Epic "Manas". The Beginning of the Battle. Part - 1

The Beginning of the Battle

Karagul rushed to the khan
And informed Konurbai
That the cunning Almanbet
Had stolen the entire herd of Kyrgyz.
— I will pierce the traitor and fugitive
Through and through with my spear
Or I will capture him alive!
Binding him, I will bring him to the square,
And publicly cut off his head! —
Roared Konurbai in anger.
In the narrow gorge on both sides
Almanbet and Syrgak lay in wait,
To set up an ambush there,
To wipe out the troops from above,
And to capture Konurbai himself
Alive as a hostage
And offer him to Esenkhan
In exchange for surrendering Beijing without a fight.
Chubak, having rushed to Tal-Choku,
Saw all of China again.
Far from the city of Beijing,
Raising a cloud of dust behind him,
With his battle companions
Konurbai was racing to the gorge.
And er-Chubak, with all his might,
Rushed back to Manas.
— Wake up, my khan! — shouted Chubak,
But er-Manas slept like the dead.
Trying to wake him,
He shook his head in vain,
Even tickled him under the arm.
Despairing completely, Chubak
Struck his khan on the back
With a whip as hard as he could —
And only then did the hero Manas
Open his eyes from sleep.
— What happened, my Chubak? —
He asked, scratching his back,
Glancing at him reproachfully,
As if he had just woken up on the jailoo.
— Almas, Syrgak is surrounded!
And you are snoring and dreaming,
As if you are there, in Talas,
Lying in the arms of your wife! —
Chubak shouted in anger.
And so they rushed
To help their battle friends,
So that Syrgak and Almanbet
Would not fall into the hands of the enemies.
In the narrow gorge along the river
Two Kyrgyz heroes fought fiercely,
Not sparing their lives.
And already from all sides
The Chinese were crawling up the mountains,
To capture the Kyrgyz.
Seeing this, Khan Manas
Ordered Syrgak to ride out,
To quickly inform their own,
So that all the Kyrgyz as one
Would march against Beijing.
Driving his horse to the tenth sweat,
Er-Syrgak rushed to his people,
But, besides the words “Ava! Ava!”,
He could say nothing —
He forgot all words from fear.
— What’s wrong, my valiant Syrgak,
Did you wet your pants from fear?
Collect your spirit immediately
And give us news quickly! —
Demanded the elder Bakay.
— We found our horses,
Released the stallion into the herd,
And our brave Kartkuron
Led all the horses to Karkyra.
But here the accursed Konurbai
Surrounded us on all sides.
I fear that by the time we reach them,
We will not find our heroes alive! —
Er-Syrgak recounted in fear.
— Syrgak, be quiet immediately!
No one should hear here
That Almanbet, Chubak, Manas
Are surrounded there now!
If they hear this news,
We will not hold our troops here.
Like hares, they will all scatter.
Believe me, not one of them
Will come out with us to Beijing!
And so Syrgak and er-Bakay
Calmly moved towards the troops.
And er-Syrgak told them
That the Four-Beijing was in our hands,
That Konurbai and Neskara
Had thrown themselves at the feet of Manas,
Offering us wealth,
Beautiful girls and widows,
But to take all this suddenly,
We simply lacked hands, —
Syrgak concluded his message.
And immediately, with cries of “Ur! A-a!”
The horde rushed to Beijing,
To grab more for themselves,
To drink, eat, and have fun.
And raising their banners above them,
To the loud sound of the dobulbas,
To the sounds of choor, kernai, surnai
The Kyrgyz marched towards China.
And here Manas, Alma, Chubak,
Trapped in steep mountains,
Found themselves in a tight ring.
Their troops were led here:
The fierce warrior Muradyl,
And in a red hat Neskara,
And with him the Kalmyk khan Ushan,
And the cunning Boronchu,
The warrior Orongu,
The head of the Kalmyks Khan Zholoy,
The warrior Bozkeritik from Mantuk.
And the spears, like a dense forest,
Sparkled with blue steel,
And the banners of thirty clans
Flew above their heads.
Above, the skies are blue,
Below, the raging river,
Wherever you look — enemies everywhere,
And there is no salvation anywhere.
Konur offered the Kyrgyz:
Do not spill blood in vain,
Surrender Manas peacefully,
And give them Almanbet —
Then they will not kill Manas and the choro.
But for Manas to lead his troops
Without a fight back to his Talas.
— And if you do not agree,
We will capture you alive,
And chop off your heads on the block! —
Cried Konurbai to the heroes.
He said to Manas, Almanbet:
— We have no other way out.
My khan, I will go to the Chinese.
Let them chop off my head!
But I will save Chubak and you
From certain death!
— What are you talking about, my friend?
Your fear is incomprehensible to me.
We will fight, Almanbet!
And my slogan now and forever:
“Either victory or death!” —
Such was Manas's response.
And then, like ants on the ground,
Like a swarm of hungry locusts,
The enemies crawled up the slopes.
And the first ranks reached
The three heroes above.
And the heroes fought!
And blood flowed in streams,
And hundreds of arrows shot
Stuck in shields and bent helmets.
But the forces were unequal:
The circle tightened closer,
To capture the heroes as prisoners.
And then unexpectedly, suddenly,
Like heavenly thunder, the dobulbas rang out —
And Manas saw there below:
Like a mountain mudflow,
Like a powerful steppe hurricane,
Ready to sweep everything from the ground,
With the fierce cry of “Hooray!”
The Kyrgyz charged at the enemy!
The Chinese land trembled.
Under the banner of the clan tribes:
The head of the Kazakhs Khan Kokche,
The hero of the Kipchaks er-Toshtyuk,
From Andijan Sanjibek,
The head of the Eshtiks Jamgyrchi,
The young Bokmurun from Tashkent,
And next to him the valiant Urbyu,
And forty warriors-choro,
Whom Kygyl leads into battle,
Behind him Bakay and Khan Koshoy
Lead the troops into mortal combat.

Epic "Manas". In Reconnaissance