Er-Kosai and Kobylandy batyr

The name of Er-Kokshe's father was Kambar. Er-Kokshe himself had one enemy from the Dzhildyrmas clan, in whose there were forty batyrs within one army. During a campaign against his enemies, Er-Kokshe was separated from his army, believing that the booty would remain scarce with a large concentration of the troops. So, along with forty batyrs, he reached the territorial borders of the Dzhildyrmas clan, that was also preparing for a clash with the enemy. From this moment, the glorious story of the son of Er-Kokshe batyr and his confrontation with Kobylandy batyr had begun.

The fourty batyrs of Er-Kokshe attacked the Dzhildyrmas and began to exterminate people. In this bloody battle, Er-Kokshe received many wounds, but the batyr inflicted a heavy damage immediately, thrusting his pike straight into the heart of Er-Kokshe. Then, Er-Kokshe managed to break his pike, but became exhausted and fell off his horse. The batyr's comrades who saw this were embarrassed and did not know how to put the batyr in the saddle and take him out of the battlefield. Myngnan-bulek batyr was among the comrades of Er-Kokshe. He said that Er-Kokshe was a brave man and if he was told that enemies have arrived, and there was a soul in his body, then he would sit on the horse. Then, the comrades shouted: "Ai hai!" (a scream causing an alarm), imitating the appearance of an enemy`s army. As soon as this scream was heard, Er-Kokshe jumped to his feet and mounted the horse by himself. His comrades supported him and led him away from the battle. Then, already in the saddle Er-Kokshe said: "I have no more urine! You should gather more muck and just build a fire. I have forty wounds on my ribs, ten wounds on my vertebrae (spinal bone), one wound on my elbow, and one wound in my heart. If it was not for this latter, then the others would be nothing. Having said this, Er-Kokshe had died. The remaining batyrs continued the battle, destroyed the entire army of the enemy and returned with booty to their people.

Er-Kokshe had a son, named Er-Kosai. None of the witnesses of his father dared to tell him about his father's death. Er-Kosai saw how his father's comrades returned home and he guessed why his father did not come. In tears, the boy came to his mother. "Other people came, but my father did not return. He was probably killed", Er-Kosai said. Then, his mother told him: "No, your father is alive; he lagged the batyrs behind, because one of them filled the herd of horses and drove them. Er-Kosai did not believe his mother. Hereafter, the mother gathered the people and asked them to keep her son at all costs. She advised to engage a bride for him. So, the people made the following actions: they betrothed him the sister from the nine strong batyrs, gave them the cattle for the bride-money, and sent Er-Kosai to look for the bride. Er-Kosai went to her. They put a yurt for him, brought a bride. But he told her: “Don't come to me! I will be your comrade for one day only”. Er-Kosai returned the girl to her parents' house and went back home at night. He came to his mother and said: “I will go to look for my father! Find me a horse”. The mother said: “Go to the herd, take the bridle, hook and bring the horses. Choose the one that stays behind everyone”. A boy just did that: there was only one buckskin (sary) horse left: a mane to the knees, hooves the size of a place for the fire, eyes the size of a cup for koumiss (dostagan). Er-Kosai got on this horse and came home, where he took the weapons, stock and went to look for his father. He drove by the village of his father-in-law. His fiancee saw how he drove by, and went to greet him with one daughter-in-law (zhengei). She asked him: “When will you arrive?” He said: “I will come if I’m alive, when the hooves of my loaf will be from the hoof of a two-year-old horse, when it’s more from reach, the eyes will be from the eye of a two-year-old horse”. He said goodbye to his bride and just left.

When Er-Kosai arrived at the place of his father's battle with the enemies, he saw many dead people and began to look for the body of his father among the corpses. He wanted to know who his father fought with. Finally, he found his father, who was lying with one raised thigh. From this moment, Er-Kosai realized and concluded that his father killed only one san (ten thousand) people. Er-Kosai went further to look for the enemies. He climbed a mountain, at the foot of which there was a lake. A large army was stationed on the shores of this lake. He came to this army and single-handedly entered into battle with him. Over the forty days, he fought with these people and, in the end, exterminated all of them, taking a lot of booty, livestock, and property. Then he decided to return home. On the way, he came to the village of his father-in-law and went into his yurt. There were many people in it, but no one recognized him, except for his bride, who treated everyone to koumiss. To others, she was supposed to give the full cups of koumiss, and to him only an incomplete cup. Accompanying the guests on another occasion, she poured more for her fiancé, but still less than the others. When the guests went back home, Er-Kosai went along with them. Except for the bride, no one recognized him, but Er-Kosai thought that the bride did not recognize him either. Er-Kosai was contemplating and thought: “Probably everyone has forgotten me”. They think that I have been killed. No one recognized me, and the bride even offended me, giving me a little koumiss. How can you let them know about you? We must drown our horse in the swamp and call on her brothers for assistance. When they try to drag the horse and refuse because they will be unable to pull it out, I will pull it out by myself; only then will they recognize the Er-Kosai batyr in me. He took action, as he planned: he drove his horse into the mud, came to the village on foot, and asked the bride's brothers to pull out the stuck horse. Then, the nine brothers of the bride came to the swamp, but they could not pull the horse. Arriving by himself, Er-Kosai arrived by himself and said to them: “What kind of people are you?” You cannot pull out one horse! Haven't you fed up? I got tired myself, otherwise I would have pulled out one. And, he pulled out a horse alone.

After Er-Kosai's departure, the bride told her brother's wife about the arrival of the groom. The daughter-in-law told her husband about it. He went and brought Er-Kosai to the yurt. They gathered the people and staged a feast again. The brothers gave him a sister.

According to the legend, when Er-Kosai followed his father, Kobylandy did not take an active part in the fairy tale, but after the revenge of Er-Kosai, Kobylandy chased after him. At night, he attacked the village of Er-Kosai's father-in-law and robbed him. He used to hide his weapons when he came to spend the night. During the night attack by Kobylandy, he rushed out of the yurt in one shirt and saw that his horse had run away. Kobylandy's people wanted to catch her, but they couldn't. He wanted to go to the war in just one shirt, but his wife would not let him go. She said: “If you go out, you will be killed. You must exercise caution in order to keep your head”. He listened to his wife and hid in the reeds on the banks of a river. Kobylandy robbed all his people and took him captive, including Er-Kosai's wife. When an army of Kobylandy moved back, Er-Kosai went to the robbed places. He found his hidden weapon, dressed in what was left of the dress, and walked up the mountain. From there, he saw one black spot. He walked by foot to this spot and, coming closer, noticed that it was his own horse. He caught her and sat on her, eating the remains of the animals killed by the enemies, and bent the steps towards the enemies.

After many days of persecution, he saw a piece of paper tied to the stick and stuck in the ground. He read what was written on the paper. It was a letter from his wife, in which it was claimed that a bag of koumiss and lamb meat were buried in this place. The wife advised her husband to stay at this place for three days. Three days later, Er-Kosai went back. After driving for another three days, he found another piece of paper on the stick. According to the letter, there was also a sack of koumiss and lamb meat buried in the ground at this place. He stayed here for three days, as ordered in the letter, drinking and eating. After another three days of travel, Er-Kosai came across the third piece of paper on the stick: the letter states that a sack of koumiss and lamb meat were also buried on this land.In the letter, the wife advised staying here for three days and reported that the enemies had already approached their lands. Having made a three-day rest on this land, Er-Kosai went further and caught up with the enemies when they had already reached their lands. Pretending to be a simple wanderer (passenger) and beginning to look for his wife, Er-Kosai could not find her.

One night, Er-Kosai saw the people lying in the middle of the enemy, forming a circle of camels. He thought that his wife must be among those camels. There was a hole in the middle of the circle as well. When he wanted to go inside the circle, the camels roared immediately. Then, he turned into an owl and slipped between the camels into the circle, and descended into the pit under the same guise of an awl. He found his wife in the hole. In conversation with his wife, he asked her about the strength of Kobylandy. She replied that Kara-Kypchak Kobylandy is a very strong person. “There are many of them, but you are the one”, she said. “Your victory depends on your strength”. “If God gives strength”, - Ir-Kosai answered, “Then I am not afraid of them; I will overcome them”. “First of all, take me out of here”, - the wife asked, and then fought with them. Otherwise, you will not find me during the battle.

Thereafter, Er-Kosai saved his wife from the pit. As they passed by the camels, the camels roared again. When Er-Kosai and his wife reached the horses, the enemies found out that Er-Kosai had arrived. When Er-Kosai and his wife set off, the enemies chased after them, but the batyr destroyed everyone who dared to catch up with them. Finally, Kara-Kypchak Kobylandy caught up with him. They threw spades at each other. The wife saw that they were fighting and said: “I will submit to those who win”.

For seven days, Er-Kosai and Kobylandy fought with sabers and lances but could not defeat each other. After seven days, Er-Kosai stuck a pike in Kobylandy, raised it at the pike and asked, “What position are you in, batyr?” Kobylandy replied, “I am above you”. Then Er-Kosai jabbed the blunt end of the pike into the ground, so that the pike pierced Kobylandy's body so much. Then, Er-Kosai asked his opponent again: “What is your position now, batyr?” “I still stand above you”, Kobylandy replied. Kobylandy's feet reached the ground when Er-Kosai touched the ground with the blunt end of the lance. He asked again, “In what position are you now?” “Now I am on par with you”, Kobylandy answered. Then, Er-Kosai started to fight with Kobylandy. Then Er-Kosai pulled out his pike, and they fought for three days and three nights. Three days later, Er-Kosai knocked down Kara-Kypchak Kobylandy and cut off his head. All the people of Kara-Kypchak were submitted to Er-Kosai. Thus, Er-Kosai avenged his father's blood. He returned to the surviving people of his father, returned home with his wife, and greeted his people.

Potanin wrote about this tale that it has some similarities with the Mongol-Tibetan story about Geser. This concerns the part that tells us about the bride treating guests with koumiss, among whom was her fiancé, Er-Kosai, an unrecognizable character to anyone. This part repeats or it is the original of the place in the Mongolian story about Rogmo-goa, which brings wine to the guests, including her fiancé Geser, who is also not recognized by anyone.

Another coincidence is the moment when Er-Kosai lifts his enemy, Kobylandy, on the pike. The same scene is presented in the Baraba tales, where Kodon Khan pierces Ak-Kobok with his pike, and then shakes it so much that Ak-Kobok slides down on it. This tale was written down by Radlov and published in his work “Samples of the Folk Literature of the Turkic Tribes Living in Southern Siberia and the Dzungar Steppe”.

A little before the moment of the battle between Kobylandy and Er-Kosai, it was told about the camels lying in a ring and not being allowed inside the circle where the wife of Er-Kosai was imprisoned. In the fairy tale “Er-Tushluk” (by the way, also recorded by Radlov), the role of camels in this place is played by a snake. In another tale, grouping into a circle is reduced to the idea of the Pleiades (according to the North Caucasian idea, the Pleiades are considered as the circle of feasting sledges). Er-Kosai's wife was located underground, at the bottom of the pit, just like the girl Kuner-Sulu, whom Er-Tushluk was looking for. As Er-Kosai's wife gave him advice on how to dispens her, so Kuner-sulu helped Er-Tushluk with his instructions.