User:Drmies/Jangar

Prologue
The prologue explains the origin and framework of the cycle. Jangar, orphaned at an early age, is the son of Uzuyanga, the grandson of Tangsyk-Bumba Khan, and a descendant of Tak-Zula Khan. When he's two, his country is overrun by the Monster-Mangas; he starts riding his horse Aranzal the next year, and defeats Gulidzhin-the-Monster. The next year he conquers Dardingshar-the-Monster, and the next year the five witches and the five lords. Then he's held hostage by Shikshirgi, but then he demolishes the gates of six fortresses, conquers Shaman Golden Heart, whom he puts in charge of his Right Wing. He becomes Khan of the seven lands when he's seven, and marries the daughter of Nom Tegis.

His land Bumba thrives and becomes a sacred place where time does not pass. The steppe he rules extends a five-month ride and its center is the mountain Tsagaan Olom Maikhan, near "the primeval ocean Shar-Teg" and the "Cold River Dombai". He unites four governing principles to establish an indestructible state. He governs six thousand and twelve nights, and forty-two khanates from four continents (the number varies, between forty and forty-four khanates). They build a magnificent palace. On the advice of Shaman Golden Heart they build it three fingers below the sky, in order to not aim too high and desire too much. It has five towers, winters are easy, and the palace is the envy of his enemies. His banner, when hidden, is as radiant as one yellow sun; when unfurled it shines like seven suns. His wife, Shavdal Khatun, is extraordinarily beautiful; he has declined forty-nine other marriage offers. A catalogue of heroes follows:


 * Shaman Golden Heart, in charge of the Right Wing, can see one hundred years into the future and one hundred years into the past;
 * Shavdal Khatun, daughter of Nom Tegis and Jangar's wife, is an amazingly beautiful harpist;
 * Mingian, a noble, the most handsome man in the world, a famous singer;
 * Scarlet Lion Khonger, in charge of the Left Wing, is a famous fighter;
 * Gyuzan Gyumbe ("Fat Belly") occupies forty seats in a spacious room; his power is huge, his spear is black, and his horse is the size of an elephant; he sits to the right of Khongor, and surprisingly won "an examination dispute" on history against Golden Heart;
 * Savar Heavy Arm sits to the right of Golden Heart; he fights with an eighty-one meter long axe;
 * Serious Sanal sits next to Gyuzan; he left his father Bulingir, his mother, and his wife Angira to join Jangar.

There is a circle of older men and one of older women; a circle of gentle women and one of young men. When drinks from mares' milk are consumed and the knights' throats are warmed up, the knights ask for excitement--for battles, for antelopes to hunt, for enemies to conquer.

First cycle, "How Shaman Golden Heart joined Jangar's khanate"
Flashback to Jangar's captivity under Shikshirgi, who is told that he was to become a "Conqueror of the World". He wants Jangar killed but his son, Khongor, who like Jangar is five years old, asks his father to spare him. Shikshirgi decides to have Jangar steal forty thousand horses from Shaman Golden Heart, during which he will certainly be killed. The next year Jangar rides off, for three months and forty-nine days, and steals the herd. Golden Heart pursues him and after forty-four days finds him and shoots an arrow in his shoulder. Aranzal, Jangar's horse, saves him, and returns him to Shikshirgi, who orders his wife, Zandan Gerel to kill him--but Khongor intervenes. Zandan Gerel cures Jangar's wound, and sends the boys out to retrieve Shikshirgi, whom they find captured by Golden Heart. The latter realizes he cannot defeat the two boys, and releases Shikshirgi. He realizes Jangar will rule the world, and tells Shikshirgi to engage Jangar to Shavdal Khatun and bring all khanates together. Jangar marries Shavdal Khatun, and bliss comes to Bumba.

Second cycle, "How Scarlet Lion Khonger got married"
This, the longest cycle of this collection, explains how Khongor is struck by loneliness. Jangar, on Aranzal and armed with his whip, goes to arrange a match with Zanda, the daughter of Zambal Khan. Golden Heart warns him that he saw deception and filth in the girl at age three. Jangar insults Golden Heart and doubts his gift, and leaves. Zambal Khan likes the match; Jangar returns to Bumba, and then Khongor, at the height of his powers and beauty, leaves on his horse, Lazy Galzan, to meet his bride. When he gets to the palace, however, he sees Zanda having sex with Togya, a son of the sky-god Tengri. He wants to return, but Lazy Galzan convinces him to continue. He goes back and interrupts the couple, challenging Togya. The two ride off for many days, and then fight--first with swords, and then with bow and arrow. Then they wrestle, and Khongor is losing until Lazy Galzan encourages him. Khongor throws Togya onto a rock, and then cuts him in half. He goes to Zanda, who curses him; he then cuts her in half. His despondency at having killed his bride and her lover is alleviated by cutting up Togya's horse, and grilling and eating it. He abuses Zambal Khan and returns, but nearly starves and dies on the way home. Three swans save him.

At the shore of Ganga Silver Ocean he hunts Fat Whale, retrieving the animal with the help of his horse. He grills the whale, and he and Lazy Galzan cross the ocean, nearly die again, and enter a city disguised as a boy. Lazy Galzan is disguised as a filthy colt. An old man and his wife take him in as a son given to them by Tengri. When he sees three noble boys play shagai, he bets his adoptive parents, himself, and his horse, and wins sacks of gold he gives to the old couple, who buy livestock and no longer beg for scraps. The local khan's daughter, Gerenzel, is to marry a rich and powerful man, Wrestler Tsagan. Her servant meets him and recognizes him as Khongor, and the next day the lady Gerenzel meets him as well, and then invites him to her tower. She retells the story, by now well-known, of how he killed his bride, and reveals that she saved him, in the shape of a swan, and declares her love. He turns into Khongor, and they make love. The next day he returns, as a boy, to her father's castle and, as a jangarchi, sings the Jangar. Later she asks him to fight her fiance; he does, and defeats the giant wrestler. He is rewarded with a herd of sheep, and he and the old couple move out to live on the shore of a lake.

As the wedding between Gerenzel and the wrestler nears, Jangar arrives looking for his friend. Khongor and Lazy Galzan resume their old shapes and the friends are reunited. Jangar, accompanied by Handsome Mingian, go to the khan, White Zula, and an agreement is reached: a wrestling match between the suitors will settle the matter. Khongor is losing, but then his father, Shikshirgi, who'd been kept in a cage guarded by five thousand mangas (half-giants) so he wouldn't interfere, breaks free and kills Tsagan. Khongor and Gerenzel get married, and as a wedding gift she requests the livestock born last year; her father realizes that all the other animals and their owners will follow the young animals, and they decide to join Jangar's khanate. The cycle ends with a repetition of the glory of Bumba.