The devious and sly Eçki,
Filled her stomach well.
Under the shade of a kuuray,
Eçki seemed to have rested.
She was loosing her energy then,
Now she gathered her strength.
At that moment, the hunter
When he came to a catching place,
He came across Zulayka
Who kept him for a short time.
Under the two kuurays,
Eçki gathered her strength well.
Sur Eçki was near fainting then,
Now she seemed to have rested.
From the beginning, the hunter aimed
That place as his target to catch her,
But Zulayka destroyed his plan.
He met with his lawful wife,
They told to each other
The things they experienced in between.
They happily said good-bye to each other,
Their hearts melted like snow
For seeing each other.
Zulayka came looking for
Her esteemed hunter she missed,
After sending Zulayka back,
The hunter continued again
To chase after Sur Eçki.
“My partner Zulayka came,” he said,
“Looking for me from a far,
Walking for a long distance
She came for her 'crow-like, only one,'
I couldn’t catch her [Eçki]
On the upper black river bank,
Where I planned to catch Eçki,” he said,
The hunter gathered his strength back,
Like a horse that newly joined a race,
He became excited and eager.
Kojojash now had energy
Two times more than before,
After seeing Zulayka once.
Sur Eçki walked on the mountain foothill,
And went up on Kümüshtak.
The hunter’s couldn’t catch [Eçki]
At his target places he planned.
It has soft and melting snow,
It has all kinds of grass
For deer to graze all the time.
Sur Eçki thus ran towards
Atoynok and Taldï-Bulak,
Eçki lured him after herself
To the valley of wide Çatkal.
Eçki walked towards the river,
Her own targeted place.
She ran from him for many days,
At the time when she reached Talas,
Sur Eçki began to loose her strength
And almost let herself be caught.
From the beginning she planned,
Sur Eçki used to have in mind,
The cliff of Abletim.
Shining like a clear glass/mirror
The cliff was standing there.
Eçki walked towards the cliff
By jumping onto a rock.
To be able to walk on the rocks like Eçki
Kojojash was also a great hunter.
When she went up a little bit,
Almost reaching the middle of the cliff,
Sur Eçki of the Kayberen,
Caused a black fog, they say.
Kojojash lost sight of, they say,
Where she disappeared.
He wouldn’t have climbed if he knew,
“Where did Eçki go?” he said,
Kojojash stood at one place.
Sur Eçki now came and stood,
On the opposite sunny side,
The black fog caused by Eçki
Still hadn’t cleared up.
By holding her collars tight,
And lying on the ground for a moment,
Eçki asked the Creator for the hunter’s [death]
The goat’s wish and goal
Were bestowed by [God].
Eçki asked God the following:
“God, please give me the hunter,
The one who killed off my offspring,
The one who killed my Alabash
And wasn’t still satisfied
Came chasing after me now.
May his place become a high peak?
If he is my vengeful enemy,
May the cliff’s top touch the sky,
And ask the hunter, who came after me,
From God to be killed.
Standing on the side of the cliff,
Being separated from his kin,
May he also suffer like me?”
Eçki cried with longing,
Shedding tears from her eyes:
“None of my children are alive,
Not leaving myself alive now
He is tormenting me.
There is no mountain for me to escape,
If You bestow Eçki’s wish,
May the hunter’s soul remain on the cliff!”
The wish of the angry Eçki
Was thus bestowed [was accepted] by God.
The cliff where the hunter stood
Became a very high peak
Almost touching the sky.
The fog which she caused got cleared,
When Kojojash looked out,
He saw himself standing like a crow
In the middle part of the cliff
Whose end and beginning stretched out.
To Eçki standing across from him,
These are the hunter’s lamenting words:
“On account of our pledged oath,
Eçki, I followed you non-stop.
If I decided to shoot you,
I had my Ak Barang in my hand.
At the end you had me stranded
On the side of a slippery cliff.
I followed you all this time,
Because of your pledged oath.
Now I am stranded on the cliff,
Eçki, you also got your revenge.
I had wished to go back alive
To my few Kïtay people.”
Sur Eçki then said these words:
“You’re the son of Karïp,
Pursuing me without stopping,
You crossed all the mountains.
Your çarïks’ soles on your feet
Got tattered and fell apart.
I’m not an ordinary deer,
I’m a real Kayberen.
You never listened to my words,
Now, hunter, how do you feel?
I made my motherhood known to you.
If the Creator bestows my wish,
You won’t ever see again
The faces of your few people.
[God], please kill the hunter,
Who massacred my offspring.
Since my early age I struggled
Trying to survive till old age,
My soul turned old wandering.
For a long time, Kojojash,
You didn’t take off your hands from me.
May you be blessed now with this place
Where you’re standing right now.
May you not see ever again
The faces of the mourning Kïtay people.
May you dry up instead of being a hunter!
May you be stranded on the cliff!
May the grass turn yellow and may autumn come,
May the ground under your feet be flat!
May you, hunter, remain on the cliff,
May it be a tragedy for your kin!
To your side where you turn,
May fir trees grow with branches!
My you, hunter, remain on the cliff,
Embracing the black rock!
To your side where you roll,
May hawthorn grow with branches!
May your soul be stranded in the cliff,
Embracing the gray rock!
I’m the real Kayberen,
And you’re the stubborn hunter . . . “
Sur Eçki continued to curse
The stubborn hunter:
“Upon learning of your condition,
Your Kïtay people will move
And settle on Tegerek-Saz,
When your small Kïtay clan,
Fills the front side of the Saz.
When they gather wood-cutters (among people),
To fell the fir trees [to make ladders],
When they tried to get the hunter
Safely down to the ground,
May the ladder break and smash!
May your father and mother cry
With tears streaming from their eyes!
May your wife Zulayka weep,
Grieving and mourning [your death]!
May there be no way out
For each of your attempts!
May your lonely head perish,
By drying up stranded on the cliff!
If that doesn’t work to rescue you,
If they gather horse hair ropes
And throw them onto you,
May they only see the shadow
Of the grieving hunter unable to get down.
May their ropes not reach you!
May vultures fly circling you
Waiting for Kojojash’s death!
It’s not mine, but God’s doing,
When they were in Kara-Üngkür,
You shot them all not leaving one,
Until my old age I struggled
Fearing your threat.
I hope that my wish I asked
Will be bestowed by God.
May your place be a peak,
May crows and vultures gather,
Saying: “When will the hunter die?!”
May they be your real enemy!
At last, after chasing me,
Cliffs and rocks became your home.
May your lawful wife Zulayka
Mourn dressed in black clothes!
May your bones dry on the rocks!
When your people move here,
May they find no way out!
Finally, when your kin run out of choices,
May your relatives shout to you,
Saying: “Hunter, throw yourself down!”
May your head remain on the cliff
Hanging, not reaching the ground!
To your opposite, at the sunny side,
May your lawful wife Zulayka,
Cry wearing a black scarf and
Asking: 'What will happen to me?!'
I got my vengeance, hunter,
May [God] bring onto your head
A tragedy called death!
At one time you made me beg,
By not giving me back
My partner, Alabash teke.
Farewell, hunter, stay well,
May you suffer and take ill,
I’ve finished what I had to say.”
Speaking thus, Sur Eçki stopped,
She had no other words to say.
Not fearing what she said,
Standing on the side of the cliff,
The noble hunter Kojojash,
“What should I do now?” he said
And gathered his strength once more.
The hunter became angry
At the words which Eçki said:
“I can’t get down from the cliff,
Otherwise I would show you.
You’re not the one to kill me
I’m not the one to be killed by you.
The fugitive and sly Eçki,
Who would be killed with one shot,
Your strength can’t equal mine.”
After he finished his words,
Eçki set out on her way.
At one moment Kojojash,
Didn’t even notice her leave,
By getting angry at her words.
“Where did Eçki go?” he asked,
When Kojojash looked around,
On the foothill of the cliff,
Sur Eçki was already going
On the sunny side of the hill [ak çaptuu].
He realized that she was gone
Kojojash watched her from behind.
She also seemed to leave content
By stranding him on the cliff,
The man, who chased after her.
Kojojash, the hunter thought
That he should shoot her now.
He just remembered his gun
And looked around his sides.
When the hunter looked, it was there
Laying shining on the white slope,
His Ak Barang with six carvings.
The hunter got to fire once
Aiming carefully his bullet
At the distancing Eçki,
Look at his hunting skill,
His one shot fired at Eçki
Wounded one of her legs.
Eçki is also a smart goat,
Who is very careful
About not hurting herself.
Sur Eçki thought to herself:
“He still has a grudge against me,
Let me check him out,
The man stubbornly fighting her.”
Eçki came back again,
And saw the hunter herself:
“You shot at me carelessly,
By wounding one of my legs.
You broke my bone muscle,
Leaving me in lingering pain.
If you have heard what I said before,
But I forgot to add as well.
When your people will come here
Upon hearing of your situation,
When the master hunter dies,
Throwing himself from the cliff.
May your people witness your death,
May your own wife Zulayka,
Cry and weep by running around.
May your bones be hung on the rocks,
May all your people, including
Your old father Karïpbay,
Devastated [by your death].
May your red bones scatter!
May your blood spill on the rocks!
May the stubbornly chasing Kojojash,
Be separated from his people in this way!
May your father lament your death!
By asking: 'To what kind of place he came,
Where no one gets down once up there?'
May he live to tell people
That the place you stand, Abletim,
Is the cliff where Kojojash died.
That despite his stubborn chase
Sur Eçki won in the end.”
Sur Eçki left for his land,
Getting her revenge finally.
Kojojash stayed, not able to descend,
Surrounded by cliffs and peaks,
Stuck on the edge of the rock.
Sur Eçki continued on her way,
The hunter grieving on the cliff.
Only flatland under his feet,
Making a bed on the shiny cliff.
Until he falls down and dies,
Kojojash will be stranded on the cliff,
Located in the land of Abletim,
He lost Eçki and he is left alone
Due to his pledged oath with her.
While the hunter waits on his cliff
Let us talk about his people.