Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 3 1885.djvu/329

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FOLK-LORE IN MONGOLIA.
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his ox the head only said to him, "Do not be sad because they have eaten me; break my head in pieces, and in the two horns thou shalt find as much as shall suffice thee to live without alms for six years." The old man took the head home, broke it up, and in one horn found silver and in the other gold.—(Kirghis of Tarbagatai of the Baidjigit tribe.)


The cow is made of water, the camel of salt, the steed of wind, the sheep of the sky, man of earth, the goat of stone.—(Kirghis Djastaban tribe.)


In the former time there was no water on the earth; the great grey ox (Kog oguz), whom two men tended, was faint with thirst; the herds also. "I will procure water," said Kog oguz, and he began to tear up the earth with his horns—the water came forth a foaming fountain, and formed two large sheets of water. One was the Zaisan lake, the other the ocean (Tengis).[1]—(The same as above.)


On the surface of the ocean (or great lake) lies a fog (du), on the summit of the fog the rock—Djain (Djain tas); on the rock on his four feet stands Kog oguz (the grey ox), and with his horns sustains the world on which we and our cattle live.—(The same as above.)


9. Guigêr Mêdjēt.

(Related by an illiterate Lhama (Buddhist monk) of Zain Shabēn named Chērēn-dordji.)

Érgu Uidzil Eian had two wives. The elder was without children, and therefore went to a great Lhama who dwelt under a cliff; her Ayachkē (waiting maid) accompanied her. The Lhama at that time ate flour (gulēr); he handed over that very flour to the Khan's wife in a cup, and the Khan's wife handed the cup to her maid, who finished the flour. Then both women returned home. Meanwhile Uidzil Khan received from Khurmusta Tengri (that is from heaven)

  1. The word Tengis or Dhengis is applied to the Caspian and other lakes and seas.