A sister and brother lived in the same yurt. The girl was a beauty. The evil old Khan Uluzun found out about her and decided to take her as his fifth wife. The brother told the khan that he would not allow his sister to be taken away from the yurt. Khan became furious and decided to give the daredevil three tasks. If the young man makes a mistake, off with his head.
The first task is to find out how many years a hare lives. But the young man didn’t know how to ask the hare. He came to the yurt saddened. The sister asked him about everything, and she waved her hand:
- This is an easy matter. Strawberries grow in the valley over there. Run there, lie down and listen.
The young man lay down among the berries. Soon the hare came, looked and clapped his front paws with joy:
- I lived sixty-three years, but I never saw such a berry!..
The young man came with an answer. Khan looked at the big book: the hare was indeed sixty-three years old! The khan was surprised and gave him a second task - to find out the age of the grandfather bear.
The young man turned black with grief - he never spoke to his grandfather-bear, he was afraid of him. The young man came to his yurt, and his sister said to him:
– We will find out this too.
She gave him three hats and said:
- Go to the valley, sit by the mountain, put one hat on your head, another on your right knee, a third on your left...
The young man did as his sister advised. Sits and sways.
Here comes Grandfather Bear. He looks - there is a three-headed man in front of him! Grandfather stood on his hind legs and shook his head in surprise:
“I lived seventy-eight years and never saw a three-headed man!” This is probably an invincible strongman!..
The young man came to the khan and gave an answer. Khan looked at the book and the answer was correct. Looks like this guy is smart! It is impossible to destroy him on such tasks.
And the khan said:
“Tomorrow you will come to teach riding to my black stallion with nine ears.”
The young man began to sunbathe: no one rode a stallion with nine ears. A wild horse will kill him. The sister again reassured her brother.
“I made three iron whips,” she said. “With these whips you will teach obedience to a black stallion with nine ears.”
In the morning the young man came to the khan's camp, caught a black stallion with nine ears and began to whip him with an iron whip. When the whip was whipped, the young man saw that the horse had calmed down, threw the saddle over it and jumped into the saddle. The horse reared up and wanted to throw off the rider, but the young man began to whip him with a second iron whip.
The horse bucks, jumps over stones, but cannot free itself from its rider. The horse loses strength.
When the second whip cracked, the young man swung the third. The black stallion noticed the new iron whip and cried out in a human voice:
- Oh, it hurts me!..
And then the young man saw beneath him, instead of a black stallion, the most evil khan Uluzun.
Recognizing his opponent, the young man laughed and swung his iron whip stronger than before.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru