Mongolia
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The birth of Uriin Tsolmon & Michid
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Altangadas & Doloon Burkhan
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Three Female Red Deer
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The Skillful Wise Archer
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The Sun and the Moon
01 The birth of Uriin Tsolmon & Michid
This is the story of the birth of Venus and the Pleiades. Venus is “Uriin Tsolmon” and the Pleiades is “Michid” in Mongolian. These prominent stars, seen from the vast steppes of Mongolia, must be very beautiful.
Compiled by: Altantsetseg Chimedtseren
Illustration by: Barsuren Battugs & Lkhagvadorj Ulambayar
Once upon a time, there were six brothers who lived together. One day they were talking and decided to travel in six different directions so they could gain knowledge and magical powers. They agreed to return in three years, and then they left.
All but the youngest brother returned, and they told each other what they had learned in the past few years. The oldest brother said that he had acquired a magical power for revealing a secret. The second one could now tell what had happened in any corner of the Earth without being there. The third brother said,
“I acquired the ability to fly in the sky.”
The fourth one had become a magician able to disappear and be invisible whenever he wanted. Next, the fifth brother said that he had gained the magical power to make anything appear.
Finally, the eldest brother said,
“Let us work together to find out why our youngest brother didn’t come back.”
Then he used his magical power and saw that his youngest brother had fallen in love with a beautiful princess. She was the daughter of the king across the ocean. The second brother foretold that a giant snake living on an island in the middle of ocean could harm them when they were on the way to bring back their younger brother. This dangerous serpentine monster could suck great winds and torrents of water into its mouth and swallow whole any living creature in the ocean.
“If we can overcome this danger, we can bring our brother back safely,”
he added. The third brother said
“I can handle it. If all of you tie yourselves together by the lower flaps of your deel*1,
you can fly with me over the ocean.”
“Then I’ll try to find a way to trick this dangerous snake,”
said the fourth one. The fifth brother promised that he would make all his youngest brother’s wishes come true when he came home safely. Thereupon the five brothers started to fly over the ocean. A storm suddenly appeared, and the dangerous snake tried to suck them up and eat them. Thanks to one brother’s magical power to make them invisible, the snake couldn’t find and suck up the brothers. They flew past the snake and were happy to have returned safely with their youngest brother and his princess. As promised, the fifth brother made their wishes come true magically with lots of livestock, clothes, and treasures.
After that, the six brothers gathered and discussed who could marry the beautiful princess. However, they could not agree. The youngest one said,
“I must marry her because I was the first to find and fall in love with her.”
“But I prepared everything she wanted - the house, livestock and a treasure - so I must have her as my wife”,
said the next oldest brother.
“Without my magical power of making anything invisible, all of you would have been eaten by the harmful snake.
Since I’m the only one who helped you so much, I should marry her,”
said the next one.
“How could you have crossed the ocean safely if I hadn’t carried all of you with me and flown across?
I was the only one who took you there and brought you here without any trouble, so she should belong to me,”
said the next brother.
“You wouldn’t have known where to look or what to expect if we hadn’t told you in advance,”
objected the two older brothers.
After listening to their long dispute, the princess finally said,
“There is no need to argue about it. Let’s all go up to the sky together and stay there as stars.
I will become the morning brightest star (Venus).
You can be the evening sparkling stars (Pleiades) so that we can see each other once a year.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the princess was transformed into the morning brightest star. The six brothers became evening sparkling stars, just as the princess had said.
This is why the Mongolians call the time when Venus appears in the Pleiades as the “coincidence of the morning and evening stars.” They say it is when the beautiful princess meets the six brothers.
*1Deel: Traditional Mongolian clothes.
02 Altangadas & Doloon Burkhan
This is the story of the birth of Polaris and the Big Dipper. Polaris is “Altangadas”, and the Big Dipper is “Doloon Burkhan” in Mongolian. These stars in the northern sky are special to people in the northern hemisphere. In the same way, the Mongols must have seen these stars as special.
Compiled by: Altantsetseg Chimedtseren
Illustration by: Barsuren Battugs & Lkhagvadorj Ulambayar
Once upon a time there was a king who didn’t allow his lovely princess daughter to leave the royal palace until she turned 25 years old. After her 25th birthday, the princess asked the king to let her walk out in the garden one time, and he allowed her outing. However, a terrible thing happened: a Khangardi, a giant bird, seized her while she was walking in the garden and then flew away.
The king gathered all the wise fortunetellers and astrologers from the kingdom and ordered them to tell him how he could bring his daughter back. They replied that the only person who could bring her back is an old man who has eight children. As soon as the King heard this, he ordered his men to look for the old man. When they found him, the King called him to the royal palace and ordered him to bring his eight sons with him. Af- ter listening to the description of what had happened, the old man asked his sons if they could find the miss- ing princess. They answered that they could bring her back. The King took a deep breath and promised them that if they found his daughter, then he would allow the oldest son to marry the princess and make seven other sons his lords.
When the King asked the eight young men what abilities and talents they had, they answered,
“I am the best archer.”
“I am the best runner.”
“I have the best eyesight.”
“I have the best sense of smell.”
“I can suck in any storm or wind.”
“I can gulp a whole sea or lake.”
“I am the strongest man, who can hold the Sun and the Moon.”
Finally, the youngest brother said,
“I can grab anything, even it is far away or invisible.”
As the King ordered, the eight talented men started their search in the garden where the princess was last seen walking. First, the son with the keen sense of smell found out that a Khangardi had grabbed the princess. Then the son with the best eyesight saw where the Khangardi was flying with the princess. Next, the best archer son shot the Khangardi with an arrow, causing it to drop the daughter. After that, the 5th son inhaled a great wind to carry the falling princess closer to the garden. This all took some time, and it was getting darker, so the 7th son held the Sun to keep day light until the youngest
son could carefully grab the princess before she fell. Finally, the eight brothers brought the princess back to the King, as they said they would.
The King became very happy again and said,
“We will have a big wedding celebration as I promised.”
The oldest brother replied to the King that first he wanted to get permission from his father to marry.
However, when the son went to his father, instead of asking for permission to marry, he asked which of the eight of them he wanted to inherit his gold archery arrow. The father refused to give it to his sons easily, and decided to make a competition among them. He shot the arrow towards the sky so only the quickest of the sons could get it. Of all the brothers, the youngest one caught the gold arrow first and stayed there as a Golden Picket star (Polaris) of the sky. The other seven brothers chased after the arrow but missed it and lost the competition. So, they stayed as other stars (Big Dipper) surrounding the gold one.
This is the story about why the North Star sparkles brightly in the sky and the seven other stars are around it. It means that seven older brothers look after the youngest one, people say.
03 Three Female Red Deer
This is the story of Orion and Sirius. Sirius is King Kukdei, the deer hunter, and Orion is the herd of doe that Kukdei is hunting. The Mongols imagine King Kukdei (Sirius) riding a white horse in the sky, hunting a herd of doe.
Compiled by: Altantsetseg Chimedtseren
Illustration by: Barsuren Battugs & Lkhagvadorj Ulambayar
There once was a king named Khukhdei, a skillful, wise archer who hunted all his animals by shooting arrows. He usually rode one of his dun (yellowish) horses when he was hunting or fighting with an enemy.
One day, the wise archer Khukhdei went hunting, gently riding his white horse, with his two hunting dogs Asar and Basar. Suddenly he met three female red deer running with their three fawns. The clever hunter Khukhdei chased after them and wounded one of the red deer by shooting it with an arrow. However, he lost track of the deer. The group of deer ran up into the sky and became the stars of the constellation called Three Red Doe (Orion).
People say that there are three slanting stars, just under the three red does’ stars (the belt stars). These are the three fawns of the deer. A red star (Betelgeuse) is on the upper right side of the three does stars. Peo- ple explain that this star is the arrow of Khukhdei, the hunter who shot the deer. The arrow struck and then went through the body of the second doe. That is why this star looks red, Mongolian people explain.
What do you think happened to Khukhdei, the wise archer? People say that he is still chasing the deer, hop- ing to hunt them. Khukhdei, the wise archer (Sirius), is galloping on his white horse somewhere in the sky along the left side of Orion.
04 The Skillful Wise Archer
Once there were seven suns in the sky and the world was very hot. People suffered from the heat of the sun, which scorched the earth. A very confident archer fights to shoot down the sun. Now what happened?
Compiled by: Altantsetseg Chimedtseren
Illustration by: Barsuren Battugs & Lkhagvadorj Ulambayar
Once upon a time, there were seven Suns that never set in the sky. Because of that, drought occurred ev- erywhere. The plants faded, and the rivers and lakes evaporated. People suffered from the heat, and herds of horses fainted from thirst. The whole Earth suffered from exposure to these Suns.
At that time, there was a skillful and wise archer who shot an arrow at whatever he saw and always hit his target. Despite his young age, the archer was a real man who had bile in his liver and thin, hot blood. His thumb never tired when he was shooting an arrow. When the people begged the wise archer to save them, he boasted to them about his skill. He vowed that he would cut off his thumbs, refuse to be human, not drink spring water or eat dry grass, just live in a dark marmot lair if he could not relieve the people from their suffer- ing by shooting no more than seven arrows to destroy the seven Suns.
After that, he started to shoot at the seven Suns, placed in a row from east to west in the sky.
He skillfully destroyed six Suns with six arrows. At the moment when he released the seventh arrow, a martin flew between his arrow and the seventh Sun. The martin shielded the Sun, and the arrow struck the bird’s tail, splitting it. This is why the martin has a forked tail. At this point, the last Sun was afraid of being destroyed and quickly hid behind a mountain.
“That martin obstructed my shooting”,
thought the wise archer. He chased after it, riding his spotted horse as fast as a falcon intent on killing the martin. Then, his horse also took a vow and said,
“If I cant overtake the martin by next evening,
I will allow you to cut off my four legs and throw me away into the open steppe;
I wouldn’t be worthy of being saddled as a horse of yours,
and I would prefer to live in isolated hill country instead.”
Together they chased the martin for two whole evenings. Each time they were about to overtake it, the martin would sneak away somewhere else. By then it was getting dark, and they had missed their chance to kill the bird.
The wise archer got very angry with his spotted horse and cut off its front two legs. He threw him into the open steppe, and the horse became a long – eared rodent –a jerboa. This explains why the long-eared jerboa’s front two limbs are so short. This is also the rea- son why the martin usually flies in front of and behind a rider in the dark. People say that the martin is teasing the horseman and saying,
“I can fly in front of a wise man,
Underneath a poor man,
So can you outrun me?
Can you catch up with me?”
As he promised, the skillful, wise archer cut off his own thumbs, refused to be human, and became a marmot that doesn’t drink spring water, doesn’t eat dry grass, and lives in a dark den. This is why marmots have four toes, and come out of their den twice a day when the sun rises and sets. The skillful, wise archer forgot that he had already became a marmot and is still hoping to destroy the Sun by shooting it.
Marmots have a piece of meat called “human meat” which people don’t eat or use, because it is believed to be the wise archer’s flesh. Since then, the only sur- viving Sun fears the wise archer and hides behind the mountain. As a result, days and nights alternate.
05 The Sun and the Moon
Have you ever wondered why the sun has sunspots? According to the Mongols, sunspots were the bite marks of a monster.
Compiled by: Altantsetseg Chimedtseren
Illustration by: Barsuren Battugs & Lkhagvadorj Ulambayar
Once upon a time, there was a harmful, fat monster on the Earth. That monster ate animals whole with his extremely cruel, gaping mouth. He completely gulped up wild animals in the open steppe with his thick-lipped, broad mouth. After eating all of the animals, the mon- ster became dangerous and hungry for people. He grabbed and ate a lot of people, whether they were young or old. Therefore, the people couldn’t feel safe; they worried day and night about how they could defeat the fright- ening black monster. A number of brave fighters tried to kill him several times, but they were lost and died. People were at a standstill and asked for help from the “heaven sun”.
With her sunrays, the heaven sun gave her advice:
“There is an old man and woman that live with their only son in the sacred high mountain.
Although they are poor, only their son can defeat the monster”.
Hearing this good news, the people were very glad and left at once for the sacred high mountain to ask for help.
The son of the elderly couple told the people,
“I need the best and the fastest black horse with a moonlight spot on his forehead that
can overcome a difficulty and shorten the way.
I also need a sharp bladed sword that can cut off the head of invading enemies instantly.
If you find these two things for me, I will be ready to fight the monster.”
The people brought the best and the fastest black horse and the sharp sword to the young man. Having heard this, the monster was furious about the Sun’s ad- vice, so he devoured the Sun with his wide mouth. The Earth got pitch dark so that two people next to each other could not see one another.
Nevertheless, the man rode the best and the fastest black horse, spotted as white as moonlight on his fore- head, and left to defeat the monster. When he could not see the monster on the way there, the light of two little stars directed him to the location. None of them were overpowered by the darkness, after vigorous fight- ing for days and nights. When the god star appeared at dawn and radiated its light, distant things became clear. The young man cut a vital point of the monster’s body with his sharp sword and killed him.
At last, the son of the elderly couple had defeated the monster. As soon as he had killed the cruel black monster, the shining sun rose again and lit up the Earth. People were incredibly happy, and they honored the elders’ young son from the sacred high mountain as a hero.
However, the mother of the monster appeared un- expectedly and secretly poisoned the hero’s drink to avenge her son’s death. The unfortunate young man was dying, and everyone felt very sorry for him. As an expression of their deep sorrow, they wanted him to go to Paradise peacefully.
Nevertheless, the hero preferred to become a bright object in the sky. He remembered the colorful little stars that gave him light and support to defeat the monster.
“So that I can help people more, I want to be like a bright star,”
said the hero man. He went up into the sky and be- came the moon. The reason why the moon shines light as white as milk is because the young hero was very helpful and very kind to humans.
If you look closely at the Sun, you may see some black spots. People say they formed because the mon- ster held the Sun in his mouth for a while. They also say that a solar eclipse occurs because the monster was swallowing the Sun.