like a deep ravine
In the Under World.
He stuck out his tongue,
Looking like
A seven-and-a-half-bylas-long
Wet lizard,92
And licked his mighty neck…
He muttered indistinctly
As if worried about something,
He smiled disgustingly,
He grinned repulsively,
He began to resound so much
So that the earth trembled,
The snowstorm swirled,
The sky shook,
The dense forest echoed…
Under the swirling edge Of the northern dangerous sky The maw of the abyss gaped…
THE DEMON’S SONG
‘Aar-jali!
Alatigar emine-tuomui!
Sakha Saaryn Toyon,
The forefather
Of the Aiyy-Khan kin,
With the reins on their backs;
Sabyia Baai Khotun,
The foremother
Of the Kun-Erken tribes,
The front-faced, two-legged,
With the reins on their necks;
Your daughter,
Fair-faced Tuyarima Kuo
With the chestnut ambler,
Whose brother is Kun Jiribineh
With the grey horse –
She was destined for me
When she was three,
She was intended for me
When she was six,
My little one, my sweet,
Thinking I would kiss
Her round, fair face,
Thinking I would enjoy and caress
Her wonderful body
That precious part
That glimmers through her pants,
Imagining that she grew impatient
Waiting for me,
Thinking she was dizzy
With excitement
At the thought of my arrival,
From far, far away,
At last I have come…
Thinking the son of the Upper World,
The good man Kytygyras Baranchai
The Swiftfoot93
Would snatch her and steal her,
I have come earlier
So as not to get exhausted
While chasing him.
Have I come too late?!
If so, how awful!
I hope I have forestalled
The son of Oroi-Buhrai,
Orulos-Dokhsun
A great man,
Buhra-Dokhsun94
With a harness
Of four rolling thunderbolts
And eight striking lightning whips,
So as not to let him
Abduct her –
Or has he done so already?!
What a tragedy that would be!
I tried to hurry
So I would hopefully forestall
The son of Ulutuyar Uluu Toyon
And haughty Khotun Kokhtuya,
Unruly Uot Uhumu, Tong Duhrai95
With the huge fire-breathing dragon
For a horse,
Notorious for his rows,
Famous for his violence
In the southern swirling sky,
So as not to let him
Grab her and vanish,
So that I would not tread
On snow and slush.
Or has he already escaped with her?!
What terrible sadness that would be!
You, my brother, the best demon
Ehekh Kharbir, Three Shadows,
Timir Jigistei,
Born in the age of enmity,
Settled in the bottom
Of deadly Eluu Cherkechekh,
Do not let a white bird
Fly over my head.
You, my elder brother
Alyp Khara Aat Mogoidon,96
The father of terrible Ap-Salbaniki,
Do not let a grey mouse
Slip under my feet.
