The Giant One-Eyed Demon

a sapar mara etva letva men-alaha hech mendi gura letva. kha-dana pulad dev gu-kha-dana zagha. etle khamshamma dane erbe. ukhcha khelana vayele. mayele o cho cho cho cho cho erbe bedrayele gu-zagha, o kipa av kharbusule kat-erbe la palti. kmat etten gu-da mazra kasibe kusibe erbe beshkalel bet-ganu, bekhvatele mayele. aha mara, mayele.

Now, the story goes: there was once upon a time, there was nothing greater than God, there was a great demon in a cave. He has five hundred sheep. He is so strong. He brings the sheep, o čo čo čo čo čo, and puts them in the cave. He pushes a stone (over the entrance) so that the sheep do not escape. He takes to his home as many sheep as there are in this land of wretched paupers, brings them and mixes them together. The story goes he brings them back.

merre kha dana brata platela vay erbi lublelun, lublelun. lublel pulad dev. beshkalol brata idet khela mayol bedyashole gu-do zagha. gu-do zagha betyavela. deknu playula. hamzumela mennu. mayele, mattuyele, bikhalele. peshtela tama.

He said ‘A girl is going out.’ (She says) ‘Oh, they have taken the sheep, they have taken them. The great demon has taken the sheep.’ He takes the girl. He brings the girl forcefully and squeezes her into the cave. She sits in the cave. She delouses his beard. She speaks with him. He brings (food), he puts it down and eats. She remained there.

merre kha dana spay yala hona b-gura sura lele merre ana t-aten ka-diyyakh parken. merre avun tla dan bnun etle. tullunte mitena. katu merrun. avun e-danet bukhchet do brunu gura aha labulole, aha berreshshel kat-parekla. amma katu mirena khzi at men-id-dav le parketta.

A fine young man, who was not lacking brains, said, he said ‘I shall come and save you.’ He said ‘He (the demon) had three sons. The three of them have died.’ They said to him ‘After he takes the knapsack of his elder son, he could go to save her.’ But they said to him ‘Look, you will not save her from his hand.’ He strikes a ram on the ground. He puts on the skin of the ram and puts a bell on the ram.

kuchcha mkhayule al-arra geldet kuchcha belvashule, ziga bedrayele b-kuchcha. gashukele erbe jens mavurel kat-tama nasha la-aver. muyyole kal-nash gniva muyyol. hu-chu mavurole. men-tama e-danta varele lakhkha. ba-katu mirena avva … dev, tla dane nasha yakka devil.

He (the demon) keeps a close eye on the sheep and brings them in (to the cave) so that people cannot enter. He has brought the young girl, he has kidnapped her and brought her. (Saying) ‘hu-ču’ he brings her in. Then he enters here (into the cave). But they said to him (the young man) ‘He is a demon, a huge demon the size of three men.’ Three sons (of his) have died.

bitayele mara of rekh bar-nasha bitayele m-akhkha. mara mu dilukh rekh bar-nashele mara he rekh bar-nashel. ganu tushyol gu-geldet kuchcha. mara ita m-idi khu-le parket aten. b-lele bekyamele, e-danet av kat-erbita muttuyole nuyra bashli akhli, b-lel bekyamel aha ArmshampurArm mashkhunule bedyashul gu-aynu, gu-aynu, akhchi kat palet men-tama a-bratada kalu labella.

He (the demon) comes and says ‘Oh, there is a smell of a man here.’ She says ‘How do you know it is the smell of a man?’ He says ‘Yes, it is the smell of a man.’ He (the young man) has hidden himself in the skin of a ram. He (the demon) says ‘You will indeed not escape from my hands.’ He gets up at night. When he puts a ewe on the fire for them to cook and eat, he gets up at night, he heats a skewer, and presses it into his eye, so that he can escape from there and take the girl bride away.

men-de e danta merre m-idi le parket khayya. e-dan tile kat-kipa khurbesle, dana, dana erbu pultile. av ziga … b-kdalule, kuchchelda khina. avva b-kdalet kuchchu deryel ziga. he kam-kulle bitayele platele at kuchcha dav, kharta dakh t-ate a ganu kamta deryal. a sapar men-tama kam-kulle platele. merre ba beti mukhrevlukh. plitel. m-idi le parket, khayya-alaha.

Then he (the demon) said ‘You will not escape from my hands.’ When he came and pushed the stone aside, he let out his sheep, one by one. He (the young man) had a bell on his neck, well he was (dressed up like) a ram. He has placed a bell on the neck of his ram. The one that is his ram comes and goes out before all the others, then when he (the young man) comes, he put himself first. Then he goes out from there before all the others. He (the demon) says ‘You have ruined my house.’ He has gone out. ‘You will not escape from my hands, as God lives.’

an-tla dastet julle e kalu et-davun, et-yalu, yuvvela ka-do nasha ot tile paruko, paruko. merra kam-kulle e-dasta gurta mattetta t-azet b-reket. b-yatev al-day bakhe, bakhe hal-dar mattila beta, medre t-ate matilukh.

The bride gave three sets of clothes of his (the demon), of his children, to that man, who came to rescue her, rescue her. She said ‘First of all lay out the big set of clothes, and you should go and flee. He will sit and weep and weep over that, until he comes back and puts it in the house, then he will come again and reach you.’

merra a sapar mattetta e-dastet do brunu t-arallegh. adi bakhe, bakhe, allo raba b-arkel. t-ate, merra, khachcha mazyed t-oya kat-men-araze aver, men-araze aver. men-tama e dastet allo betyavele jens bekhyele, beddara bitayele, medre tama kes-de brata.

She said ‘Then lay out the set of clothes of his middle son. Then he will weep and weep, and tarry a long time over it. He will come back,’ she said ‘he will increase (the gap) a little so that he can pass in between, pass in between.’ From there, the set of clothes over which he sits and weeps, he returns and comes back again there to the girl.

a sapar men-tama merra et-do brunu sura mattettun jullu. al-da raba bakhe kat-at men-araze oret azet kat-ka-diyyi parket, lablet kat-le-ames khina l-e-pat araze aver. e danet an-julle do sura mattuyela kamu kha-bekhya bekhyele, khina la-amsan tayyan. e danta a beshkalole e brata, men-araze varele. avda npalel gu-ara, bekhnakel ben-pala bekhnakele. jamahat men-idet da pulad dev kat prakel.

‘Then after that,’ she said ‘Lay out the clothes of his youngest son. He will weep a lot over that, so that you can go in between and save me and take me away, so that he cannot go through to the other side of the gap anymore.’ When she lays out the clothes of the young son before him, he wept bitterly, more than I can tell. Then he (the young man) takes the girl, he comes through the gap. He (the demon) falls in the gap, he is strangled. He falls and is strangled, with the result that the community is saved from the hands of the great demon.