Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 3 1885.djvu/335

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The Kirghis of Tarbagatai say that As Djanēbek was the most ancient Khan in the world; he governed many Elyas (Elya in Kirghis means elan). He had an ally, Djērenshê Shêshên, who knew everything of stones, of animals, of herbs, &c. In that time there was no forest, and the people did not know with what to make their houses. Djērenshê Shêshên pointed out to the Khan the plant Djērên. This was wood in the time of Djērenshê Shêshên, wherefore the plant bears that name.

Sultan Musa Chermanov (neighbourhood of Kur Karalinsk) related to me that the Kirghis of Kur Karalinsk have a large blade of grass which has descended from the times of As Djanēbek and his two cotemporaries Djērenshê Shêshên and Aldar Kosê (Kosê in Kirghis means beardless). Djērenshê was called the wise (Shêshên in Kirghis means the eloquent), and Aldar Kosê was called the liar.

In ancient times the Kirghis attacked and drove away the neighbouring nomad nations, and that so suddenly that their braziers which they left behind them were still warm. In one of these braziers they found a child buried in the ashes to keep it warm during the night, which had been forgotten by the departing aborigines. The Kirghis took him and gave him over to a woman to be suckled, so that the child, not being brought up by his own mother, was badly nourished, and his growth was stunted. Therefore he was given the name Uak, as much as to signify the "little."