A is for Agu-Nogon-Abakha (Women's Epics A to Z)

This year my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge is Women's Epics. My goal was to read 26 traditional epics from around the world that have women as their heroes. Because epics like this do exist, and they are fascinating! Read the intoduction post here.

Gar'julaj-Mergen and his brave sister Agu-Nogon-Abakha
Buryat 

This story is a Siberian Buryat epic song or üliger. I read it in a prose translation in this book in English, and another version in Russian (with Google Translate) here. There are other Russian versions here (with illustrations) and here. While the story is titled after both siblings, the brother doesn't really do much in the story, other than dying and being saved.

Further sources: Бурятские сказки [Buryat folktales], Volume I, edited by L.E. Eliasov (Ulan-Ude: Buryat Book Publishing House, 1959), 120. More book sources here.

What is it about?

TL;DR: A girl sets out to win three princesses who can revive her dead brother. She goes through a series of adventures and succeeds by her strength, bravery, and kindness.

The hero (mergen) Gar'julaj rides out on a hunt, and encounters a Mangathai (a multi-headed monster). The monster devours him, and his faithful horse returns home with his clothes. His sister Agu-Nogon-Abakha sets out, kills the Mangathai, and recovers her brother's bones. After she buries him, she decides to set out on a journey to find three princesses (the daughters of the deity Esege-malan) who have the power to revive the dead. She dresses in her brother's clothes, arms herself, saddles his horse, and travels disguised as a man.

Along the way, Agu-Nogon-Abakha gets into various adventures. She encounters an old woman who tries to poison her, saves an anthill by wrestling a bear (!), drinks the Water of Life that gives her extraordinary strength, saves three heroes that swear loyalty to her, and rescues an invisible dog. Eventually she makes it to Esege-malan, and since she doesn't think the princesses would help otherwise, she presents herself as a suitor for all three of them.

There are two other suitors at court, so Esege-malan gives all three of them a series of tasks. With the help of the beings she'd saved, Agu-Nogon-Abakha completes all challenges, and wins the three princesses for her wives. They suspect she might not be a man and test her, but she passes every test. On the way home she hurries ahead, retrieves her brother's bones, lays them out, and escapes before the princesses arrive (she is worried they would be furious about being cheated). Agu-Nogon-Abakha turns herself into a hare and runs into the woods. 

The princesses find the bones, realize what happened, but decide to revive the brother anyway. Once he is alive, they fall in love with him, and forget their disappointment. They tell him everything that happened. Gar'julaj rides out into the woods, finds the hare, and turns her back to her human form. The princesses forget about being tricked, and they live happily ever after.

The highlights

At first read, it seemed to me like the helpers were doing all the heavy lifting (pun intended). Agu-Nogon-Abakha is advised by her horse along the way, and to win the princesses she summons the dog, the ants, and the invisible heroes to assist her. But the more I thought about it, the more episodes I found where she faces challenges herself: when she rides out and kills the Mangathai monster, when she wrestles and throws a bear, or when she passes the tests devised to reveal her gender (e.g. the princesses lighting a fire on her chest while she sleeps). She proves her own skill and bravery more than enough - and the helpers she does win by her kindness and quick thinking. A "strong female character" doesn't need to do everything unassisted.

I also liked the small detail that every time something bad happens to her - her brother gets lost, or she has to bury his bones - she "cries for a long time" and then gets up, and makes a plan. Her strength is not illustrated by not crying, or immediately knowing what to do. It's okay to fall apart first, even for epic heroes.

Another endearing detail is the care the siblings show for each other. Agu-Nogon-Abakha cares for her brother's bones (it is described in great detail) until she can revive him. Gar'julaj immediately goes out to find her after his return, and doesn't rest until he lures the hare back to safety.

IN THIS EPIC, THE GIRL (actually four girls) RESCUES THE GUY.

Did the story go the way you thought it would?