Now I need to make it clear for you,
What the child’s physical features would be like.
So you are able to send arrest warrants across the steppe.
“If a boy is born,
His palm should be carefully checked.
At the moment of the future hero’s birth,
Blood clot is held in one hand,
While greasy fat in another hand.
On the surface of the protuberant palm center,
Leaves the mark of `Manas`,
Which is well-impressed and outstanding.”
The prediction that a hero named Manas would be born soon got about. And it put King Chingirshi in a flutter. He would by no means allow the prediction of Manas’ birth to come true. He decided to kill Manas as soon as the future formidable adversary was born. He organized every five Kyrgyz households into a team, appointing one Qalmaq person as a supervisor for each of this team for the purpose of finding out the child.
After hearing about the impending birth of the hero named Manas, the Kyrgyz people who were oppressed and mistreated for long could not help smiling out of joy. It seemed that they had already caught sight of a ray of
Legend of Manas
sunlight at the end of the long corridor of darkness …
In order to enable his livestock to feast on fresher and more delicious grass, Jakip moved to the Great Kunes Grassland. The number of Jakip’s sheep and cattle had increased constantly. Nevertheless, Jakip began to wear a melancholy face without a smile all day long. The reason was obvious: Jakip had no child up to then. Qalmaq people ridiculed Jakip as an old goat without offspring. Jakip faced a barrage of poignant ridicule dealt by Qalmaq people who seemed to shoot pointed arrows at his heart. So Jakip was always deep in a state of extreme depression.
In order to obtain a son, Jakip consulted with a number of well-educated and knowledgeable seniors and youngsters. A folk tale occurred to him for many times that a wife could be expecting a child only when she was humiliated or snubbed. Anyone should not take compassion on his wife at that moment. The wife should be sent into the dense woods together with her belongings and a worn-out yurt carried by the old ox with a broken nose. After severing all the ties with the family, the wife had to put up with the torture of profound mental agony and loneliness all the while. Whenever the husband met his wife in the desolate woods, he should keep an indifferent or imperative look by dint of a frown of disapproval or disgust. Only in this way could the wife become pregnant eventually. If she became pregnant, her face would brim with broad smiles once again.
As soon as he thought of such a folk tale which purports to be credible, Jakip could not fall asleep any more. Jakip really hoped that a son of him would inherit his property in the future. Thus, he made up his mind to have a try at persuading his wife Chiyirdi into following suit. Chiyirdi was afflicted with the same nightmare as well. Her long-cherished desire was to give birth to a child for Jakip. Chiyirdi was living in exile before she was adopted and raised by Balta at the age of 14. As a result, she considered Akbulta as her elder brother. Moreover, she married Jakip later simply because he was the eldest son.
Jakip sent his wife into the dense woods of Kunes. The forest was bordered by a village where a widow named Markdoom and her son lived. The widow was a member of Uzbek ethnic group. Jakip gave the boy a horse by which the boy took the responsibility of delivering food and tea for Chiyirdi.
On the way back of delivering a meal for Chiyirdi, the boy was shocked
Invasion of Kyrgyz Nationality’s Territories by Alooke and Manas’
7
Birth at a Time of Danger and Adversity
at an enigmatical sight in front of his eyes: As many as forty teens of the same lion-like build were hanging around in the woods. He seemed to make the acquaintance of these teens somewhere before. And he also heard about Manas – the name of the person taking the lead among the teens. Moreover, he was told that Manas was the son of Jakip. Out of a great surprise, the boy went back home immediately in order to pass what he had seen and heard on to Jakip as soon as possible.
Jakip was also shocked at the news. In order to check up on what was going on in the depth of the dense forest, he rode his steed and headed for the centre of the woods. A group of children were seen running to and fro in the forest but Jakip was unable to recognize the appearance of these children.
At the edge of the forest, Jakip bumped into an old man with white moustache who was named Adelbek. At the village surrounded by the pasture land, he was a renowned old person who lived next door to Jakip.
Shortly after coming across Jakip, the old person greeted him with a friendly wave of the hand and said: “Hello, Jakip, my respectable lad. The surrounding grassland has already been covered with your cattle and sheep. And you also have a son who turns out to be as stout as a lion. Why are you keeping this back from me?”
“A son? Come on, Adelbek. You know for sure that I have no son and I am always worrying about this. How come you are making fun of me?” asked Jakip, who was surprised by the old man’s agonizing words. Afterwards, Jakip could not help raising his whip out of indignation with a view to giving him a lesson.
“My respectable Jakip, I have never made fun of you. Just listen to me. I once witnessed a total of forty children who hung about in the forest together with the deer with antlers. I asked them for their identities simply because I was curious about that. And a boy with a red face informed me that the teenager taking the lead among them was Jakip’s son called Manas. Manas was an outstanding hero who led a forty-strong team. I was moved to tears by what the boy told me. You know. Before I was about to wipe out tears and take a careful look at them, all of them had left,” Adelbek continued.
Jakip sighed with sadness, folding his whip up. He felt he was unable to communicate with Adelbek any longer. As a result, Jakip had to lash out at the old fellow with the help of a frown of distrust and a hostile glare. “Adelbek,
Legend of Manas
