children and descendants
Will not be happy in my cosy house.’
Thinking so,
Sabyia Baai Khotun invited
Among her remote and close neighbours
Twelve voluble,
Fair-faced girls,
Stepping lightly and proudly,
Looking like she-cranes.
She brought them with her into
The largest uraha89
With a tethering post.
They lit a sacred fire,
Sat on black and white mats,
Brought a bowl
With eight-cogged patterns
And poured yellow butter into it
To meet Ejen Ekhsit,
To greet Akhtar Aiyyhyt,
To see Aiyyhyt off…
It was festive and noisy…
THE BLESSING OF AIYYHYT’S DEPARTURE
‘Che-duo! Chel baraan!
Urui-aikhal…Urui-michil…
Ejen Ekhsit for young women,
Akhtar Aiyyhyt for elderly women,
Nelegeldjin Ekhsit, Nelbeng Aiyyhyt!
Drop in at our dwelling, our hearth,
Our golden nest
In the coming years,
To support and to bless!
Do not be mean-spirited
With our descendants,
Do not be uninterested
In our children
In the coming years!
Che-duo! Chel baraan!
Narin-naskil… Kugel-nuskhal…
Let my sacred fertile womb
Soak up the goodness
Of Mother Ekhsit!
Let it be filled with the miraculous spirit
Of Mother Aiyyhyt!
Let my large house
Be filled with noisy babies!
Let my light-filled dwelling
Be full of well-fed children!
Che-duo! Chel baraan! Kulim-michil!
Smiling Ejen Ekhsit
For young women
Let us see you off!
Laughing Akhtar Aiyyhyt
For elderly women
Let us see you off!
Urui-aikhal! Urui-tuskul!
Ejen Ekhsit seems to have charmed us,
Does she not?
Ha-ha! Ha-ha!’
Shedding tears of joy
They giggled and laughed,
Scooping yellow butter from a bowl
And covering their faces with it...90
After that they gathered all their relatives,
Young and old.
In front of the fire,
Bowls were put in a row,
They brought down a white horse
On its right side,
They slaughtered a brown horse
Where the road begins,
They led black and white racehorses in,
Struck their foreheads
And plunged their knives into their necks…
To be known everywhere
They played knucklebones
Made of the bones of heavy horses.
They feasted on fat meat,
They refreshed their throats
With strong kumis,
They dispelled their sadness
With fresh kumis,
They sat, pleased,
Picking and cleaning their teeth
With a soft bone…
Khotuns and toyons hiccupped
From eating too much food,
Girls and boys choked
From drinking too much kumis.
Sakha Saaryn Toyon was singled out
To procreate three kins of Sakha,
Destined to beget four kins of Sakha,
Considered himself
To be superior to all others,
A bow-string taller
Than the rest of the people.
He spoke and thought
That he was more important
Than all the other Urankhais…
‘If a cold wind blows
From the high swirling sky
On my honoured name,
On
