The fairy maiden paid no heed to her offence, telling her that Qalmaq invaders had already besieged Kyrgyz people’s yurts. Having heard the bad news, Chiachikei jumped out of her bed in terror without spending even a second throwing on her underwear. Afterwards, Aichurek rushed out of the yurt all at once in spite of the danger outside. From the midnight to daybreak, the good-natured fairy maiden did her utmost to inform all the herdsmen of the imminent calamity from door to door.
Konurbai Invades Kenkol and Numerous Warriors Protect Talas
117
Konurbai ordered his soldiers to bombard the city wall. However, the
cannonballs did not leave even a sinle mark on the city wall. The reason was
simple: The elaborately-constructed fortifications were so impregnable that they
were immune to any overall attack.
However, the young khan was still extremely worried about the result
of the battle. As a dauntless warrior, Semetei was eager to wage a life-and-
death struggle with the formidable foes even though his magical horse was
geographically distant from him.
As the fight was in full swing, the pestilence caused by the polluted water
started to rage once again. In order to keep the epidemic disease from spreading
among servicemen and ordinary people across the city, the fairy maiden flew to
the mountainous area to collect herbs with the function of curing pestilence.
With the help of the herbal medicines brought back by the fairy maiden,
the serious water pollution had been abated and a number of patients had
recuperated from the epidemic. With the greatly boosted morale, those people
went back to the city wall to engage in the operation for safeguarding their
hometown. Generally speaking, the Kyrgyz people had a hard time at first but
soon they were holding their own.
Almost at the same time, Kulchoro had a presentiment of the future as
well. For the following several days, he could not eat or sleep well. He could
not obtain the military intelligence from other people. Therefore, he decided
to pry for information from birds merely because he was proficient at all the
languages of birds. From the conversation between a magpie and a crow, he
learned that a large number of enemy troops had invaded the Kenkol Plain.
When Kulchoro worried about the dreadful consequence of the unexpected
invasion, Aichurek made it to the residence of him in time. After she detailed
the ins and outs of the whole incident, the fairy maiden flew back to the
castle of his husband. She needed to stay with her husband and other Kyrgyz
warriors to provide against any misfortune.
After the departure of the fairy maiden, Kulchoro discussed the war
situation with Kenchoro and Bakai in an instant. According to the arrangement
of Bakai, Kulchoro took the responsibility of gathering military intelligence
of the enemy troops in their barracks. The reason was quite obvious: He ate
the tongues of magical birds in his boyhood so he had a good command of
a total of forty-two languages. Meanwhile, Bakai and other warriors directed
Legend of Manas
the troops to leave the mountainous area for the entrance to the Kenkol Valley to meet the enemies.
Kulchoro disguised himself as a genuine Qalmaq tribeman by putting on the enemy’s clothes. He rode into the enemy barracks with full composure. The idiomatic Qalmaq language and offering a large sum of money as a bribe enabled Kulchoro to win the favor from a Qalmaq officer who was in charge of raising battle horses. From the face-to-face chat with the officer, Kulchoro obtained a wealth of useful information about Qalmaq servicemen’s military deployment, especially the top secret of the troop surge every day. A rapid increase in the population of battle steeds in the grassland further confirmed the authenticity of the intelligence. In addition, the officer disclosed all the jargons and passwords used for massive operation this time.
Shortly after he returned back, Kulchoro reported all the information he gathered to Bakai. In the opinion of Bakai,the news about the daily arrival of reinforcements counted for much. From the remarks of Kulchoro, Bakai inferred that the Kyrgyz troops were unable to hold off the Qalmaq soldiers. As a result, it was necessary to whistle up their own reinforcements in forty days from fourteen khans who were the long-time stalwarts of Kyrgyz people.
On that night, Kulchoro sneaked into the headquarters of Konurbai once again.
A unique design set Konurbai’s headquarters apart from all the other generals’ and solders’ yurts. A huge tent was fixed on the back of a total of 120 elephants which lined up in a good order. The well-furnished yurt was equipped with a number of sophisticated facilities. It could accommodate the vicious warlord, dozens of his bodyguards and entourage or so. In addition, the headquarters could provide the food and permanent lodging to all of them. In order to keep them from the attacks, a total of four hundred strong warriors holding axes, spears and hammers stood guard over the special yurt in ten defensive encirclements.
Having seen the elaborately-designed headquarters, Kulchoro was deeply perturbed. The panic-striken warrior drowned a servant who was gonna get water from a limpid spring with a calabash gourd. Having put on the clothes of the dead person, Kulchoro stepped into the yurt in a deliberate manner.
Konurbai was addressing his entourage: “Almambet was killed by us although he was an awe-inspiring hero. However, as far as I am concerned,
Konurbai Invades Kenkol and Numerous Warriors Protect Talas
119
his only son has grown up into an invincible hero as daring as his father. I was
told before by someone else that he is capable of speaking more than forty
languages as a mentally-quick and resourceful person. As a result, we should
keep full alert to possible dangers.” Kulchoro pretended to cook the water at
the time. When the water was boiling and sizzling over the bonfire, Kulchoro