Re: Oguzname

>It is actually very tempting to see this as referring
>to the arrival of the Tatar-Mongols in Eastern Europe.
>Here "Oguz Khan" would stand for the Grand Khan of
>Qaraqorum, "Qiptchaq" for what subsequently became the
>Golden Horde with its capital at Sarai, "Urus" for the
>Rus' states, "Magar" for Hungary (occupied by Batu for
>a few years), "Bashqurd" for territories east of the
>Volga, and "Ulak" for an early Vlach presence north of
>the Danube. Things don't have to fit precisely in
>epics, but the thing hangs together well enough.
>Still, it's obviously a take it or leave it
>interpretation.******

Yes, but in this interpretation I'd miss something
... sine qua non: the supreme "layer", the Mongolians
themselves. Why would the narrator avoid mentioning
the ethnonym Mongol, and, instead, prize only the
Türklar, namely the Oguz branch? Esp. those Oguzes
were thoroughly beaten by the Mongol army (and
deemed as... defectors by the supreme khan who
wrote the Hungarian king he shouldn't grant them
asylum. :-)

(the KaraUlaq) George