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of the legends, it consisted of three tiers of the name Uot Usumu Tong Duurai, which "laughing chasms". Its depths supposedly can be roughly translated as "the criminal contained an underground country with its stranger who pierced the earth and hid in own sun that was, however, "waning". A . the depths, destroying all around with a choking stench rose from the orifice, and so |» —— - al fiery whirlwind". no-one settled near it. From a distance, It is important to note that on the eve of people could sometimes see a "rotating the flight of the negative hero Tong Duurai, island" appear above the opening, and this : there appeared in the sky the messenger of then proved to be its "banging lid". Those the heavenly Dyesegei—the champion Kiun who were tempted by curiosity to take a . 4 Erbiie who crossed the firmament as a closer look never returned. "falling star" or "dashing lightning" so as to Centuries went by. Life went on as rf warn Niurgun Bootur of the coming battle. before. Nobody anticipated anything extra- i" The most significant event in the legends ordinary, but one day a small earthquake . was Tong Duurai bursting forth from the occurred and the sky was pierced by a thin r\ ? underground depths and doing battle with "fiery whirlwind". At the top of it, a daz- Niurgun Bootur. This took place roughly as zling fireball appeared. Accompanied by "a succession of four thunderclaps" and leav- ing behind a trail of fire, this sphere shot off along a shallow downward trajectory and, after vanishing beyond the horizon, explod- ed. The nomads were perturbed but did not abandon the lands that were home to them, since the "demon" had not caused them any harm but had exploded over the lands of the hostile neighbouring tribe. A few decades later, events repeated themselves: the fire- ball flew off in the same direction and again destroyed only their neighbours. Evidently this "demon" was in some way their protec- tor and they began to create legends about it, calling it Niurgun Bootur, "the fiery champion". But some time later, events occurred that horrified those in even the most distant sur- roundings. A gigantic fireball emerged from the opening with a deafening, thunder- ous roar and exploded—right overhead! A tremendous earthquake ensued. Some hills were cut across by a crack more than 100 metres deep. Following the explosion, a "fire-raging sea" continued to swash about with a disc-like "rotating island" above it. The effects of the explosion extended over a radius of more than a thousand kilometres. The nomadic tribes which survived on the edges of the area fled in different directions, seeking to distance themselves from the follows: firstly, a snake-like, branching, fiery whirlwind burst forth from the "ori- fice", on the top of which there again appeared a fireball of gigantic size which, after several peals of thunder, shot high into the air. He was accompanied in flight by his retinue—"a swarm of fatally bloody whirlwinds" that wrought havoc in the vicinity. But there were occasions when Tong Duurai encountered Niurgun Bootur above the place where he took off; and following these, the area remained lifeless for a long time. The picture painted of these events varies quite considerably: several "fiery champions" might emerge from the opening at once, fly some distance and explode in one place. This happened with the flight of Tong Duurai. A study of the soil layers indicates that the interval between explo- sions does not exceed 600-700 years. The legends vividly reflect these events, but the absence of a written tradition means that they have not been registered in docu- mentary form. It seems, though, that this lacuna is compensated for by the historical chronicles of other peoples. The Chronicles of Other Peoples Altogether, at approximate intervals of 600-700 years, several explosions or, rather, a whole complex of events including fatal spot, but that did save them from the precursors, took place. All these occur- death. They all succumbed to some kind of rences were painstakingly recorded in epic strange illness that was passed on only by inheritance. Yet they —_ poetry, traditions and legends. It is a curious fact that similar leg- left behind them precise accounts of what had taken place, on the _ends arose in the equatorial zone of the planet, where explosions basis of which Yakut storytellers began to compose beautiful, or "giant fireballs" that suddenly appeared in the sky destroyed exceptionally tragic legends. several centres of ancient civilisations. A little over 600 years passed. Many generations of nomads Judging by the results of archaeological investigations carried had come and gone. The precepts of the remote ancestors had out in the Upper Viliuy region by S. A. Fedoseyeva, the intermit- been forgotten and people again settled the area. tent, wave-like settlement of this territory can be traced back Then history repeated itself... The fireball of Niurgun Bootur _ roughly to the fourth millennium BC. In the first millennium AD, appeared above a fiery whirlwind and again flew off to explode _the line of historical development is interrupted—and this does beyond the horizon. A few decades later, a second fireball rent _ not contradict the possible date for the last historical explosion as the air (now it was called Kiun Erbiie ("the gleaming aerial September 1380. The cloud it raised blotted out the Sun over herald" or "messenger"). Then came another devastating Europe for several hours. In several geo-active zones, powerful explosion that the legends again anthropomorphised. It was given earthquakes took place. NEXUS = 53 DECEMBER 2003 — JANUARY 2004 www.nexusmagazine.com