C26. A guardian on the edge of an alien world.
.14.17. (.23.) .27.28.30.31.34.-.37.44.45.61.
Monsters are ready to invade our world from another, but a powerful character protects people from invasion.
North Africa. The Arabs of Egypt: El-Shamy 1980, No. 24:139 [Alexander built a wall against Gog and Magog; they lick it at night to make a hole, but after sunrise the wall is restored], 273 [the wall recovers weekly after Friday prayers]; (cf. Morocco (Reef): Coon 1931:155-156 [Dwarfs as young as two years old, old, naked, humpback live underground; they dig access to earth every day to destroy people and live on land instead of them; every night they say that there is not much left, we need to rest; during the night, the course is covered with earth; this is because they don't say In sh'a Allah; if they guess to say, they'll finish the work, destroy people] , 156 [these hajuj u majuj dwarfs live in the east behind an iron wall; if they break into our world, they will destroy people]).
Western Asia. The Arabic written tradition [chapter "Ibn Khurradādhbib on Sallām the Interpreter and Alexander's Wall", p. 94-104; ibn Khordadbeh (c. 820 - c. 911), "Kitab al=masalik wa-l-mamlik ", the first version was completed in 846/847, the second updated version was completed no later than 885/886. (perhaps he was the only one); Abbasid Caliph Wāthiq sent Tolmach Sallam, who spoke 30 languages, to check the condition of the wall built by Alexander against Gog and Magog; a description of its iron gate; Three times a day, the chief of the guard hits an iron bolt with a hammer, and you can hear a ringing sound like a wasp buzzing; this is so that Gog and Magog know that the guards are in place and not try to break into the human world]: Lunde, Stone 2012:99-104.
(Wed. South Asia. Northern India, Hindi [to prevent locusts from ravaging the fields, a Hindu deity has imprisoned locusts in a deep valley in the western Himalayas; starlings make sure that locusts do not escape ; if this happens, starlings follow and devour locusts]: Crooke 1892-1893, No. 258:64).
The Balkans. Ancient Greece [after sharing a bed with Uranus, Gaia gives birth to hundred-armed and 50-headed Cotta, Briaray, and Gies; they later help the gods win the titanomachia]: Hes. Theog. 147-152, 617-725; [in Tartar, under the gloomy darkness of the underground, the gods Titans/Were hidden by the decision of the lord of the immortals and mortals/In a place gloomy and musty, at the edge of the vast earth. /They have no way out from there, he was blocked by Posidaon/With the Copper Door; the wall runs all around./[Cott, Briarey the Big-hearted and Guies live there, /The Loyal Guardians of Lord Zeus]" (trans. V.V. Veresaeva)]: Hes. Theog. 729-735; [comment on Hes. Theog. 734-745: "Poems are under the suspicion of philologists. Firstly, articles 815-819 say differently about the Storuks; secondly, 736-739 = 807-810; thirdly, verses 740-745 are also mistaken for late interpolation"]: Gasparov 1999:434.
Central Europe. The material was collected by K.Yu. Rakhno. Western Ukrainians (Kholmshchyna; Zalusze Lublinsky District, now Zaluche and Novoye Zaluche Wlodawski District) [There is one island near France where winged snakes hatch, which are very harmful to humans; they are extremely poisonous, and even more harmful because they have wings, so it is easier for them to catch up with whoever they want to kill. But there are also such strong and very good people, "heroes" who have already taken on the task and dedicated themselves to protecting poor people and constantly waging war against and killing these snakes. Therefore, they, these heroes, sleep on that island, on the rocks, as if dead, but they are constantly watching: only a winged snake will hatch and fly into the world to harm people, then one of them jumps up with fake sleep and, catching up with her, kills her. Sometimes he catches up with her far away, only in foreign lands, because she escapes him in flight, but he always tries his best to catch up with her and kill her. Since I saw for myself how such a terrible winged snake flew past my house, with a terrible rustle, and then a Cossack, exhausted, almost on a falling horse, arrives soon, asking me to give he should eat. I gave him as soon as I saw him tired, he ate as much as he would eat in one wave for eighty people. He was just such a hero, he had the extraordinary power that eighty people would have, and only asked which way the terrible snake flew and rushed after her like the wind. Now these heroes do not act, they are not free to them, they are exhausted, because these are the times and that's why everything is so bad in the world, but again there will come a time when they will resume their power again and then they will destroy evil again, and people will feel good in the world]: Kolberg 1890b: 258-259; northern Ukrainians (early 1870s, Drozdivtsy, Nezhinsky district, Chernihiv region) [a person who returned from work on the Black Sea, he told his fellow villagers how a seemingly unremarkable worker managed to tame a heroic horse; when he saw the horse, the man turned to him: "Great, friend! I've been waiting for you for a long time - now we won't be separated"; the horse screamed back; the worker paid off the owner, explained that he had to go where God sent him, drank a half-bucket of vodka in one fell swoop, and left leaving deep traces; and then the trail ended - apparently, the heroic horse had wings and flew; when asked where the heroes live and what kind of service they had, the narrator replied: Holy God knows; they say border - either snakes are being guarded, or God knows]: Dragomanov 1876:251-254; Eastern Ukrainians (Kherson district, p. Dudchina, and Melitopol district; the same stories in the villages of Zikrachi, Kiev U. and Pirogi Kobelyatsky District, as well as in the city of Globino, Kremenchug District) [there are heroes now and always have been, because they are the most loyal defenders of their native land, "and without them, all sorts of enemies would occupy us." A hero is born between ordinary people from a secret connection between a beautiful woman, as well as the pure and immaculate soul of a woman, usually a widow, and a hero father, but he does not dare to show his strength or intelligence until 20, less often up to 30 years old. At the same time, a horse is born for him, because ordinary horses can't stand it. It is also born for him and snakes at the same time. When the hero is 20 years old and by that time no one knows who he is, then an exam comes for his heroic strength: he must sit on a horse that will run to him at that time and go to some grave (mound). Snakes will be waiting for him there. When a hero rushes to fight a snake, the serpent, knowing that he will not escape death, often runs away, flies in the air, and people often see him. If the hero has reached the required age, then he will certainly defeat the snake, but if it happens that he does not save himself and it becomes known who he is, then when he is recognized, he must go right away fight a snake. Then the fight could be fatal for him: "Going to fight the snake, the hero snatched a thirty-pound anchor from the ground, broke off his paws and thus fought the snake. But he was not yet 20 years old, and it was not his destiny to beat the snake. They fought so that the ground shook, the fishermen did not sleep all night, prayed to God for the hero. But when we went and the sun rose, we saw that the enemies had dug the grave to the very bottom, and then both dead were lying." You can see a hero only when he wants to. When he wants to be invisible, just like a saint, he can be invisible. No bullet takes him. As soon as the hero kills the snake, then he simply flies "to the mountains", where all the heroes gather and where their yard is located. These mountains are so high that you can see the whole country they are watching. In wars, they fight for Ukrainians]: Smola 1911:202-204; Eastern Ukrainians (Yekaterinoslavshchina, Berdyansk and Aleksandrovsky districts, 1880s - early 1890s) ["Heroes live somewhere where forests, and protect our land from snakes; if the serpent breaks through, the hero will chase him and drive." It is their purpose to protect their native land from snakes and other dark forces that nest in the surrounding area. As a child, the hero lives among ordinary people, but after expressing himself, he must leave them. It is rare to see a hero, because he is "still like a saint". He can look for his heroic horse or drive into a tire for a drink, and in the meantime, a tied horse will crush the stone into dust. "A hero, as he stands in the forest, he does not need a horse, and when he chases a snake, his horse will find his own"]: Manzhura 1888, 52-53 (=1890:8-9).
Iran - Central Asia. The Persians [Majlisi writes that the Yájúj and Májúj peoples live on the other side of Mount Kaf, which borders the world; their tongues are like saws or files; every night they shed a passage to mountain range, but every morning the mountain is restored; they would have broken through if Alexander the Great hadn't built a hundred walls to hold them; people who lived near the mountains asked him for protection; on his instructions, they they prepared a huge amount of hot iron and 7 other metals; from this he made a wall (separate or on top of the Kaf Mountains); this wall Yájúj and Májúj cannot be sawn, and it too slippery to climb; at the end of the world they will break through; among them there are giants, there are people whose waist width is equal to their height, and there are big-eared ones with one ear under them hiding for others]: Donaldson 1938:90-92; the Iranian written tradition [the total number of demons, devas, sorcerers, and sorcerers in hell is 99,999, and 99,999 immortals are placed at the gates of hell righteous souls to prevent evil forces from escaping (MX 52)]: Chunakova 2004:94.
Baltoscandia. Estonians [Russians hold dog-heads back where heaven meets earth; if they break through, they will kill people]: Eisen 1919:234-238.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Kumandins [image on a tambourine with comments from shamans; in the center of the lower part of the tambourine there is a ker boss (aka ker-balyk, ulu-arjan; ker is "huge, monstrous") - a hair-covered monster with an open mouth with sharp teeth sticking out; painted with four or six legs, sometimes without legs; closes a hole leading to the lower world, from where evil spirits could penetrate the earth]: Ivanov 1954:660; Buryats: Khangalov 1959:282-291 [Lobsogoy, who lives on the NW side, turned into a star, studied Gaser's magic, turned him into a tireless donkey and plowed on it; Alma-Mergen Hatan took the form of L.'s older sister, begged for a donkey, restored G. to his appearance; going to war with L., G. and his warriors chase three wild bulls, sisters L .; two are killed, the eldest runs to L.'s palace, takes on a human form, swallows G.; he cuts her from the inside, forcing her to say that her brother is immortal but can be defeated; G. kills her by cutting her off heart; with the help of AMH sending an arrow to L., defeats him, locks him in a stone tama for a thousand centuries; puts a stone battery to guard him], 323 [others say that G. threw L. into a hole and put two batyrs with iron hammers; when L. shows up from the hole, they hit him on the head; L. falls into the pit. Earthquakes occur; some say that the boys created by G. shoot at L. exhausted him, he falls back into the hole; var.: G. crushed L. with three mountains, nailed them with a spear; batyr pins his spear with an iron hammer; when the world ends, L. will stand up and defeat Abai-Geser-Bogdo- khan].
Western Siberia. Northern Selkups: Prokofiev 1949a [a horned mammoth protects the land of the dead]: 159; 1976 [a mammoth guards the entrance to the underworld where the land of the dead is located; it was depicted similar with a bear without a trunk and fangs]: 116.
Eastern Siberia. The Evenks (all?) [The Engdecat shamanic river runs the border between the upper and lower worlds; darisal (letters. "rows") are a series of "iron" and "bone" spirits with arms outstretched, which stand "like a fence" or as a "squad of warriors"; their duty is to protect the passage from the world of the dead from penetrating up along the shaman's river and further to the land of the souls of the dead; Darisal is the second row of guards; the first row was to be when entering the shaman's own river from the ground; these guards were responsible for guarding souls people living on earth, from penetrating them down the eledskit]: Vasilevich 1936:170.
Amur-Sakhalin. The Udege people [people did not die; men turned into poplars, women turned into birch trees; Egdig's older brother hunted, younger Uza stayed at home; W. sees a shell on the lake, she tells him to dig a hole in the lower world where E. usually sits; otherwise E. will kill all animals; E. falls into the lower world, but returns, sends E. there; since then, the souls of the dead have been going there; he does not let them go back dog]: Podmaskin 1991, No. 8:120.
The Midwest. Sauk [in the north, the country of giants Ayyamavuk is separated by the sea from our world; when they try to cross it, a huge cancer stings their legs, drives them back; they are the remnants of a race that destroyed Hanging]: Skinner 1928, No. 20:159; menominee [like souks]: Skinner 1928:59, note 1.
Northeast. Seneca [White Bisons live underground; dwarfs make sure they don't make it to the surface, bringing disaster to people]: Cornplanter 1938, No. 8:84; onondaga [horned snakes live underground; Thunders don't let them go outside; they'll come out at the end of the world]: Hewitt 1928:805-806.
Western Amazon. Sekoya [in the sky across the road of the dead lies in a hammock; he does not allow the dead to go back]: Cipolletti 1988, note 21:255.