The article is devoted to the study of the text of the tale Altyn Kyok (Golden Cuckoo) of Minusinsk Turks, the ancestors of the modern Khakas people, in comparison with the Yakut olonkho. The study was conducted using the comparative-historical method including a structural analysis, as well as a review of scholarly literature and the descriptive method.

The history of the text Altyn Kyok, which is of great interest for comparative studies of Turkic epics, has not yet been studied. It was written down in 1847 by Kastren during his expedition to Siberia, and published in 1859 in a German translation by Schifner. This work established that the main structure of the tale is identical to the plots of archaic variants of the Yakut olonkho about a lonely hero Er Sogotokh. The established similarity firstly proves the development of two separate epic traditions, the Yakut and the Khakas, from the common primary source. Secondly, it provides a clear idea of the basic structure of the epic of the Yakuts before their departure from their southern homeland: about plot structure, motifs and episodes, images, realities and mythological notions, as well as about some verbal means of epic imagery. The text of Altyn Kyok, in our opinion, also shows a stage of development of a separate epic tradition (or the influence of another tradition), as evidenced by structural elements, which are not typical of the Yakut olonkho.

As far as the future prospects are concerned, our aim is to investigate the mythological basis of the epic tale Altyn Kyok on a deeper level using ethnographic data, in particular the Udagan cult, to continue the comparative study of the Yakut olonkho in comparison with other texts of Minusinsk Turks, as well as to study linguistic aspects on the original manuscript in the “Tatar” (Khakass) language.