Тувинские героические сказания: Хунан-Кара. Боктуг-Кириш, Бора-Шэлей. - 1997. (Т. 12.)

SUMMARY The present book is a scientific publication of the two best samples of the Tuvinian legendary tales: "Khunan-Kara" and "Boktyg-Kirish, Bora- Sheeley". The second tale is known almost in all regions of Tuva and exists in 17 variants. The published text containing 6060 verse lines was written down and recorded by the compiler of the book Mongush Khurgul-ool — a pupil of the famous storyteller of the Tuva republic O. Mannai For the first time the printed and non-published variants which have been kept in the Tuva folklore archives are compared with the present text in the comments. The tale "Khunan-Kara" was first written down in 1959 when a tape recorder was used for the classic performance of the outstanding storyteller of Tuva — Chanchy-khoo. Samples of the folklore monuments of the highest moral and aesthetic value are scientifically prepared for the publication. They represent vividly century-long epic traditions, different types of plots, a system of images, artistic and poetic peculiarities of Tuvinian tales. Demonstrated in the two publications are the ancient traditions and customs, nation’s knowledge, different omen, superstitions, religious beliefs and culture of the Tuva people. They contain ancient charms and spells, curses, well-wishes, crad- lesongs, proverbs and sayings of moral and ethical content. People told the Tuvinian legendary tales and listened to them every­ where: in yurts during long winter evenings, while hunting, at the New Year Holiday — Shagaa, at the birth of a child and during funerals. The tradition of epic tales is still alive to a significant degree today. A major part in creating, preserving and popularizing of epos is played by the epic singers. Any talented person who had a good memory and eloquence could become a storyteller. The Tuva people call the heroic epos and tales by one word — "tool", and a storyteller — "toolchu". Only recently after publication of different epic collections people learned to distinguish between "tool" (a fairy tale) and "maadyrlyg tool" (heroic epos).