sack. When they begin to fight each other over the sack at the temple gate, the wicked monk, who was reading scriptures inside, hears them quarrel and rushes out of the temple, then takes the sack. Aǰar Mangas, at this moment, asks the monk how many days it will take him to finish reading books, and the monk answers that he will finish in forty-nine days, and that only when he has imparted his teachings to disciples for sixty days will the Queen Emüne-gerel become his wife. He also says to him that should Bodi-ɣalab come there is no such thing as giving back his wife. So the monk puts Emüne-gerel and her son, Altan-ɣalab, into a cauldron. Then he hangs a sign on the door bearing spells on it and begins to read books in seclusion. While he is reading books, without giving the books much thought, his nose begins to itch and his ears to ring. When he sneezes three times, the monk is surprised and takes nine dice out of his belt. He throws the dice and slips his fingers through his rosary to divine. The divination portends disaster: Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu have crossed the Anavatapta Sea and are approaching. The monk tells Aǰar Mangas that in view of the impending danger they cannot stand idly by. While they are quarrelling over what should be done, Gilbang-sira comes in and tells them that she will go to meet the two of them on the road, and if they are hostile to her she will cause a flood. Gilbang-sira puts a magic gourd on her breast, and holding a spear of steel and brass, she soars into the air, gathering clouds. When she comes over Yellow Mount Pass she sees a terrifying dust stirred up by the hooves of the horses of Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu. She comes down to meet them on the road. She turns into a polite daughter-in-law, and when Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu arrive, she greets them kindly and asks them if they are tired after the long journey. When the two of them ask her whose daughter-in-law she is, Gilbang-sira tells them that Bodi-ɣalab’s wife was given to Aǰar Mangas, and that his son was promised to her. She warns them against entering the Mangas’ land, because she heard her father and the monk saying that the two of them will make a good meal for them if they go there. She suggests to Bodi-ɣalab that he go back to his land and find another wife. When the hero Γalǰaɣu hears this, he rages like thunder. He pulls out his moon-shaped axe from his back, comes at her and hits her with it. Gilbang-sira strikes at him with her spear, while the horse of the hero Γalǰaɣu turns around Gilbang-sira and kicks her madly. Panic-stricken, she vanishes into the ground, disappearing from view. When the hero Γalǰaɣu cannot find her, he beats his chest and regrets failing to find her.

In the meantime, Gilbang-sira is thinking of how she greeted Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu respectfully, and of how the two of them turned out to be enemies. She emerges from the ground and rises into the air, pours down rain and an evil smell fills the air. The hero Γalǰaɣu, at this moment, pulls out his bow with the strength of ten thousand bows from his side, fits his white feathered arrow to the bowstring and tells the arrow to enter through the crotch of Gilbang-sira and to come out upwards. The arrow accepts the command and cries a! over the feathers, and it cries je! over the arrowhead. The arrow whistles by and the shot pierces through the middle of her crotch, then rising up across the sky. Thinking that she is dead, the hero Γalǰaɣu is delighted and is about to seize her body, but Gilbang-sira is nowhere to be seen. She has hidden under the ground, saddened by what has been done to her.

The ground has absorbed a foul stench that causes Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu to feel dazed. The two of them ride their horse in a state of confusion, come to a high mountain and let their horses eat grass there. Bodi-ɣalab falls asleep and the hero Γalǰaɣu watches over him, rubbing his eyelids with a wooden stick as big as an axle. The hero Γalǰaɣu takes out his pipe from his side and hits the flint against the kindling steel, which emits a flash of lightning. He smokes his pipe until the smoke rises high above. While he is smoking he falls asleep, leaning against the mountain. Now Gilbang-sira reappears and when she sees a frightful smoke she thinks that Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu have come to start a wildfire. When Gilbang-sira sees that the two of them are asleep, the idea of stealing their horses comes to her mind. Without their horses, she thinks, it will be difficult for them to reach her land. The moment when the two horses are coming to wake up Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu, a rainbow appears in the sky and Gilbang-sira causes a poisonous rain to pour down. The horses and their owners feel dazed. The horses lose their memory and no longer recognise their owners. They follow Gilbang-sira, who through her magic abilities lifts the horses up in the air and takes them to the land of the monsters. he monsters, Gilbang-sira ties the horses to two brass poles at the temple gate, each facing northwards

On reaching the land of t and southwards. Then she goes in to see the evil monk and tells him how an arrow shot by the hero Γalǰaɣu pierced through her crotch, and how she captured the two horses. The monk heals the injured part of Gilbang-sira’s body by means of magic. Then he and Gilbang-sira set out in search of Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu. The monk rides on Bodi-ɣalab’s horse and Gilbang-sira rides on the hero Γalǰaɣu’s horse, feeling happy about riding a horse for the first time in their lives: but enough of the two enjoying themselves.

Pages 285-332:This section of the story narrates that when a deluge caused the world to end, the God Qormusta and the God Esrua were both on guard. The God Esrua created the world again and sent down a miraculous wind. Now the God Esrua is surveying the country of Bodi-ɣalab Khan and finds that the land is at peace. When the God surveys the land of the monsters, he notices that the evil monk and Gilbang-sira are riding on the horses of Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu, and are testing their riding skills. Seeing this, the God Esrua becomes furious. He raises a magic flag and shakes it, and a tornado comes down from the realm of the God Qormusta which purifies the two horses from poison. When the two horses come to their senses and realise that the evil monk and Gilbang-sira are riding them, they begin to play as dragons do in the sky. Panic-stricken, the monk and Gilbang-sira lose control of the horses. The force of the wind makes their clothes and weapons fly off, and causes them to knock against rugged rocks. After putting together their broken limbs, the two of them stand up and, when they see that the horses have gone to Yellow Pass Mountain, the monk tells Gilbang-sira to bring them back.

Gilbang-sira flies up into the air and as soon as she comes over the mountain she lets a poisonous deluge pour down. In a daze, the two horses fall to the ground. The monk, at this point, tells Gilbang-sira that, since they have not yet won over the horses, they should now press a mountain against the horses. The monk says evil spells and causes both a boulder and the horses to become small. He puts the horses under that stone, after which the stone returns to its original size. Afterwards, the monk calls to him the evil spirit masters of Yellow Pass Mountain and orders them to lift up the mountain and to press it against the stone under which the two horses were put. When this has been done, the monk prepares a trap for the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab in order to make the land inaccessible to them.

The monk summons to him nine evil spirit masters of his homeland. When they come, the monk plucks hairs from his groin and turns these into nine flags. He gives them the nine flags and tells them that when Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu come that way they should shake the flags which will unleash nine whirlwinds. After this, the monk pulls out hairs from other parts of his body and recites magic spells. Then he fills a road, which takes twenty days and nights to cross, with sharp knife-blades so that when the winds blow the two heroes will fall over the blades and will be pierced by the them. The monk also tells the evil beings of Erlig Ice Sea and Anavatapta Sea to prevent Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu from crossing the sea. Then the monk calls twenty evil spirit masters of his homeland and gets them to lift up and bring two mountains, one from the south and the other from the north, leaving a narrow passage in the middle of the two mountains. Should Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu pass between the mountains, he says, the two mountains will merge, squeezing them like eggs. Finally, the monk and Gilbang-sira return home, and the monk begins to read books, without giving much attention to the books, thinking instead about eating the flesh of Bodi-ɣalab: but enough of the monk reading books.

Pages 332-382:The narrative returns to Bodi-ɣalab, who rouses the hero Γalǰaɣu from sleep. The two of them look for their horses, but there is no trace of them. When they have unsuccessfully called the horses many times, they begin to think that Gilbang-sira must have taken them to the land of the monsters. They can do nothing but proceed on foot. Since Bodi-ɣalab cannot keep up with the hero Γalǰaɣu, the latter carries him on his back. While they are going thus, a high mountain appears before them. The hero Γalǰaɣu looks around him and there is no way of crossing it. When he notices a narrow passage along which they could proceed, the hero Γalǰaɣu is delighted and thinks that this has happened because of the virtues of Bodi-ɣalab Khan. While they are going, the mountains from the front and the back sides, begin to move closer. The evil masters of the mountains are pushing the mountains together. The hero Γalǰaɣu lets down Bodi-ɣalab from his back and starts to push back with his hands. The two mountains move nearer and nearer and the hero Γalǰaɣu keeps on pushing back the mountains. Bodi-ɣalab makes a rush for the north side of the mountain and from there he sees the hero Γalǰaɣu leaning against the mountain. For five days and nights he leans against the mountain and pushes it back with his hands. When his hands weaken he presses his body against the mountain. The hero Γalǰaɣu firmly holds the mountains in his hands, preventing the two mountains from joining together. When the hero Γalǰaɣu goes to see what there is in the middle of the mountain, the evil masters of the mountain cause the two mountains to unite. The hero Γalǰaɣu manages to escape quickly and save his life, and the spirit masters of the mountains retire, defeated.

The hero Γalǰaɣu carries Bodi-ɣalab on his back, heading for Erlig Ice Sea and Anavatapta Sea. Bodi-ɣalab, at this point, regrets not having his horse. If he had his horse, he could get him to fly over the sea. Carrying Bodi-ɣalab on his back, the hero Γalǰaɣu goes along the shore of Erlig Ice Sea and Anavatapta Sea, worrying about how to cross the sea. He sees a bridge and feels happy, not knowing that an enormous black turtle and other evil beings of the sea are waiting for them. They begin to make chaos in the sea, churning up the waves. When the black turtle approaches them, the hero Γalǰaɣu kills it by shooting his white feathered arrow.

After running for twenty-one days, the hero Γalǰaɣu takes a rest, pressing on Yellow Pass Mountain with his right foot, and pressing on the bridge the evil monk had made with his left foot. While Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu are resting, the latter looks at the foot of the mountain and notices a narrow passage through the mountain. He crawls through it, carrying Bodi-ɣalab on his back. When they have gone like this for nine days, they arrive at the trap placed there for them by the monk. They see a road filled with knife-blades. The hero Γalǰaɣu asks Bodi-ɣalab if he happened to see a road filled with knife-blades when the two of them traversed the mountain on their way to the land of the monsters, and Bodi-ɣalab says that this must have been done by the evil monk while they were asleep. Now the hero Γalǰaɣu suggests to Bodi-ɣalab that they crawl through the gap between the blades. When Bodi-ɣalab refuses to do that they start to quarrel, causing the rocks of the mountain to make a rumbling sound. As soon as they hear them quarrel, the nine evil spirit masters of the mountain shake nine flags, provoking nine whirlwinds. The hero Γalǰaɣu clings to the back of the knives but loses his grip. He and Bodi-ɣalab fall to the ground: but enough of the two of them lying on the ground.

Pages 382-583: Previously, the hero Γalǰaɣu had killed a black turtle, the ruler of the evil beings of the sea, and now his spouse, a black turtle, comes to avenge her spouse. When the black turtle comes to the place where the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab fell on the ground, the hero Γalǰaɣu manages to shoot his white feathered arrow which pierces the turtle’s chest. After killing the black turtle, the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab take a rest, and while resting, they notice that the bridge they saw before has disappeared. Bodi-ɣalab recalls with sadness all the sufferings he has endured since he sets out against the monsters. While Bodi-ɣalab was in a state of affliction, the benevolent spirit masters of the Southern Continent assemble on Mount Sumeru, and when they make a divination by making calculation on their fingers they realise that Bodi-ɣalab needs help.

It is the White Old Man who comes to the aid of Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu. On seeing him, the malevolent spirit masters of Yellow Pass Mountain raise their cudgels, and the White Old Man lifts up his staff and begins to do battle with them. When the staff of the White Old Man suddenly turns into a flaming dragon, the evil spirit masters of the mountain flee in panic. Now the spirit masters of the Southern Continent lift up Yellow Pass Mountain and, when they hold it high, a fearless hero Γalǰaɣu walks under it. It is very dark inside, and while the hero Γalǰaɣu is groping his way forward, he grasps a boulder and hits it with force. The boulder splits open and two horses appear. The hero Γalǰaɣu’s horse sees his owner and neighs, and the hero throws his arms around the horse’s neck and weeps. He tells the horse that he could not imagine meeting him under a mountain. The hero Γalǰaɣu and the horse recount to each other the suffering they have experienced. After the two horses come out from under the mountain it is was no longer dark inside there. It becomes as luminous as the light of the sun at dawn.

After finding their horses, the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab set out towards the land of the monsters. Bodi-ɣalab, on horseback, bends his head and thanks the spirit masters of the Southern Continent who came to their aid. As the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab are about to reach the land of the monsters, Donkey Mount brays and Camel Mount bellows to inform the evil monk of the arrival of the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab. The evil monk does not believe in what the mountains are saying. He cannot believe that the two of them could have overcome all the obstacles he put in their way. The evil monk makes a divination by means of dice which portends disaster: the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab are approaching. He calls Aǰar Mangas and tells him that in view of the impending disaster they cannot stand idly by. While they are disputing over what they are going to do, Gilbang-sira comes to them and offers to help. She says to the monk and her father that she will send down a poisonous rain which will cause the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab to become unconscious and fall down, after which she will capture the two of them and offer them as a delicious meal to the monk and her father.

Gilbang-sira sits on her tail and sets off holding a spear of steel and brass in her hand. As soon as Bodi-ɣalab sees a rainbow in the north-east, he tells the hero Γalǰaɣu that Gilbang-sira is approaching. Hearing this, the hero Γalǰaɣu takes out his white feathered arrow from his side and tells the arrow to pierce through the breast and through the first vertebra of the neck of Aǰar Mangas’ daughter. The arrow obeys the command and cries a! over the feathers, and it cries je! over the arrowhead. The hero Γalǰaɣu draws the bowstring to its fullest extent. He shoots the arrow which takes life, the scraper arrow which flays, the spoon arrow which collects blood, the sledge-hammer arrow which breaks bones, the arrow with a voice which flies rustling by, and others. He shoots twelve arrows at the same time. The arrow which takes life pierces Gilbang-sira’s breast, penetrating into the first vertebra of her neck. The arrow which flays removes Gilbang-sira’s skin. The arrow which collects blood collects Gilbang-sira’s blood and scatters it.

After killing Gilbang-sira, the hero Γalǰaɣu remembers how his father warned him of the dangers he would face in the land of the monsters. Remembering his father’s words, the hero Γalǰaɣu addresses prayers to the life force of his father. While he is praying, Bodi-ɣalab says that they should now burn Gilbang-sira’s body and that he will go to collect firewood and grass. The hero Γalǰaɣu lights his pipe and begins to smoke. It is said that in land of the Mangas, firewood became iron. Sedge became raw copper, and couch grass became brass. Bodi-ɣalab hits iron, raw copper, and brass with his celestial sword, causing these to turn into firewood and grass to make a fire. The hero Γalǰaɣu throws his twelve arrows into the fire, and after taking them out he shakes these to remove Gilbang-sira’s blood and flesh from them. The arrows transform into butterflies.

When the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab have thrown Gilbang-sira’s body in the fire, the mountains in the land of the monsters tell the evil monk that Gilbang-sira has been killed, and that her spear, bag, and gourd have all been burnt in the fire. On hearing this, the monk throws his dice to divine and discover the truth. He tells Aǰar Mangas that his daughter has been killed, urging him to take action. Aǰar Mangas leaves the cauldron in which Bodi-ɣalab’s wife was put in the care of the monk, and comes out of the temple.

Aǰar Mangas climbs to the top of a high mountain, burns human and animal excrements and calls his black donkey. The donkey arrives, wondering if a hero from faraway has killed his owner’s daughter. Aǰar Mangas puts a halter made from the skin of a snake around the head of the donkey. He throws a saddle of steel and brass over the donkey, then he prepares for battle. Next to his body he wears brass armour and a robe made of bull’s skin over it. He puts a garment of brocade over his shoulders. He ties a belt made of the skin of a gigantic snake around his waist. He polishes his red cudgel with seventy-seven rings and sets off in search of the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab.

When Aǰar Mangas sees with his own eyes that his daughter has been killed and her body is burning in the fire, he howls out his pain, and then he says to himself that if the hero Γalǰaɣu had not killed his daughter he would have treated him as a beloved younger brother, but since he has killed her, he has no choice but to kill him. The hero Γalǰaɣu jumps on the horse and comes near to Aǰar Mangas and threatens him. A battle ensues. The hero Γalǰaɣu strikes at Aǰar Mangas with his axe, and the monster strikes back at the hero with his cudgel. The place where the two enemies battle sinks to form ravines and precipices. They fight for five days, but neither emerges as victor.

In order to bring the battle to an end quickly, Aǰar Mangas suggests to the hero Γalǰaɣu that they make a contest so that he will marry Bodi-ɣalab’s wife without further delay. Aǰar Mangas tells the hero Γalǰaɣu that he should shoot his twelve arrows at him from a mountain in the west, while he would throw his cudgel at him from a mountain in the east. When Aǰar Mangas throws his cudgel at the hero Γalǰaɣu, the latter hits it repeatedly with his axe. When, with all his strength, the hero Γalǰaɣu breaks the cudgel into pieces, the broken pieces join together again, and the cudgel returns to its original form. Seeing this, the hero Γalǰaɣu beats his chest in despair.

Now it is the hero Γalǰaɣu’s turn to shoot his arrows at Aǰar Mangas. He takes out his white feathered arrow from his side and orders the arrow to cut off Aǰar Mangas’ twelve heads. The arrow cries je! over the arrowhead, and it cries a! over the feathers. The hero Γalǰaɣu fits all his twelve arrows to the bow, stretches the bowstring to its full extent and lets the arrows fly. Aǰar Mangas fends off the white arrow which takes life with his cudgel, but the other arrows cut off his heads. The monster’s heads are cut off, but then each one of them returns to its place. From the ground to where Aǰar Mangas’ blood fell demons which ride on donkeys emerge. They rush at the hero Γalǰaɣu, dragging clubs and cudgels. From the ground to where the Aǰar Mangas’ flesh fell another Aǰar Mangas emerges. He rides on a donkey and comes to fight with the hero Γalǰaɣu, dragging a cudgel. The hero Γalǰaɣu cuts off the monster’s twelve heads with his twelve arrows, but each one of them returns to its place once again. After this, Aǰar Mangas mounts his donkey and flees to the mountains.

While the hero Γalǰaɣu keeps on fighting against the many demons, Aǰar Mangas comes back. He scolds the demons for fighting with the hero Γalǰaɣu and tells them that the contest was meant to be between the two of them. Now Aǰar Mangas suggests to the hero Γalǰaɣu that they give up their mounts, since, he says, if they made a race neither of them would come out victorious. A fierce battle begins. The Mangas hits at the hero Γalǰaɣu with his cudgel, and the hero Γalǰaɣu strikes back with his axe. They fight for five days, and, since they cannot overcome each other with weapons, the Mangas tells the hero Γalǰaɣu to give up their weapons and to turn to wrestling. The hero Γalǰaɣu agrees to this, and the two of them tuck up the four hems of their robes and jump up high, waving their arms. They grab and kick each other, matching each other’s strength.

The hero Γalǰaɣu and Aǰar Mangas are locked in combat and they would go on to fight until the end of the world. Seeing the two of them fighting, the cudgel of Aǰar Mangas comes to the aid of his owner, so as to hit the hero Γalǰaɣu and make him fall to the ground. When the cudgel comes to fight to protect its owner, the hero Γalǰaɣu’s axe produces seven flaming balls of fire which whirl all around. The axe with all its force is on the point of breaking the cudgel, but Aǰar Mangas’ donkey grabs the hero Γalǰaɣu by the heel. Seeing his owner in danger, the hero Γalǰaɣu’s horse comes to help his owner and starts to fight with the donkey. The battle goes on for a long time, chaotically. Bodi-ɣalab, who has finished burning the body of the Mangas’ daughter, comes back and sees the hero Γalǰaɣu engaged in a fierce battle with Aǰar Mangas. He tells the hero Γalǰaɣu that he must grab the monster by the ears. The hero does as he is told with great force, and the Mangas falls to the ground and vomits. Just at this moment, the hero Γalǰaɣu takes out his whip with a handle made of tamarisk wood and whips the Mangas with it. Since Aǰar Mangas has not eaten for many days, his chest is full of air. Unable to bear this, he gives a snort and dies. Then the hero Γalǰaɣu lifts up a boulder and presses it against Aǰar Mangas’ limbs. He holds in his arms a stone as big as a camel and presses it against Aǰar Mangas’ head. This is how the hero Γalǰaɣu destroys Aǰar Mangas. The hero Γalǰaɣu also frightens away the cudgel of Aǰar Mangas, also shooting an arrows which kills his donkey.

When all this has been done, the mountains in the land of the monsters bend down and make a high rustling sound. They tell the wicked monk that Aǰar Mangas and his donkey are dead, and that nothing of him has remained, not even his cudgel. The monk makes a divination to ascertain the truth, and then he says to himself that the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab should not think that it is easy to come out alive from his land. The monk dons a monastic robe and puts a red cap made of straw on his head. He solders the cauldron into which Bodi-ɣalab’s wife and son have been put, in order to make it impossible for Bodi-ɣalab to take them out if he comes.

The monk climbs to the top of a high mountain and, waving a fan, he recites evil spells and summons armies of demons to him. When thousands of demons arrive riding on donkeys, deer, foxes and wolves, the monk orders them to fight against the hero Γalǰaɣu and to kill him. The monk, in the meantime, recites evil spells to increase the strength of the demons. The monk also summons twenty-four malevolent deities that he worships, and tells the deities how Aǰar Mangas was killed, and how he is now seeking to avenge Aǰar Mangas’ death. The deities cause a thousand arrows to descend onto the hero Γalǰaɣu, and the latter fends them off with his axe. As the hero continues to fight with the demons riding on donkeys, his horse and axe shoot magic flames which burn the demons to death. Since the hero Γalǰaɣu and has not yet defeated all the armies of demons, Bodi-ɣalab addresses his prayers to his Father, the celestial God Qormusta, saying that he has endured all kinds of suffering in the land of the monsters, and although they have killed Aǰar Mangas, they could not defeat all the armies of demons.

In Heaven, the God Qormusta summons his five children to come to him. They come, and Qormusta asks them which one of them would descend to the land of the Mangas to help Bodi-ɣalab and to rescue his wife and son. When Qormusta’s elder son, Tegüs-čoγtu, refuses to go, saying that on the earth there are Bodi-ɣalab Khan, born to rule, and the hero Γalǰaɣu, born to vanquish the enemies, and that they should know what to do themselves, the God Qormusta becomes furious. It is the God Qormusta’s daughter, Šigšigür, who offers to go to the land of the monsters to help Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu and to rescue Emüne-gerel and Altan-ɣalab. The God Qormusta agrees to this, and orders his son, the herder of the celestial horses, to catch the light-bay colt, born of a fawn mare, and to turn the colt into the horse of Altan-ɣalab’s horse. The horse comes near to the celestial Šigšigür and she saddles him. Then she puts seven flaming doves into the right sleeve of her garment, mounts a magic goose, and descends to earth riding on the clouds. As soon as the twenty-four deities worshipped by the evil monk see her arriving, they flee in panic. Just when the demons which attacked the hero Γalǰaɣu are on the point of killing him, the celestial Šigšigür releases the seven flaming doves from her sleeve, causing a conflagration which destroys the land of the monsters.

The evil monk begins to lament the destruction of his land. He seeks to kill the hero Γalǰaɣu and Bodi-ɣalab, but the celestial Šigšigür scares him away. Now the hero Γalǰaɣu heads straight to the palace of Aǰar Mangas. The palace, which was made of iron and brass, has been burnt to ashes, and he cannot find Emüne-gerel and Altan-ɣalab. While he wonders if the monsters might have eaten both of them, Bodi-ɣalab arrives and tells him that his wife and son are in the cave temple in the north-east. Bodi-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu come to the cave temple, and when the deities at the temple try to kill them, the celestial Šigšigür scares them away, causing the temple to become a deserted place. The hero Γalǰaɣu smashes the temple, and miraculous flames burn the temple to ashes. The celestial Šigšigür makes a divination by making calculations on her fingers, which reveals that Bodi-ɣalab’s wife and son are in a cauldron which the evil monk has soldered. She raises a magic flag and recites spells, and when she shakes the flag a wind blows up, causing the soldering metal to come off without delay.

Emüne-gerel and Altan-ɣalab emerges from the cauldron, breathe out the poison, and feel well again. Altan-ɣalab is now nine years old. Emüne-gerel tells her son all about how she was abducted by Gilbang-sira. It so happened that, when Altan-ɣalab comes out of the cauldron its lid sticks to his head like a hat and will not come off. Seeing this, the celestial Šigšigür prays to her Father, the God Qormusta, for help, and drops of pure rain fall which free Altan-ɣalab’s head from the cauldron lid. The celestial Šigšigür summons the light bay horse which the God Qormusta bestowed on Altan-ɣalab, and the horse descends from the sky and comes to Altan-γalab, who bows his head before the horse.

As for Emüne-gerel, she has no horse to ride home. She possesses a magic silk kerchief bestowed on her by the God Qormusta. When the kerchief turns into a brightly coloured cloud in the shape of a lotus flower, she mounts the cloud and soars up into the sky, meeting the celestial Šigšigür in the sky. Šigšigür tells Emüne-gerel that the two of them are going to travel through the air riding on the cloud, while Bodi-ɣalab, Altan-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu are going to travel across the earth on their horses. Bodi-ɣalab, Altan-ɣalab and the hero Γalǰaɣu set off towards the land of Bodi-ɣalab Khan. As they reach Yellow Pass Mountain the hooves of their horses change into the wings of the Garuda Bird. They rise into the air, and on reaching Bodi-ɣalab’s palace, the horses come down to earth. As Bodi-ɣalab comes to his palace he lets his horse go, because the horse is happy in the sky. The poem ends with words of good wishes.