Chapter XI

After the old woman went back to her home
Abai  Geser the Mighty said:

“Probably there are now lots of beasts
In my Altai - the great land”.
He saddled his blue horse
And began to fit it out
For hunting.

To have a round-up in the Altai woods,
To hunt in the  Khukhei thickets
He began to get ready.
Having put on the proper clothes,
He came up

To his blue horse.
Then he sat on
That blue horse of his,
Rode along the southern slopes
Of the Altai - the great land,

Rode across the taiga thickets
Of the Khukhei - the great land.
Rode he and set
The first traps.
Soon he came across

The Asurai yellow
Thirteen-headed monster,
He met him on the northern slope
Of the Altai - the great land,
He met him in the taiga thicket

Of the Khukhei - the great land.
He met him at the crossing
Of  the  three  roads.
[The monster] asked the right question:
“Which place are you going to, daring fellow?

Where and why are you going, daring fellow?”
With the right words answered [Geser]:
“I lost my cattle:
A cow and a bull,
A sheep and a ram,

A herd with a stallion,
She-goats with a he-goat.
I’m going round each hill,
In each place I ask about them.
And you, daring fellow, which valley

Are you from? Which kin do you belong to?”
[Geser] kept asking.
“I was born at the right-hand pole
Of  the  rear side of  the dwelling.
I’m the youngest son

Of the biting yellow
One-hundred-and- eight-headed monster!”
The right word said [the monster].
“What sovereign do you belong to, daring fellow?
Which place do you come from, daring fellow?”

[The monster] asked.
“As the lord of this great land
I’m living and prospering.
As the ruler of this great land
I’m living and prospering.

We are not too many though,
I’m the only daring fellow,
The son that was born very late
By an old woman of sixty,
By an old  man of seventy.

I’m Abai Geser the Mighty.
I made the Altai the place for my rounds-up,
I made the Khunkhei the place for my hunting!”
“As soon as I heard
That Abai Geser the Mighty was born

My heart began to beat uneasily,
My short ribs set moving in alarm ...”
“So that’s why you are standing here
As a frightened and beaten one
By  some evil dangerous enemy?”

“When in alarm
My heart began to beat,
When my short ribs
Set moving,
When you had only some fluff instead of hair,

I began to wait for you,
When you had only some gristle instead of bones,
I began to wait for you”.
“How many people
Have you killed and eaten,

Whose hair is nothing but fluff,
Whose bone is nothing but gristle?”
[Geser] asked scornfully.
“I broke
Necks of those

Who had necks like bull’s necks, to say nothing of yours!
I frightened those
Who had quivers with silver decorations!”
“There’s no man’s child
Stronger than the man himself,

There are no more than
Six  bones in the neck!”
The right word said [Geser].
That old monster
Jumped off the horse

On the  wrong right-hand side.
Abai Geser the Mighty
Jumped off the horse
On the proper left-hand side.
As soon as they got off,

They began to come nearer, like bulls
Bending their heads and scowling,
They began to approach each other,
Gloomy  like dark clouds.
Butting like bulls