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This is the first translated version of small Kyrgyz epic into English. «Er Töshtük is an ancient Kyrgyz heroic epic which peculiar for its intriguing plot and richness of language, illustrates Kyrgyz people's religious beliefs, mythology, customs, traditions and everyday lives». A full Kyrgyz version of the saga, (448 pages) published in 1996, is held in the collections of 'Folk Literature' in the Kyrgyz National Science Academy etc. It was really a pleasure for me to be the first translator of this Kyrgyz small epic. All of them came to our days in an oral way, and some of them has two or three version of reciting it. They were not translated into other languages as, they were real Kyrgyz value, during the Soviet time, they were being investigated by Kyrgyz scholars, but not all of them were published. The "Er Töshtük" epic in original is more than 16500 poetic lines. In this book I would love to give part of the small epic "Er Töshtük"- this book will be of great help for future translator from Kyrgyz into English, and hope that it will become a good sample for epic translators, as there are more than 50 small epics in the folklore of the Kyrgyz people.
About the author
Mambaeva SaltanatAssoc. Prof. Kyrgyz Turkish Manas University, Faculty of Humanities Department of Simultaneous Translation, Kyrgyz-English Translation Program, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
