Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian
Original Language: Russian
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exotic and rich,
This review is from: Folk Tales from the Soviet Union: Central Asia and Kazakhstan (Hardcover)
None of the eight tales in this splendid book, first published by Moscow's Raduga in 1986, are Russian. They are all from Central Asia, the former Republics now at the center of the news. In these lands, the people obviously derive much of their entertainment from stories, and these examples twist and turn through 189 pages of fine, magical, and strangely familiar adventures. From Uzbekistan, readers are treated to Three Brothers, a story retold by Sergei Palastrov in which the father of Tonguch-batyr (21), Ortancha-batyr (18) and Kenjdja-batyr (16) passed some wisdom to his boys. "I am not rich," he told them as he grew old, "and what you inherit after me will not last long." Still, since he raised them in good health, as strong warriors with nothing to fear, he asked them to be honest (so they'd live without qualms), not to brag (so they'd never be ashamed), and not to be lazy (so they'd be happy). "For the rest," he told them, "it's your own lookout." He sent them off on three horses with food for a week to seek their fortunes. They rode off together the next morning, and that evening divided the night into three watches. On the first watch, Tonguch heard a noise and drew his sword. Moments later, a lion emerged from the brush, and he slew it and returned to the camp with a small trophy from his prey. Ortancha-batyr's watch came second and Kendja-batyr's third. The next night, on Ortancha-batyr's watch, Azhdar-sultan, King of the Snakes, emerged from the thicket and he slew him, just as his brother did the lion. He too returned to the camp with an easily concealed piece of his prey, as if nothing had happened. The third night, the fire went out and Kendja-batyr left his brothers to thwart a band of robbers who intended to steal from the Shah. Before morning he returned to his brothers as if nothing happened, with a whole set of trophies. The next morning, when the brothers came to the town, the Shah asked all strangers to come at once to his palace. The plot takes many detours and includes a tale within a tale. The illustrations by Uzbek artist Javlon Umarbekov are as lavish as the story, in which the young men followed their father's advice and became quite happy. The next two tales hail from Kirghiz. In Which was Biggest (retold by Mikhail Bulatov), readers again meet three brothers, who decided to live separate and apart. But they had only one bull between them, and failing to see how they could divide it, they set off to consult a wise man. The bull was so huge that, although one traveled by its head, one by its side and the last behind it with a stick, they traveled leagues apart. The tale grows quite fanciful, including an eagle larger than the bull, forty doctors who set sail in a man's eye, and a fox so large it was too big to be skinned on both sides. It also includes a riddle, which readers must solve. Clever Ashik (retold by Dmitri Brudnyi) is the tale of a boy orphaned when he was small and taken in as a shepherd by a wealthy bei. The boy saved a frog, who blessed him in thanks with the gift of a magic pebble. To appease a neighboring khan, the boy solved a riddle (very like one in a Jewish folk tale called The Three Riddles) and outwitted him several times more, for which he was paid with a stay in the dungeon. How he got out is quite fantastic. But there the tale does not end. Ashik encountered still more adventures, in which he employed the devices of a fine Baba Yaga tale I know. This story, too, ends happily. From Tajikistan come two tales--The Greedy Kazi and The Padishah's Daughter and the Young Slave--illustrated by Vladimir Serebrovsky, the chief artist at the Dushanbe's Aini Opera and Ballet Theater. The second tells of a young woman too haughty to consider any of the suitors who courted her. Despairing that he would never find a husband for her, the Padishah journeyed to other towns seeking a wise man to advise him. At last an old man who wrote fortunes on pebbles told him his daughter would marry a slave. Enraged, the Padishah ordered his slave beheaded. How the slave escaped him is all magic and delight. The book closes with two Turkmen jewels, Yarty-Gulok and A Mountain of Gems, and a Kazakh tale, A bought Dream, handsomely illustrated by Kazakh artist Mendibai Alin. I have read many folk tales, and many collections, and this one (despite its outdated title) is rich indeed. Alyssa A. Lappen
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