Fighting the Devil: On the Non-Obvious Function of One Folk Story of the Oirats of Xinjiang
- Authors: Nosov D.A.1
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Affiliations:
- Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS
- Issue: Vol 19, No 3 (2022)
- Pages: 38-46
- Section: Research works
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/1811-8062/article/view/143604
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.55512/WMO109724
- ID: 143604
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Abstract
The article deals with the folk story “Šulum-i šitaɣaɣsan ni” (How Argachi managed to burn the devil-girl) published in 1990 in Urumqi in the Old Mongolian script. The story was incorporated into the collection of satirical tales about Argachi, an Oirat folk hero reminiscent of Khoja Nasreddin. Of all the published tales, the story in question highlights the image of the antagonist. While usually an Oirat folklore trickster opposes a rich man, an aristocrat or an official, in this case he deceives a mythological character—a female demon. This narrative largely repeats the Khalkha-Mongol mythological tale included by Vladimir A. Kazakevich (1896–1937) in the report on his trip in 1925 to the region of the Khalkh-gol river. The researcher provided the narrative recorded in Khalkha with a voluminous commentary, which made it possible to completely reconstruct the context and pragmatic function of a stable narrative. The traditional strategy used to deceive a mythological character dangerous for a person, in case of an undesirable visit to the yurt, is revealed. The strategy is expressed by the world-famous folktale-type AT 1135 “Eye Remedy”.
About the authors
Dmitrii A. Nosov
Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS
Author for correspondence.
Email: dnosov@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7247-1184
Cand. Sci. (Philology), Researcher of the Department of Central Asian and South Asian Studies
Russian Federation, St. PetersburgReferences
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