Legends

Once upon a time there lived a powerful khan. In order to defeat his arch- enemy, the khan ordered his subjects to create a bloodthirsty, giant bird out of metal and the blood of innocent boys and girls. After destroying the enemy’s land, the bird that fed on human flesh set its sights on the land and the people who created it.

In Tsagan Nur lived two strong wrestlers. One day a powerful wrestler from a distant land came to Tsagan Nuur to compete with them. On the edge of the village lived a widow who had sheep. Three days prior to the competition the two wrestlers decided to steal a sheep from the widow and eat it to boost their strength. At night when they sneaked into her house, the widow caught both thieves with her bare hands and banged their heads against each other’s leaving them unconscious. The next morning, recovered, the wrestlers ran to their trainer to report on what had happened to them. ‘We cannot beat the foreign wrestler, but that woman can’, they pleaded with him. The three men spent a long time convincing the widow that she should wrestle instead. Finally, the widow agreed. To hide her gender, the widow had her hair cut and covered her breasts with a piece of pelt. During the competition the widow lifted the foreign wrestler and smashed him to the ground. Two of the man’s broken ribs were left bleeding in her hand.

The lake Tsagan Nur (lit. White Lake) is also locally referred to as Bain Nur (lit. Wealthy Lake). The lake provides the people in the vicinity with everything from fish to cane. Cane is used as fodder and fuel. According to a local belief, breastfeeding mothers who do not have milk bath in the lake to fill their breasts with milk. Tsagan Nur is not only a wealth giving lake but it is also a sacred one.

Anna’s mother was born in the village of Khar-Tolga in Yashkul’skiy rayon. There, lightning, thunder and dust storms were frequent occurrences. Anna heard from her mother that she should not be afraid of lightning. According to a legend, once upon a time a god descended on earth but could not ascent back to the skies. He was helped by a pair of helping hands from Anna’s maternal clan. Since then lightning never harms people from this clan.

One day when Anna lived in the village of Chilgir lightning was blasting through the skies. It damaged the electric counter in the house, but did not injure her son who was sleeping underneath it. Anna interpreted this as proof that her mother’s words were true.

Story One. About the real Kalmyk man. A man tells a story to his grandson. In the chest of every Kalmyk man burns, he says, a fire on which is boiling a (metaphorical) kettle with water. If you decrease the fire, the boiling water will cool down. A real Kalmyk man always has his ‘kettle’ with water boiling, and he is always ready for action. Such men fall seven times, but stand up eight times to carry on with life.

Story Two. About how an old woman prepared her grandson for a married life. An old woman is teaching her grandson: ‘After you marry a girl, tie your wife up with three (metaphorical) bridles. When she gives in to you the first time, take off the first bridle. When she gives in the second, take off another bridle. But never take off the third one so that you could keep her under your control’. All Kalmyk brides are treated like this, including the old woman when she was a young bride.

Story Three. About loneliness. A lonely monk lived near a well. One day when he was pulling a bucket of water from the well, a herdsman who was passing by stopped to ask about what it was like to live alone. The monk said to the herdsman, ‘Look at the bottom of the well and tell me what you see there’. The herdsman looked down the well and replied that he saw nothing. After some time when the waves in the water calmed down, the monk asked the herdsman to look at the well again. The herdsman said that he saw only his own reflection. The monk philosophized, ‘When the water in the well has waves, that is what life among people feels like. When the water calms down, it is like living alone. You can see your own reflection and find your true self. Every person has to experience loneliness twice in their lives. Once when you are young in order to think about how to live when you grow old. And then when you are actually old – in order to ponder about the past’.

Story Four. About two tengris. Tengris heavenly beings that live in the skies. One day two tengris are having a conversation. One asks the other, ‘Why do you fly up and down all the time?’ The other replies, ‘My duty is to help the mortals. Why do you rest all the time?’ to which the first answers, ‘My duty is to receive thanks from the mortals (for what you did)’.

Story Five. About sweet life and cheeky Kalmyks. God created 10 Kalmyk men from clay and gave them duties. The first man looked after sheep, the second after horses, the third after cows, the fourth bred camels, the fifth was a hunter, the six was a fisherman, the seventh was a carpenter, the eighth was a sewer, the ninth was a cook, and the tenth man was a jeweller. After some time, the men come to god to complain that they felt lonely and bored. God gave them clay and said that they could make ten women according to their taste. He also brought a plate with 11 lumps of sugar and told the men to use only 10 and give a lump to each of their women. When all the 11 lumps disappeared, god became angry, ‘Who of you took two lumps?’ As no one replied, god took all the women, mixed them up, and returned them to the men as he wished. Those who liked skinny women received plump ones, those who liked tall women received short women etc. It is said that since then 9 out of 10 men think that other men’s wives are sweeter thinking that one of them must have eaten two lumps of sugar. Only one man out of 10 knows that all women are the same, because it is he who ate the extra sugar.

Story Six. About the allusiveness of attaining enlightenment. A young herdsman decides to attain enlightenment and asks a monk how to do it. The monk answers that in order to attain enlightenment he should go home and every evening look into a mirror and ask himself, ‘Who am I?’ The herdsman thinks to himself that it is too easy and decides to consult with another monk. The second monk gives him an advice, ‘It will take a long time for you to attain enlightenment. You need to work for the sake of the community good day and night without any reward’. Since this advice fitted with his idea of attaining enlightenment, the herdsman spent the next five years working for his community by collecting dung (for fuel), doing washing-up and cooking for others. After five years the herdsman asks the monk again, ‘Do you think I am ready now to attain enlightenment?’ to which the monk replies, ‘Go home and ask yourself who you are every evening in front of the mirror’. Puzzled and frustrated, the herdsman says, ‘Five years ago another monk said exactly this to me’. The monk only answers, ‘Yes, that monk was absolutely right. First of all, you need to know who you are before attaining enlightenment’.

In the past there was a nomadic camp on the shores of Manych Lake. One morning in the spring seven young girls from the camp went out to collect dung for fuel. With leather bags on their shoulders, the girls collected fuel along the shores of the lake and decided to have a rest in the shade. When they sat down, all of a sudden, mice and snakes appeared in great numbers out of nowhere. After a thud the earth trembled and the water splashed out of the lake. It was an earthquake in the Caucasus. The girls were buried alive under the mud which was sliding from the mountains. When people in the camp learned about what had happened, the elders decided not to touch the place and leave it as it was. This place is now called ‘the place of 7 girls’. Every summer 7 silver colored seagulls fly over this place and cry as if they are mourning the girls. At the end of the summer the birds disappear.

Grigoriy heard this story from old men who live on the shores of the Chograisky water basin which is part of Manych Lake. This place is mysterious and people often get lost there.

There is one single poplar tree 20 kilometers west of Elista. The tree is unusual. When you cut its branch, you can see a 5-pointed star shape across the cut. The tree was planted by the lama Purdash who brought its seed from Tibet. The seed was planted in 1846. Near the tree there is a hill from which one can see Elbrus Mountain on a clear day. The distance between the Mountain and the tree is about 240 kilometers. There are many stories related to that tree. According to one story, in the past, not far from the tree lived a woman who came to Kalmykia from the Caucasus as a bride. Whenever she felt homesick, she climbed up the tree to look at where her homeland was. According to one legend, a gigantic snake and an eagle fought over the sacred spring that flows not far from that tree.

The Kalmyk word for wormwood is burulda or shar sharljn.

This is a legend about how two Polovets khans were driven into the mountain by Vladimir Monomakh in 1111. The Polovets and the Rusich (ancestors of the Russians) were fighting at the Don river. Two Polovets khans, Syrchan and Atrak, who were brothers, escaped to the mountains. When Monomakh returned to Kiev, Syrchan also came down to his pastureland at the lower Don. After some time Syrchan sent a messenger to his brother Atrak, who had stayed in the mountains, asking him to return home. Atrak did not reply. After some time Syrchan again sent a messenger to his brother with the same request, but again did not receive any reply from his brother. The third time Syrchan gave some wormwood to the messenger and asked him to deliver the herb to Atrak and say nothing. Atrak breathed the smell of the wormwood, cried and returned home.

This legend may be based on a true story, because during the Civil War following the Bolshevik Revolution Cossack Kalmyks from Don fled to Europe, and some of them requested that wormwood be sent to them. In the 1990s when émigré Kalmyks visited Kalmykia, some of them also took wormwood with them back home.

Grigoriy is a poet and writer who was born in Kalmykia. According to him, legends are jigsaws and mysteries. Legends are like sisters of history. He recounts two legends, one about the Lake Manych Gudilo and the other about the Lake Manych.

Legend One. Grygoriy heard this legend from his father. Once upon a time there lived a tribe that was engaged in livestock-breeding and pottery. On both sides of their pots they painted the sun with long rays, which was a symbol of their tribe. At that time hills were so high that saiga antelopes that stood on top of them could rich the sky with their horns. The water in the springs was pure elixir and people who drank it always stayed healthy. One day, dark news reached the sun-loving tribe – hordes of enemies had arrived at the border of their land, setting fields and grass on fire. The men of the tribe set off to fight the hordes. As time passed, the elderly, women and children who were left behind became tired of waiting for their men. As no news arrived, the people became sad. And then, one beautiful day, happy news reached the tribe – a small number of their victorious men were on their way home. When the warriors arrived, those who did not see their beloved among the survivors, cried with bitter tears. Those who met their men alive, cried with happy tears. Both sad and happy tears flowed in streams to create a lake that was named Manych Gudilo. This salty lake has places where the water is clean and sweet. This lake serves as a borderland between Europe and Asia.

Legend Two. On the orders of the Byzantium’s emperor Michael, the founder of the Cyrillic script Kirill set out on a journey to the western parts of the empire to enlighten the people and create a Slavic alphabet. According to a legend, in the 9^th century during his journey along Manych, Kirill stopped to visit a Khazar khan. There he participated in a debate with other scholars all of whom he beat. As a result, Kirill added 9 letters into his alphabet. Kirill’s journey encompassed Don, the Azov and Black seas. It is a legend, but a stone anchor dating from the 9^th century was found along this route.

My mother told me a legend that in the olden days there lived a mangas (a monster) that caused people trouble all the time. People decided to kill him and when they began to beat him hard, mangas ascended to the sky. As he was taking off, someone cut him in half. The lower part fell to the ground, and the upper went up in the sky. From the bottom, poisonous reptiles appeared, and the upper part became Arakha, a dragon that swallows the Sun or the Moon. But since mangas did not have a lower part – the sun and the moon drop out from it.

Another legend, at dawn burkhan (a buddha) descends on the earth from heaven in disguise. He may appear as a camel calf or as a bad-looking elderly man. That is why you should not offend anyone, it could be burkhan. I think that this legend teaches not to harm the unfortunate and the disadvantaged.

A legend about a Tibetan monk from the dark side. It is said that in Tibet a fight between light and darkness, between good and evil has been raging for a long time. In the 18^th century a monk from the dark side descended from mountainous Tibet and set off in the direction of Kalmykia. Requests from as far as Buryatia reached Kalmykia pleading to stop the dark monk. When the monk entered the territory of Kalmykia, one of the Kalmyk lords sent a cavalry to stop him. The cavalry found the monk, surrounded him, and what happened later was shrouded in mystery. The Kalmyk lord again sent a cavalry, but with the same outcome. Frustrated and frightened, the lord ordered that no one should try to stop the invincible monk who carried on his journey through Kalmykia.

A legend about how a Kalmyk hero escaped from the Astrakhan Kremlin. Once upon a time there lived a Kalmyk man who robbed the rich and helped the poor. He was as powerful as he was elusive. The only way to catch him was through his sister. The murza of Astrakhan ordered that a handsome man be sent to the Kalmyk hero’s sister to seduce her. When the sister fell in love, the seducer promised to marry her on condition that she gave away her brother. The Kalmyk hero was soon caught and imprisoned in the Kremlin. Since his last wish was to see his horse, the prison guards brought him the horse. The hero mounted on his horse and galloped for a while before jumping over the walls of the Kremlin. While jumping, the horse touched with his hoof a part of the wall which fell off. It is said that since then that particular part in the wall always falls off no matter how builders fix it.

Legend One. In the past an astrologist calculated the time and place where a boy with the head of a wolf would be born. Upon hearing this terrible news, some worried people went to the prophesized place only to find a woman who was in labor. As soon as the woman gave birth, the newborn who had a wolf’s head set about running around the tent trying to escape from the crowd. The people caught the baby and when they were about to kill him, the baby said, ‘If only had I sucked the milk of my mother, then you would never be able to defeat me!’

Legend Two. About the origin of the Ajirhsud clan of Dund Khurul. Once upon a time there lived a man called Ovgn Mergn Baatr in the territory of Dund Khurul. He was so heavy and strong that no horse could carry him. He had to go by foot at all times. At that time a plague erupted in Tibet that decimated both people and animals alike. The plague was caused by a bird that had escaped from the afterlife. The lamas prophesized that only a Kalmyk hero from Dund Khurul could chase the bird away and save the country. Messengers were dispatched to Kalmykia to bring the savior to Tibet. When Ovgn Mergn Baatr chased the bird, the plague stopped. But not all Tibetans were happy with the end of the plague. Tibetans from the ruling families did not like the fact that it was someone from a far-away land who saved Tibet. They killed their Kalmyk savior. Upon learning about the murder, the lamas chastised the murderers and prophesized that bad times would come unless the perpetrators atoned their collective sin. 500 families were to give a son each to carry the corpse of the Kalmyk hero back to his homeland. The journey was hard and exhausting. When the procession finally reached Kalmykia, only 17 out of 500 carriers made it to the destination alive. These 17 Tibetans were the ancestors of the Ajirhsud clan which means ‘male horses (who carry weight)’.

A ghost story. Sangadzhi heard the following story from an old Kalmyk. When the grandfather of this old man was a boy, a very special relic had to be delivered from the Dund Temple to the Khosheutovskiy Temple under the cover of the night. The journey had to start at sunset and finish before dawn. The boy took the relic and set about galloping towards the Khosheutovskiy Temple. On his way, distracted by evil spirits and tired, the boy decided to stop and quickly fell asleep. He was woken up by light coming from a fire which was circled by dancing babies. The boy quickly jumped on the back of his horse and galloped away. He reached the Temple just before dawn. After he handed the relic to a monk who had been waiting for him, the first rays of the sun appeared behind the horizon. .