Page 12 - ELES BOOTUR (2)

8 PETR OGOTOEV
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The olonkho Eles Bootur is close to an ancient olonkho of Taata by its
structure. It has the same introduction in ancient vanished years, in the remotest
ages full of fightings and bloody feudsand clashes which is considered to be a

traditional beginning of Taatta olonkho. Similes leaf-bearing forest is like strong
men, birch-trees are like beautiful girls, hills are like young fighting stallions
defending their herds,h mountains are like blood-eyed oxen butting each other
with noise and crash are widely used in a Taatta olonkho.

In classical olonkhoes names of heroes are usually given in a noun: Nyurgun
Bootur, Myuldjun Bogho, Er Soghtokh, etc. These nouns are defined with
epithets:impetuous,powerful,unstumbling.etc to characterize them. In the olonkho
Eles Bootur the name of the hero is given in epithet swifth. In a classical Yakut

olonkho it’s quite unusual to use a describing epithet as a noun connected with a
hero name. His horse’s name is also rare in olonkhoes. Usually they are called
White Butterfly, Yellow Versatility, etc. The name of Black Bear is suitable to
describe a horse.

In olonkho evil heroes are usually accompanied with a whirlwind and snow
storm and have a three-headed fiery dragon. But in this olonkho the negative
heroes have a low-legged ox as a means of moving. It’s also a new image in the
olonkho.

One of the main peculiarities of the olonkho “Eles Bootur” is its bringing up
direction. The author of the olonkho is a teacher. That’s why it’s the strongest
point of the olonkho and the author himself stresses it.
This olonkho advices

Not to boast being the best,
Not to treat your life lightly,
To be serious to all questions,
To be broad-minded,
To be merciful and thankful,

To be proud of being bom as a man,
To cherish life as the apple of your eye.
Morals and a good attitude always win in any argue, but nevertheless evil

forces never disappear. It escapes at the last moment. The author describes it as
follows: ’’Eles Bootur, the great, shrieking out raised Osokh Khabar high above
the clouds, flung him down deep into seven sagenes, when he was going to pull his
head, the spirit of his eye out of the bottom of it, looking like a frozen hole, fell