thunder rumbles menacingly,
The lightning flashes brightly,
It is surrounded by the salty ocean,
With stunning white clouds above;
At the bottom of the World
There lies the bitter evil ocean
With its horrible, and deadly roar.
The edge of the Middle World
Is covered with ice and hoarfrost,
Where an evil storm swirls and plays,
The red sand on the hills –
Flying, buzzing and whispering.
Out of the yellow clay-covered ground
Copper-coloured dandelion shoots grow,
And green sedge grows on its white clay soil.
On the slopes of its mountain
The sun-beams dance,
Along the foothills of its mountain
Thick fog descends.
Its rocky mountain summits protrude sharply.
Its sides are so thick
That they will not give way under pressure,
Its backbone is so strong
That 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
