View this article in RussianSome people are gifted by nature with special talents, extraordinary sensitivity. Stalking is one such natural trait. In the past, our ancestors were good at detecting the sound of horses’ hooves from afar, determining the number, direction, and distance of approaching horsemen, detecting the footprints of the horses of the enemy’s hunters, and playing tracks.
Followers were highly respected among the people. Their name is honored and remembered in goodness. The great-grandson of our hero Arkadag, Anna’s old grandfather, Nepesaly Baiy’s cousin, Yazly Izchy, was also famous. In order to test Yazly’s follower, the young men of the village tied the four legs of a camel that died last year and went to the desert for a camel procession [1, 16-17 p.]. There is one condition that cannot be broken in order to play the track. Before she had her morning tea, it was time when he was in a good mood. As soon as the young men came and informed him, he took a bucket of water and went in search of the trail. Yazly’s tracker, who started tracking from the camel’s corral, notices the footprints at the foot of the sand. He whispers as if he is talking to them. His veins showed that he was forcing himself. He poured water from the well on the feet of the camel.”Guys, it’s been a year since your death,” begins the follower. He said that it was shiny and smelled of alcohol. It is said that when freshly pressed, water pressure is not absorbed, and even though its size is large, its weight is similar to that of an unmilked baby camel. He knew that he had not yet seen the camel facing the opposite direction by the pattern of its hind legs, and that one of the young men had attached his toe to his leg. He told the owner of the camel, “You don’t seem to have lost your cattle, but you are laughing.” No matter how much they begged, he didn’t accept their apologize. Afte that He left stalking on his the village. But if people come from somewhere else, he didn’t refused and went to stalking. He helped who needs help.
The followers drew the correct conclusion from the situation. They still remember with gratitude the services rendered by Maily, who lived in Sakarchage district. The trackers were able to predict whether it was a man or a woman, whether the thief was a teenager, a young man or a middle-aged man. There is a story in the country about espionage: three companions went for a walk in the field. They had to tell him what they knew about a camel that passet along the path. The first one says that the camel’s left eye is blind, the second one says that the camel is walking with a little limp, the third one says that the camel has a wound on its back, and its tail is also on the hook. The companion who said that the camel’s left eye was blind, testified that it only grazed the grass on the right side, and that it was walking smoothly, and dragged the camel’s back. Later, when the herdsman sees the same camel in the flock, it turns out that all three weren’t wrong.
Even in the modern age of advanced science and technology, Turkmen art can surprise people.In the movie “A Smart Step,” the stalker’s pursuit of Artyk, who has kidnapped Aina, is masterfully depicted. This is a fact of life and there is no exaggeration. Not everyone is a follower. The followers were able to get away with the acts of robbers who tied their legs with straws or straws. Such followers were people whom many admired and called upon when needed. They left their footprints in the desert, on the glass wheels, and in the thick garbage without missing a beat. Because a follower doesn’t just look back. Whether it’s scratching the tip of the fire, peeing, or running around in the sand, the trailing cattle don’t miss a thing. It accepts the signs of the trail in its entirety. One of the disciples said that even when any living thing flies into the sky, it cannot leave without leaving a trace. A guest has come from a long way to someone’s house. He was bringing cattle. His goods are in the mind of his guest house. If they get up tomorrow, one of the creatures says no. The host reassured the guest that there were no thieves in his village and that even a drunkard would not set foot in these places. The house wife put tea for the guest and went out with a look at her husband’s face. When the guest and the host leave the house after having tea and soup, the housekeeper comes holding the lost animal by the ear. I took it back three or four kilometers away, and they said it must have run out. They heard that the owner’s wife was the daughter of a well-known follower. He followed the sheep. It seems that the ministry is passed down from generation to generation, from blood to blood. There were special followers in the foothill villages near the border.
When talking about scouting, there are several sources of information about the number of talented scouts among the Turkmen living in Western Turkmenistan. According to historical data, the Turkmen lived on the shores of the Caspian Sea for a long time and distinguished themselves as skilled hunters. In the 17th-19th centuries, they were mostly seen roaming around the Darja Peninsula, which is located in the south of the Garabogaz Bay of the Caspian Sea, and were engaged in animal husbandry and fishing.Historian Ata Jykiyev writes that all the men of this tribe, young and old, are skilled hunters in his historical ethnographic essay “The Turkmen coasts of the southeast of the Caspian Sea” [2, 34 p.]..
Records of some events related to followers from the Canaanite Turkmen of the past centuries have been preserved. In the 9th issue of 1928 of the “Turkmenovedeniye” magazine, the article “Izchy” by Nikolai Nikolayevich Khan Yomudsky, a prominent Turkmen scientist, researcher of the country, who worked as a reporter in the magazine in the last years of his life, was published. The article mentions the talent, memory, and enthusiasm of the Turkmen scouts, the work they have done to serve our people, and the fact that those people have mastered the art of scouting. The hunters were very devoted to desert animals. The fox was able to tell if it was a rabbit by looking at the rabbit’s foot. He was able to track the rabbit and capture it alive. He was able to determine whose son he was by looking at the feet of people and by seeing the feet of a child. Menglimammet, who lived at that time, had a higher ability in tracking and divination.
Shepherds are often not always with their flocks when tending sheep in the peninsula, but after letting the flocks go in a certain direction, they will be busy hunting. Once, two shepherds from one of the distant villages saw a herd of sheep grazing without a shepherd near the shore. Menglimammet saw their footprints. Two years later, he had to leave his job and go to that village. As he tries to moor his boat on the beach, he notices two familiar footprints among the footprints on the beach, and realizes that they are the footprints of the people who stole the two sheep. Following Meghlimammet’s footsteps, he finds the two men not far from the coast and demands that they return the sheep they stole two years ago. The two men at first denied his claim, saying that they were being slandered. But when the follower told them in detail when, on which day, at what time of the day it happened, in what position they held the goat, and who came back carrying what kind of goat. The two fraudulent friends agreed to pay back the price of the sheep they had taken, saying that they had been exposed.
In another case, Menglimammedi’s villagers, who could not find the stolen sheep in the village, said that they were late for four or five hours after seeing its footprints. Six months later, when he went to another village, he accidentally saw the heel of one of the residents there. It is said that he found out that he had stolen money from his village six months ago and left a trace, and told the man what happened to his face and took the money to the cattle owner. Until now, the influence of such people in the preservation of the art of spying among Turkmen people is great. Among the older generation, there are still quite a few who are able to understand his subtle charms [3, 53-57 p.].
The scouts were very friendly. True trackers can remember a footprint they have seen, and even after years have passed, they can recognize it and determine who it belongs to. Elders told that in some sand villages, there are trackers who can identify the camel’s identity just as they can recognize people by their faces and voices, by drawing patterns on the camel’s heel after it falls on the ground, and even talented trackers can identify the mother of a newly weaned camel from the footprints. The new footprints that have been left have some trace of their owner’s scent. Specially trained tracking animals found out exactly who it belonged to by smelling footprints. Hunting, one of the rare professions of our ancestors, greatly contributed to the life of the people and has been practiced for many centuries. In the time when there were still no technical means, followers had a great place in society. They have performed an important service in finding lost and stolen goods and generally in apprehending the chased. There were not many followers among the Turkmens, and they had great respect during the year.
References
- Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. Älem içre at gezer. – A.: TDNG, 2011.
- Джикиев А. Туркмены Юго-восточного побережья Каспийского моря. – А.: Изд АН ТССР, 1961.
- Иомудский К. Очерки туркменского быта. I «Изчи» // Туркменоведение. – 1928. – № 9.