Erkhii
mergen
Once
upon a time there were seven suns up in the sky and a terrible draught made the
soil redden and crack. The rivers dried up, the plants and the trees withered.
The people suffered from the heat and the animals were dying. All this seemed to
be inevitable. But in one region there lived an handsome archer called Erkhii
mergen who shot at what he saw and hit what he had shot. Many people and
animals came to him and begged him: "Please shoot the seven suns
in the sky and destroy them."
The
archer Erkhii mergen was very conceited about his accuracy and thought himself a
brave, strong and proud man. So he took an oath: "If I can't shoot the
seven suns with seven arrows, I will cut off my thumbs and no longer be a man. I
will no longer drink clear water, eat the dry grass from the last year and
continue my life as a marmot living in a dark hole beneath the earth."
From
the east he shot at the seven suns moving high up in the sky one after another
from the east to the west. After he had shot the sixth sun, he aimed carefully
at the seventh. But just then a swallow came flying along and concealed the sun.
When the arrow got released from Erkhii mergen's bow, it didn't hit the sun but
the swallow's tail. That's why the swallow has a forked tail. The last sun was
afraid of Erkhii mergen and hurried to hide behind the mountains in the west.
Erkhii
mergen thought: "The swallow obstructed my view." And so he took his
piebald horse and set out to chase the swallow and kill it. His horse swore:
"I will chase the swallow from dusk to dusk. If I haven't caught up with
the swallow by then, cut off my legs and throw them away. Then I will be no
longer a horse but live in an uneven and rough place."
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But
as fast as the horse did run, the swallow was always just out of reach and
boldly flew around their heads. Finally dusk came upon them and the horse hadn't
been able to catch up with the swallow. Erkhii mergen got very angry and cut off
the two front legs of his piebald horse. Since then it lives in an uneven and rough
place and has become a Mongolian jumping mouse whose frontlegs are short, too.
It is told, that the swallow is still mocking riders saying: "Catch me if
you can!" when at dusk she is flying in circles around rider's heads.
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Gerbill by Lionel
Albertino |
The
proud Erkhii mergen stayed true to his own word and cut off his thumbs. He
didn't live as man anymore but become a marmot. He didn't drink pure water
anymore, ate the dry grass from the previous year and lived in a hole beneath the
earth. Since then, it is told, the marmot has only four fingers at each paw.
Early in the morning Erkhii mergen forgets that he has become a marmot: he comes
out of his hole and waits for the sun to rise wanting to shoot this last sun
from the sky.
And
there is one more thing: There is a piece of meat in a marmot called "man's meat"
which no human is allowed to eat. Because people believe that it is Erkhii
mergen's flesh. And the only sun remaining in the sky is still afraid of Erkhii
mergen and hides behind the mountains in the west. That's why there are day and
night.